Fire Island Beach Re-Nourishment Project Scheduled for Completion

OCEAN BEACH, FIRE ISLAND, NEW YORK- Residents of 11 Fire Island communities can expect more bountiful beaches come May, when a beach re-nourishment project, which added 1.9 million cubic yards of sand to the participating beach communities, is slated for completion.

The project, which is being paid for by a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and by the taxpayers of the four communities involved with the project (in Islip town), was approved by resolution during the July 29, 2008 town board meeting, and later was broadened to include Cornielle Estates and Summer Club Beach Erosion Control Districts.

Stephen Keehn, senior coastal engineer for Boca Raton, Florida-based Coastal Planning and Engineering, Inc. (CPE), led a tour of the project last Friday; Fire Island Ferries, Inc., provided transport to Ocean Beach from Bay Shore for the tour.

The project is tentatively slated for completion on April 25, and began on January 27. Although the last day of dredging is set, Keehn noted demobilization of equipment may take some time depending on how calm the ocean is for removing two large hopper dredges which dredge sand from a location approximately one half-mile to a mile further out in the ocean to pump back onto the beach, he noted.

The Erosion Control Taxing Districts of Fair Harbor, Dunewood, Lonelyville, Summer Club, Cornielle Estates and the Islip part of Seaview, along with the villages of Saltaire and Ocean Beach received town permission to add approximately $23 million in new property taxes over the next five years.

Approximately 1.9 million cubic yards of sand, funded by the taxes, was dredged from offshore deposits and pumped on land by Cranford, New Jersey-based Weeks Marine, Incorporated.

Fair Harbor, Dunewood, Lonelyville, Fire Island Pines and Saltaire were due for re-nourishment in 2009, as they re-nourished their beaches between November 2003 and January 2004. The remaining six communities joined in the cooperative project for greater cost and time efficiency and mutual assistance during the permitting process, "They put together an inter-municipal agreement and signed a contract between the communities," Keehn said.

Jerry Stoddard, the president of the Fire Island Association and Long Island Coastal Alliance, who organized the tour, noted Fire Island residents realize that if they are willing to raise their taxes to pay for re-nourishment projects occasionally, the overall cost of frequent nourishment will decrease.

He also emphasized how important it is for communities to work cooperatively for a common goal, "One of the things we have to be aware of is we can't wait for government to take care of it, if we want something done we have to do it ourselves," he said.

As per the property owners' request, Brookhaven and Islip towns issued bonds, which are backed by new taxes levied by community Erosion Control Taxing Districts, to pay for the project. The villages of Saltaire and Ocean Bach made similar arrangements with their taxpayers.

At the close of this project, the sand sources, which were also utilized in the 2003-'04 project, will be depleted, Keehn noted, and added that the size of the project is negotiated based upon how much sand is in the borrow area, "A lot of technicalities go into checking the sand source," he said. They are "trying to build a 70-foot beach," he noted.

Ocean Beach Mayor, Joe Loeffler, noted he thinks this is a great project for Fire Island and all of Long Island, "We need to educate people on how important shore protection is, and the consequences of not doing it," he said.

Fire Island Nationals Seashore (FINS), which is headquartered in Patchogue, is the lead agency for this project. The prime contractor for the projects is Weeks Marine, Inc., with the project being designed by CPE. Land Use Ecological Services of Riverhead provided oversight and implementation for this project.