No plans to fill Prybil Beach potholes

Beach season has arrived, but the entrance to Prybil Beach, in Glen Cove, might make you wish it was still winter.

Potholes, rocks and gravel cover East Beach Drive, which both Glen Cove and Village of Lattingtown residents use to get to their respective beaches. The area is a flood zone, so whenever the tide is unusually high or there’s a rainstorm, the road is submerged in a foot or more of water. Because it is wet so often, asphalt used to fill the potholes does not set properly.

“We do the best we can in the spirit of cooperation,” said Jim Byrne, the director of Glen Cove’s Department of Public Works. “Basically, we try to blow the water out of the hole and fill it, but the asphalt won’t stick and the potholes come back.”

East Beach Drive is a Lattingtown village road, but because residents of both areas use it, the municipalities have agreed to share the maintenance.

“Three years ago, we put in a concrete slab, but the holes have just expanded beyond the slab,” said Michael Douso, the village’s highway commissioner. “One quick fix would be to extend the concrete slab into the entrance.”

Last June, Glen Cove enlisted an engineer to do a preliminary investigation, which concluded that the 400-foot-long road would have to be raised by at least a foot. The engineer’s initial cost estimate for the project was $330,000.

Byrne said that raising the road would be the “ultimate solution,” and that the city would not have a problem splitting the cost with Lattingtown. “If the city and Lattingtown agree on cost-sharing, we could probably have something ready to go next spring,” he said. “First order of business is to come to an agreement between the two municipalities.” Raising the road would also require the approval of the state Department of Environmental Conservation, because the area is in protected tidal wetlands.

Douso said that the village had raised the road in the past three years, and it created a “damming” effect. “Glen Cove thinks they can raise the road level,” he said. “We’ve done that. It doesn’t work. The way to fix that situation is to fix that drainage system that was built at the turn of the century.”

He added that village workers found the old dewatering system when they were working in the area.

Glen Cove resident John Mozes said he goes to Prybil Beach almost every other day, where he joins other locals who fish from the pier. “It’s very nice and very pretty and very quiet,” Mozes said. “The beaches are prepared for summer. The only things that aren’t prepared are the roads.”

Mozes said that when it rains, the potholes fill up with water and become indiscernible, leaving unknowing drivers to risk blowing a tire. “Occasionally they do something about it,” he added. “Occasionally they don’t do anything.”

Douso said there are no current plans by either municipality to restore the drainage system.