Army Corps breaks ground

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer joined U.S. Rep. Peter King, Col. David Caldwell of the Army Corps of Engineers and local officials in Point Lookout on Wednesday to officially break ground on a long-awaited project to strengthen and protect the barrier island’s coastline from future storms.

“The Long Beach Protection Project’s groundbreaking should be celebrated by the many homeowners and businesses of Long Beach that have shown incredible resilience since Superstorm Sandy,” Schumer said. “This Army Corps project — decades in the making — will provide Long Beach with the armor it needs to weather the next storm, and that’s why I fought tooth and nail to secure the funds needed to get it off the ground.”

The Herald reported last month that trucks would begin hauling 250,000 tons of large stones through the West End and work would commence on the jetties. Phase one of the $230 million project — which is already under way and is expected to last until early 2018 — includes the rehabilitation of 18 groins, or jetties, to help stabilize the sand and the construction of four new groins, Caldwell said. A contract for the second phase is expected to be awarded in the fall of 2017, and includes adding 5 million cubic yards of sand for dunes that will be approximately 14 feet above sea level and extend along seven miles of shoreline from East Rockaway Inlet to Jones Beach Inlet.

Phase two will last approximately two years, Caldwell said, and following the construction of the dunes, the public will not be able to walk over them due to planted vegetation that will help keep them in place. He explained that 57 crossover structures — 31 in Long Beach — would be built to allow pedestrian and vehicle access during the project. Small areas of the beach will be closed as the construction moves from east to west, but areas surrounding them will be open to the public.

Caldwell urged residents to do their best to adapt during the process. “Every time people cross one of those crossovers, they will be reminded of the extra resiliency as well as the higher level of protection that has been afforded,” he said. “I encourage everyone who [lives here or visits] to keep a long-term vision and remember that this is a short-term inconvenience for a very long-term gain.”

Hurricane Sandy devastated Long Beach and the barrier island, causing tens of millions of dollars in property damage, crippling much of the area’s infrastructure, destroying the iconic boardwalk and washing away 294,000 cubic yards of sand that acted as a barrier along the oceanfront.

“The people of Long Beach and Point Lookout and Lido never lost their spirit even in those dark, terrible days after Sandy hit,” King said. “Their spirits were up and they were fighting back, and this [project] is a major part of the fight.”

State Sen. Todd Kaminsky said that though the community has bounced back, the coastal protection plan is vital to its future. “For those of us who live down here on the barrier island,” he said, “Sandy was a generational moment … and frankly, there is a kernel of doubt in anyone’s mind who lives down here of whether we could remain a vibrant community knowing that such storms are possible. This [project] is a game-changer, and when a young family looks to move here in five years and they say, ‘Well, what happens when a Sandy comes?’ they’re going to see a 14-foot berm across their beach and know that things will be OK.”

County Executive Ed Mangano, Legislator Denise Ford, Hempstead Town Supervisor Anthony Santino, Town Councilwoman Erin King-Sweeney and Long Beach City Manager Jack Schnirman also attended the groundbreaking.

Ford, who lives in Long Beach, said she would work with local communities to make sure the project does not have too big an impact on them. “For all of us to come home and not only see the devastation in our homes, but to witness the amount of sand that was pushed onto the streets, burying cars and burying debris, was very unsettling,” she recalled. “This Army Corps project is much needed and much welcomed.”

Following the passage of the Sandy Relief Bill in 2013, which required the federal government to fund only 65 percent of the project’s cost, Schumer and King worked to have the plan meet the criteria of “ongoing construction,” which qualified it for full federal funding.

“The real credit goes to the people of Long Beach,” Schumer said. “To go down a street in Long Beach today and [remember] what those exact blocks were like three years ago shows you how the people came back. This isn’t going to be the same beach it was before Sandy. It’s going to be better, stronger, more protected, but still with the enjoyment for the residents and the millions of people from Long Island, New York and the rest of the country who comes to these beaches over the summer.”