Army Corps, DEC to hold public meeting in Long Beach

Will discuss coastal protection project amid concerns about beach closures

Posted
Crews worked on a jetty at Riverside Boulevard beach on Monday.
Anthony Rifilato/Herald

The Army Corps of Engineers recently began work on rebuilding jetties along the beach, though a number of residents and business owners have raised concerns about the project’s potential impact on the beach season.

City officials emphasized that beaches will be open this summer, though certain areas will be closed during construction.

The Army Corps of Engineers and state Department of Environmental Conservation will hold a public meeting on April 20 at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall to discuss the project.

Work on the $230 million coastal protection project kicked off in Long Beach last month and includes the rehabilitation of 20 existing jetties, or groins, on the barrier island and construction of four new ones, as well as the addition of roughly 4.7 million cubic yards of sand for a system of berms and dunes along 35,000 feet of shoreline.

The berm, dune and groin system is designed to protect seven of the nine miles of public shoreline between Jones Inlet and East Rockaway Inlet — from the east end of Point Lookout to Nevada Avenue in Long Beach — from a 100-year storm. The project will taper off in East Atlantic Beach.

The project to protect the barrier island began in Point Lookout last August; Hurricane Sandy decimated the city’s shoreline — the beach lost 294,000 cubic yards of sand — and officials contend that the project is crucial.

Work on the 15 jetties in Long Beach is expected to be completed next year and will be year-round, except in the summer at National, Edwards and Riverside boulevards. Work will not take place on the weekends during the summer beginning Memorial Day.

“Though there will be a couple of areas temporarily cordoned off at specific jetties while work is going, one hundred percent of our beaches will be open this summer,” City Manager Jack Schnirman said at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
Two groins will be under construction at a time and those areas will be closed. Each groin will take about a month to complete, and sections of the beach will reopen as construction moves along, officials said.

Work would move simultaneously from the east and west; in March, trucks began offloading stones and equipment on the beach at access points at New York Avenue, in the West End, and Pacific Boulevard, in the east, which will be closed. The materials are brought out to cranes that lift the rocks onto the jetties.

Work on two groins, one opposite Edwards Boulevard beach and another opposite Riverside Boulevard, began in late March and is expected to be completed by May 25.

“Five hundred feet of either side of the groin, while the daily work is going on, will be closed,” said John Mirando, the city’s commissioner of public works. “They’re going to be out of there by 3 p.m.”

City officials had called on the Army Corps in January to rethink its proposed schedule as the agency said that it would begin the work six-months sooner than anticipated, creating concern among many that it would disrupt the busy summer season. Crews installed sand fencing across a roughly 2.5-mile stretch of work area last month that’s part of the beach construction access zone.

City officials said they convinced the agency to do work on the groins directly in front of the staging areas after Memorial Day, to avoid hauling rocks on the beach throughout the summer.

“The city has worked closely with closely with Senator [Todd] Kaminsky, Assemblywoman [Melissa] Miller, County Legislator [Denise] Ford and Senator [Charles] Schumer’s office to ensure that any inconvenience residents may face this summer will be minimized, while also allowing the project to proceed in a timely manner,” Schnirman said.

Mark Evangelista, owner of the Overlook at the Beach at New York Avenue, said that the staging area and beach closure there is hurting his seasonal business.

“It would have been fair to consider the businesses that are going to be affected by the construction, especially since they’re closing the beaches in front of my restaurant, which is now going to be a huge eyesore with equipment stored there and construction rubble,” he said. “I’m going to lose all my business.”

Officials urged residents and business owners to attend next month’s meeting to raise their concerns.

“We are doing everything we can to try and mitigate the project affecting the whole community,” Council Vice President Anthony Eramo said.