Beach Project at End

Work will be complete on the Army Corps of Engineers downtown Montauk beach project within days, but it remains to be seen what the changes on the beach will mean for the summer season, when throngs of locals and visitors head to the downtown shore for a day of sun, surf, and sand.

The $8.4 million federal project, undertaken in the fall in the face of public opposition, including protests and arrests on the beach, entailed the installation of a 3,100-foot-long line of sand-filled geotextile bags and tubes along the beach from the South Emery Street area to an eastern terminus near the Atlantic Terrace motel.

Creating a slope 15 feet above sea level at the water’s edge, and buried under three feet of sand, the sandbags are designed to prevent a storm surge into the business district and damage to the shorefront buildings, primarily motels. 

However, opponents have pointed to the accelerated erosion and scouring effects known to occur as waves hit such structures. East Hampton Town officials have called the project a needed, though not optimal, temporary fix, hoping the Army Corps will move on a preferred plan to add sand to the beach. The Corps was due to release its longer-term proposals, for the shoreline from Fire Island to Montauk Point — the result of a study a half-century in the making — in February; what the agency will offer for Montauk is unknown.

  Soon, contractors who have been working in Montauk throughout the winter will finish the last of the tasks on their final punchlist, Alex Walter, Supervisor Larry Cantwell’s executive assistant, said this week. Fencing will be installed, completely enclosing the area of buried sandbags so that no one can walk or sit there.  

That area, which, to the eye, rises up only slightly from shoreline ground level, is already clearly delineated: plugs of beach grass have been planted there, and the sand — several inches placed on top of the piled bags — is the same white color as the natural Montauk beach. The rest of the beach, which at present is only a narrow stretch due to winter erosion, is orange-colored, topped with the sandy dirt that contractors added in order to extend their working space when waves overwashed the work zone. 

That sand, from an inland quarry, was also used to fill the geotextile bags. Under an agreement with the town, Montauk’s white beach sand was stockpiled to use for sandbag cover, to preserve the natural look of the beach. The spread, by the contractors, of the orangey quarried sand across the rest of the beach was not anticipated, or, apparently, discussed. 

In comments and conversations on Facebook and other social media, people watching the transformation of the downtown beach have commented on its new appearance and dubbed it Dirtbag Beach. 

Work on four raised wooden pedestrian crossings, walkways for people to get over the fenced-off sandbag area and down onto the shoreline sand, will beinished this week, Mr. Walter said, as will the fencing installation. Private four-foot-wide walkways promised to oceanfront property owners in exchange for easements enabling construction of the buried sandbag wall are already complete. Two vehicle crossings over the sandbags are also part of the plan.

The large stones, gravel similar to that used along railway beds, that have been installed at South Essex Street have also provoked numerous questions and comments from the community.

A second vehicle-crossing sector will be at South Edison Street, which will also serve as an outlet for stormwater runoff from downtown, to drain onto the beach and into the ocean. Metal-reinforced concrete paver panels to be installed there have not yet been delivered, Mr. Walter said. A stronger material than the railway gravel is needed at that spot, he said, to hold strong when the low-lying beach outlet becomes a drainage zone.

Because, during storms, the opening could also be a sluice for the ocean to breach and flood the downtown streets, the Army Corps has provided the town with a stockpile of 460 cubic yards of the upland quarried sand, delivered last week to the Montauk landfill site. If the ocean threatens, it can be used to plug the opening. 

How and when the outlet will be left open for rainwater to run off the streets and onto the beach, or closed to prevent the ocean from flooding the downtown, has not been publicly discussed.

Another subject of public concern has been the installation of a pipe funneling water from the streets onto the beach in the eastern part of the project near Lowenstein Court. The pipe, which runs through the sandbag wall, is a “critical component” of the project, Mr. Walter said. The sandbag barrier could not be installed until questions about flooding, a common occurrence in downtown Montauk during heavy rain, were addressed. Because the sandbags would halt the normal water flow from the streets to the beach, flooding would worsen. The town hired consultants to examine the problem and recommend solutions, and the new system was designed by the town engineer and approved by the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation.

The appearance of the pipe channeling the flow has called attention to the disposition of runoff onto the beach, and members of the public have expressed fears about pollution.

Overall, though, Mr. Walter said on Tuesday, despite the initial protests over the project — especially the destruction of a dune, which the contractors have since made efforts to restore, at the town’s request — lately “it has been extremely quiet from the property owners who were affected, and from the public at large.”

While erosion accelerates in the downtown beach area during winter months, accretion of sand on the beach along that shore normally begins to occur in mid or late spring.

As for how much beach the downtown will have for tourists and locals to use this summer, “We’re going to have to see,” Mr. Walter said.

Officials have already met with John Rooney, the town’s parks and recreation director, to discuss plans for moving lifeguard stands to other stretches of shore if need be. “We want to be able to act quickly,” Mr. Walter said. 

Parking, already at capacity at other public bathing beaches, and proximity to a restroom, a County Health Department requirement for lifeguarded public beaches, could become key issues should there be a need to accommodate beachgoers displaced from Montauk’s downtown.