D.E.C. Levels $50,000 Fine

    The Montauk Lake Club and Marina on East Lake Drive in Montauk and the club’s contractor, Seacoast Marine Construction of Sayville, have been fined $50,000 by the State Department of Environmental Conservation for exceeding the permitted limits of the dredging project earlier this year.

    The club and marina are owned and operated by a holding corporation called Star Development Realty. The D.E.C. permit for the project, issued in October 2011, allowed the boat basin there to be dredged to a depth of six feet and approximately 4,000 cubic yards of material to be removed.

    After the work was done, however, and following a complaint by the Concerned Citizens of Montauk, an environmental group, the D.E.C. found that the dredging had occurred outside the designated area and that dredged material was stored at the site instead of being trucked to a disposal area.

    The state has agreed to allow the Montauk Lake Club and Marina and Seacoast Marine to pay a reduced fine of $20,000. The $30,000 balance will be suspended provided they strictly adhere to the terms and conditions of environmental conservation law in the future.

    The agreement requires the parties to remove the dredged material once it is tested, restore the spoil storage area, conduct a survey to determine the new depth of the area that was dredged illegally, create a restoration plan, and restore the disturbed shoreline.