Lighthouse Is Next Army Corps Flashpoint
After finishing its work on the downtown Montauk beach, where a line of buried sandbags was installed as a protective measure against storm surge, tides the Army Corps of Engineers has turned its sights to three other Montauk locations.
The federal agency is moving forward on plans to bolster the stone revetment around Montauk Point and to dredge the Lake Montauk inlet, as well as taking steps to reverse and stem the erosion on the Block Island Sound-front beaches to its west.
At Camp Hero, beginning next week, the Army Corps will take another look at what is left over from former military use of the site to see if more cleanup is needed.
A public comment period ends tomorrow on the latest draft of a plan to repair the rock revetment armoring Montauk Point around the Lighthouse.
The addition of boulders around the bluffs to protect the Lighthouse, a National Historic Landmark that is owned and operated by the Montauk Historical Society, has been a matter of debate for years.
A federal project costing an estimated $14.6 million was originally authorized in 2006 and was funded by Congress in a post-Sandy disaster relief act.
The Army Corps originally installed a 700-foot revetment around the bluffs at the point in 1946. That revetment was replaced after it failed, and repairs and additions were made over the years as the stone armoring was undermined or damaged by coastal forces.
According to the Surfrider Foundation, which is preparing comments on the Army Corps plan, moving the Lighthouse back from the edge of the bluff and allowing the shoreline to erode and accrete naturally is a better course of action that will be more economical in the long run.
The coastal ebb and flow is a source of sand migrating to beaches to the west of the point, John Weber, the Surfrider Foundation’s Mid-Atlantic manager, said Tuesday. Another concern about armoring the point, he said, is its potential impact on nearby surf breaks.
The Army Corps’s current plan is a result of a project re-evaluation after Hurricane Sandy. Rather than replacing the entire revetment, it calls for the addition of 15-ton boulders on top of the existing stones along 840 feet of shore in order, according to an Army Corps document, to provide “protection for the most vulnerable portion of the bluff that would directly endanger the Lighthouse complex should it fail.”
The structure would extend out 38 feet from the existing stones. While the previous plan had called for the excavation of 32,000 cubic yards of material from the ocean bottom to bury the toe of the stone structure, the revised plan eliminates that burial and would displace only 4,200 cubic yards of bottomland.
The Army Corps requires a local sponsor for the project and has aked the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historical Preservation to sign on. While the Lighthouse and most of the surrounding land belong to the Montauk Historical Society, which took ownership from the Coast Guard in 1996, the area also includes state parkland, and sponsorship by a public agency, versus a private nonprofit such as the historical society, is apparently needed.
A bill sponsored by Senator Kenneth P. LaValle, which has passed the Senate, would authorize the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation to take necessary action to protect national historic landmarks such as the Lighthouse from shore erosion, allowing it to partner with nonprofits like the historical society.
Maintenance of the revetment, once it is rebuilt, would become the responsibility of the local sponsor. East Hampton Town is not involved in the matter, Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said yesterday.
According to the Army Corps, there is an urgent need to reinforce the revetment “to protect the historic Lighthouse complex and other natural, cultural, and recreational resources,” as it is continuing to degrade.
Comments may be emailed to [email protected].
An effort to address severe erosion along the Soundview Drive shore west of the Montauk jetties has also been under discussion for several years, and in April, the Army Corps of Engineers presented its final study and recommended plan for a project that would combine dredging of the harbor inlet with a coastal storm risk management project targeting the Soundview beaches.
The agency proposed using dredged sand to create a 10-foot-wide beach, and installing perpendicular groins made of sand-filled geotextile bags at intervals along the beach to contain it.
But town officials, with the backing of the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation, recently informed the Army Corps that installing the groins contravenes coastal policy, as outlined in the Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan, a municipal document that has state and federal backing.
According to the Army Corps, an acceptable alternative could be analyzed, but would require the town to contribute more toward the cost.
That scenario would eliminate the groins and see the beach rebuilt to a width of 70 feet using sand dredge from offshore. The channel would be dredged every 10 years and that sand would be added to the beach.
At Camp Hero, the Army Corps will start an effort next week to determine if there is anything remaining from the military use of the site that needs to be cleaned up.
The base was used for military training during the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Spanish-American War, and World Wars I and II, and became a coastal defense installation. Anti-aircraft artillery used the site as a firing range, and in 1952, a portion of it became the Montauk Air Force Station.
The majority of the former camp is now a state park, while a town-owned portion includes affordable housing.
During a cleanup effort in the early to mid-1990s, the Army Corps removed underground storage tanks, demolished old buildings, and examined the site for potential spills or hazardous materials, Gregory Goephert, the project manager, said this week. Now, they will be taking another look. A detailed work plan for the initial survey is available for public review at the Montauk Library.
Once the review is complete, a report will be issued with recommended actions, if any are needed, on which the public may comment.
In the meantime, according to its policies, the Army Corps is assessing the public’s interest in establishing a restoration advisory board, that could weigh in on its work at Camp Hero and discuss the most efficient and productive means of cleanup.
If at least 50 citizens petition for the formation of such a board before the end of July — 60 days from the May 26 publication of a notice about the opportunity — the board will be created.