Project Not ‘Shovel Ready’

Concerned Citizens of Montauk is arguing that the Army Corps of Engineers plan to build a seawall along the ocean beach in downtown Montauk, for which bids have now been awarded, is not “shovel ready.”

“There’s a long list of items that need to be addressed,” Jeremy Samuelson, the executive director of C.C.O.M., said at an East Hampton Town Board meeting last Thursday. Mr. Samuelson is also quoted in a separate story on C.C.O.M.’s stand on a lawsuit challenging the project.

The work, which was to have been completed this spring, was split into spring and fall phases when it became clear that time was too short to get it done before the summer tourist season. The town board has been steadfast that work has to be suspended before Memorial Day.

Town officials and engineers have been working on outstanding details, such as stormwater flow onto the beach and the design of walkways over the dune, but Mr. Samuelson said “major drainage and structural issues” remained to be resolved.

“There’s a huge volume of stormwater that’s going to need someplace to go before they build this dune on the beach,” Mr. Samuelson said. If proper drainage is not installed before the seawall goes in, he said, it will be “in fact a levee,” creating downtown flooding.

Noting that the state’s Department of Transportation is poised to begin repaving Montauk Highway between Amagansett and Montauk this spring, at the same time truckloads of sand would be shipped in for the seawall, Mr. Samuelson said the two projects are on a “crash course.”