Rally Planned in Montauk as Town Mulls Next Move on Seawall Project
News about the future of the Montauk downtown ocean beach is expected on Monday, after more than a week of ongoing protests against the construction by the Army Corps of Engineers of a 3,100-foot sandbag seawall, which is under way.
In response to a growing outcry by hundreds of town residents to stop the project, East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said Saturday that he had discussions this week with the Army Corps, the state Department of Environmental Conservation, the county, and state and federal elected officials “about what options are and aren’t available.”
Mr. Cantwell said that a press release will be issued at the start of the week, but declined to say if the release would outline a definitive course of action or if a halt to or redesign of the project is forthcoming.
The town signed off a year ago on the $8.4 million project at federal expense, designed as an interim solution to protect the downtown area from storm surge, until a larger, beach reconstruction project can be undertaken by the Army Corps. When that reconstruction, a “sand-only” approach that is widely endorsed by both residents and town officials, might take place, under the Army Corps’ so-called Fire Island to Montauk reformulation plan, has been debated, as the project has been moving slowly toward fruition for five decades.
An immediate sand-only project was not an option offered by the Army Corps. “The project itself is a product of decisions that are made on multiple levels,” Mr. Cantwell said in a phone interview on Saturday. “Between that, there are many options that I personally would prefer, and have preferred all along.”
The supervisor did not say whether the widespread public opposition had caused him to reconsider his support for the sandbag wall given a lack of other options for immediate beach work by the Army Corps. But, he said, “I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about it.”
“There are a lot of people involved in this situation that would like to turn back the clock, but the facts are what they are today,” he said. “And we have to deal with the facts as they are today. We have to deal with the federal and state governments, that are partners in this,” Mr. Cantwell said.
The supervisor said that he had made a point to meet with leaders of the opposition movement “so at least both sides understand the position the other side is in.”
Along with Mr. Cantwell, a meeting on Friday was attended by Town Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc, Paul Monte, head of the Montauk Chamber of Commerce, and two key opponents of the Army Corps work, Thomas Bradley Muse and Kevin McAllister of Defend H2O, plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed last spring against the beach project. A decision on their request for a restraining order to stop the work is forthcoming.
In Facebook posts on Saturday, Mr. Muse and Mr. McAllister shared slightly different takes on the outcome of the meeting. According to Mr. Muse, both town officials in attendance agreed to work toward a town board decision to ask the Army Corps to switch to a sand-only approach.
He urged people to email other town board members over the weekend to support that idea.
Mr. McAllister was not quite so hopeful. He noted that, while everyone prefers a sand-only project, “the town is unwilling to end the project if the Corps objects or requires a procedural do-over, costing time and money.” Concern was raised, he said, that if East Hampton asks the Corps to stop the seawall project, it would not return to Montauk to add sand to the beach.
“The ‘pause button’ was never hit, nor will it be unless the heat is turned up,” Mr. McAllister wrote. “ [The] town wants to appear as if their hands are tied. Wrong, they can walk away,” he said.
A rally against the seawall is planned for 2 p.m. Sunday on the beach at South Edison Street in Montauk, where opponents plan to create messages in the sand that will be photographed from above.