Sticky Issues Resolved

Two issues related to the reinforced dune to be built by the Army Corps of Engineers along the downtown Montauk beach — how to deal with stormwater drainage and the design of a dozen pedestrian beach accesses over the artificial dune — appeared to have been resolved this week after discussions among the Corps, New York State officials, and an engineer hired by East Hampton Town.

Construction of the $8.4 million federal project, which will result in a 16.5-foot-tall dune with a core of sand-filled geotextile bags stretching 3,100 feet along the shore from the Atlantic Terrace motel to Emery Street, is slated to begin in October, after a planned spring start was delayed.

Steve Pratek of Dvirka and Bartilucci, an engineering firm hired late last year by the town, had told the town board at a meeting early this month that stormwater drainage and pedestrian beach accesses were still being hashed out.

Water that builds up during rainstorms from a 33-acre area of Montauk collects in the South Edison Street area, Mr. Pratek said, and generally flows from that low point over the sand into the sea. But the Army Corps dune will stem that flow, causing flooding in the downtown area.

Installing traditional drainage structures such as recharge basins and drywells underground in the area would be problematic, Mr. Pratek said, because of  the groundwater level, soil structure, and limits on where they can be placed. A $3 million system could be installed — at town expense — he said, but it would be able to handle less than an inch of rain, a fraction of what builds up during a storm.

The installation of a floodgate in the dune, such as those used in the Army Corps-constructed levees in New Orleans, had been suggested. A wood or metal gate could be opened to allow built-up rainwater to reach the ocean or closed to keep ocean surges from flooding the downtown.

But last week a different solution was informally agreed upon, according to Alex Walter, East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell’s assistant. He reported on Tuesday that the plans now call for a lower dune at South Edison Street, where a vehicle access is proposed, so that stormwater can flow over the dune, and for a stockpile of extra sand to be provided to the town, which would be available to fill the breach and keep the ocean out when necessary.

When to leave the opening in the lower dune intact and when to close it would presumably be a matter of judgment during a storm that threatens both ocean surges and stormwater flooding. At Lowenstein Court, to the eastern edge of the dune project, where a drainage pipe now funnels stormwater over the beach, the pipe will be extended through the dune.

The second sticking point was what the pedestrian accesses over the dune would look like. While town officials pictured “a simple path,” as Mr. Cantwell described them at the July 14 discussion, officials of the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation were insisting on freestanding bridge-like structures — 50-foot-long spans a foot and a half higher than the dune.

“That becomes a massive structure,” Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc said at the session.

“These things get built — nobody’s going to like them. The community’s not going to like them,” Mr. Cantwell said.

In addition to the state officials’ opinion, Mr. Pratek told the town that the Army Corps wanted only five pedestrian accesses over the dune, based on concerns about protecting the geotextile sandbags. But agreements between the oceanfront property owners and the town, when needed easements from the property owners were obtained, called for the individual accesses.

Mr. Walter said Tuesday that the town has now gotten “basically, what we asked for” — a plan for unobtrusive walking paths. However, the town will be obligated to maintain the paths by adding sand if they become degraded.

The Army Corps project is described by the federal agency as an interim measure to stabilize the beach until a reconstruction project gets under way through the agency’s larger Fire Island to Montauk Point “reformulation study” — which has been ongoing for more than 60 years.

The project has been challenged by the Eastern Long Island Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation and by an environmental advocacy group called Defend H20. Along with four individual petitioners, they have filed a lawsuit against the project in State Supreme Court.

Opponents of the project argue that it will cause environmental degradation of the beach through increased erosion and the introduction of upland sand, and they say the reinforced dune is counter to East Hampton Town’s coastal regulations and policies.

Speaking at the town board’s July 14 meeting, Jeremy Samuelson, the executive director of Concerned Citizens of Montauk, called it “highly unrealistic” to expect that the project’s design would be worked out in time for construction to begin in the fall.

 “I think we’re getting strung along here,” he said. “My question is, does the Army Corps of Engineers really want to build this project? At what point do we acknowledge that the emperor has no clothes?”