A Turning Point Missed Locally

Hurricane Sandy, which had a significant, though not catastrophic, impact on the East End, has been described as a turning point for coastal policy — only it’s not true here on the highly vulnerable East End. Instead, local officials have been mired in a 1960s-era strategy embodied by the United States Army Corps of Engineers downtown Montauk project. There seems to be little more than a hope that sometime this year the Army Corps will unveil a magical plan for a vast undertaking for most of Long Island’s south shore. This is a dangerous failure of leadership.

East Hampton and Southampton’s support for armoring private property at public expense is indicative that both towns’ officials are incompetent in this regard. Yes, East Hampton recently created a committee to guide future coastal policy, but its record so far is not good. East Hampton bucked the law governing shoreline projects when it signed off on the Montauk effort. The town also got grant money to study the problem of its threatened beaches.

However, judgment must be reserved until the committee’s recommendations are announced and it is seen if the town will give them measurable support. Southampton Town is now led by Jay Schneiderman, who cast a yes vote as a Suffolk legislator in favor of the Army Corps’s Montauk work; this suggests that a visionary coastal program will not be likely there either.

The top priority for Long Island’s coastal managers must be preserving beaches, not saving private property. Retreat is the only solution that will ensure the public’s right to use and enjoy the beaches. If the Army Corps continues to dictate how the towns and villages act, the beaches will be lost. Instead, local officials, like their New York City counterparts, must look for new solutions. 

The East End stands in contrast to other communities, such as New York City, which recently won millions in federal funding for what is called resiliency projects. New York’s plan includes $179 million in disaster funding from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, notably not the Army Corps. The city’s proposal is for a combination of seawalls and grassy berms to protect downtown Manhattan from storm flooding, in keeping with the program’s goal of reducing current and future vulnerability. 

By contrast, the Montauk project will result in the loss of an important recreational beach and damage to adjacent properties unless an inexhaustible pot of money is found to place sand there indefinitely. Anyone who thinks the Army Corps is the right agency for the job simply hasn’t been paying attention to the coastline elsewhere. 

In recent days, the folly of the Montauk work was again made apparent when a minor storm scoured portions of the project area. Equipment and material were scattered by the tides and waves, underscoring the ever-changing conditions. Aerial photographs show the hamlet’s oceanfront hotels and residences bulging out beyond the natural line of the dunes in adjacent stretches. That they were built in the wrong place has long been understood. The real cost of that error is now being paid for.

There are other ways to cope with a changing shore, the question is whether officials will pay attention to those who call for a better approach. So far, the signs are not good.