East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez has written to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to request an amendment to the Fire Island Inlet to Moriches Inlet, Downtown Montauk project to incorporate damages to the ocean beach caused by storms in December and January.
Ms. Burke-Gonzalez’s Jan. 24 letter to the D.E.C.’s Coastal Erosion Management Section, Division of Water, states that downtown Montauk’s beach “has been battered and damaged” and is “at risk of catastrophic failure if immediate action is not undertaken to incorporate these repairs into the currently approved work plan.”
The federal Army Corps of Engineers’ Fire Island to Montauk Point beach reformulation project, known as FIMP, is underway. The downtown Montauk portion of the project, an all-sand renourishment of the ocean beach initially scheduled for late 2025, is taking place this winter under the Fire Island to Moriches Inlet PL84-99 Emergency Response contract, which authorizes the Army Corps to provide for emergency activities in support of state and local governments before, during, and after a flood. FIMP is an Army Corps-sponsored project, with the town and the D.E.C. as local partners.
The storms “have left the Downtown Montauk Stabilization projects at risk of catastrophic failure during the next big storm,” the supervisor wrote to Matthew Chlebus, a D.E.C. engineer. The town, she wrote, asks that the Army Corps review and respond to multiple requests.
She asked that the more than 14,000 geotextile bags installed on the downtown beach in 2015 as part of the Army Corps’s downtown Montauk stabilization project be repaired or replaced before the deposition of 450,000 cubic yards of sand as called for in the FIMP project. Because of the recent storms, many of the bags have been damaged or displaced, she wrote. “The damage has been so severe” that the town “questions the structural integrity of the engineered stabilization project.”
Also requested was that all four dune pedestrian crossovers installed in 2015 be repaired or addressed as part of the impending renourishment project. A third request was that a new beach profile survey be conducted to re-establish baselines following the recent storms to determine if more sand is needed for the downtown beach.
“The scouring and avulsion that occurred during the recent storms has left the beach profiles further depleted since the most recent survey of the beach profile that the [Army Corps] used to design and determine the amount of sand volume needed” for the impending renourishment project, Ms. Burke-Gonzalez wrote.
Another request was that the Army Corps incorporate design changes into the damaged vehicle access at South Edison Street to prevent flooding. The supervisor said the access was “significantly compromised” by the storms. “Moreover, the current grade level access allows stormwater to flood the interior sections of downtown Montauk.”
Last, the supervisor requested that the Army Corps improve the Ditch Plain shoreline, with the amount of added sand and the cost to be determined. Damage to the beach and dune “has left the beach profile nonexistent and down to the hard pan,” Ms. Burke-Gonzalez wrote. “There have been dune breaches, flooding, and damage to homes and infrastructure.”
The Army Corps “is aware of the area being discussed as it is part of a betterment option” and has been evaluated previously. The town, she wrote, “is currently evaluating the volume of sand needed for this project.”
