A house on stilts at the end of Mulford Lane on Napeague has now completely succumbed to the icy waters of Gardiner’s Bay.
“It has collapsed completely,” Jason Charron of the Marine Patrol told the East Hampton Town Board on Tuesday.
The house had sat on pilings above the water since around 2004, but earlier this month, the stilts snapped in the icy conditions and the house dropped into the water. The task of determining who would clean up the mess came next.
“It’s a complex process,” said East Hampton Town Councilman Tom Flight. He said because the house was technically within a state-owned waterway the board had to work closely with the Department of Environmental Conservation as well as a handful of local offices — the Building Department and the Natural Resources Department — to coordinate the removal. Mr. Flight thanked everyone for a swift response.
In a press release last Thursday, Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said the town had asked the D.E.C. for emergency authorization to begin removing the structure “to prevent debris from becoming a broader hazard to marine traffic, nearby properties, and sensitive natural areas. . . . This structure had reached a point where inaction would have put people, property, and natural resources at risk, and acting quickly and responsibly is the right course.”
Although the town has contracted with Chesterfield Associates to remove the structure from the water, icy conditions have prevented it from doing so. For now, Mr. Charron said, what’s left of the house remains trapped in the ice.
When conditions allow, the marine contractor will bring in two barges — one for the heavy equipment needed for the demolition and one for the debris — from the North Fork. A boom around the entire structure will contain the remains.
For the moment, the project will have to wait for the ice to recede. Mr. Charron said that they will have a better idea of the scope of the project by later this week.
