Highlights
Beach Fill Projects Near Completion
The weather hasn’t cooperated but the projects have been all but completed.
Supt. Spirtes Attends FIA Board Meeting
He answers questions about the future of Fire Island.
The "vision" wins endorsement; Joe Vietri gets a big promotion … and a letter from FIA.
An opportunity to join with other Long Islanders to lobby for shore protection. He hears from the beach and his support is expected.
Absentee Ballots for School Votes?
Not just yet, it appears.
Beaches at Saltaire, Fair Harbor, Dunewood and Lonelyville have received 700,000 cubic yards of sand collectively, and the beaches at this writing are wide, if frozen. Fire Island Pines, in a separate project, will soon have received 500,000 cubic yards along its shoreline. The engineers and dredge crews operated in record cold temperatures. Even the proximity of the ocean, which normally keeps temperatures bearable on the island, was of little help.
The twin projects were constructed under permits issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and approved by the Fire Island National Seashore after discussion with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The entire cost of the projects is being met by community erosion control taxing district funds; i.e., the communities involved are paying the full cost.
The dredge contractor, Coastal Planning & Engineering, has issued daily progress reports and the Fire Island Year Round Residents Association has posted them on its web site, www.fiyrra.com, along with photographs. Stan Livingston (Davis Park) maintains the web site and made many of the excellent photographs. CP&E’s on-site Coastal Engineer, Tom Pierro, provided the reports and other photos.
The community-sponsored dredge and fill projects are
stop gap measures designed to protect beaches, some of which had been
severely eroded, pending a larger island-wide project under the Corps of
Engineers’ Fire Island Inlet to Montauk Point (FIMP) project (see
separate story).
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Superintendent Attends Board Meeting
Superintendent David W. Spirtes and his deputy, Barry Sullivan, motored to Manhattan from Patchogue on December 16 to talk with FIA Board members about current developments in the Fire Island National Seashore. The drive from Patchogue to New York may not seem remarkable but, inasmuch as it followed a drive that morning from Philadelphia to Patchogue, it seems worth noting. This was the second board meeting for the Superintendent, but the first was pretty much a "get acquainted" meeting.
The December 16 meeting was different, not least because it was held at the home of Suzanne Goldhirsch, rather than the somewhat austere Times Square offices of Skadden Arps (Tom Schwarz has provided the board with a place to meet for the last several years), and the relaxed atmosphere helped ease the conversation.
Mr. Spirtes’ informal remarks began with an acknowledgement that human actions that blocked the natural flow of sand from east to west had affected Fire Island’s beaches. Everyone knows this, of course, but hearing a Superintendent say it was a first.
A gnawing concern of many is the belief that the Seashore would like to remove houses in the Coastal Erosion Hazard Area by condemning and demolishing them, or by refusing to permit beach nourishment until storms have reduced their number significantly. This concern is in part a legacy of the previous Superintendent. But Mr. Spirtes said he did not know anyone in government who thought that condemnation by the park would happen, given the huge expense involved and the number of approvals that would be needed. The only condemnation by park edict that he foresees would be of new construction that significantly violated zoning codes.
He stressed the importance of preparing a new General Management Plan (the present one having been prepared in the 1970s, before the Wilderness Area was created). He thinks a new GMP will provide stability, both to park management and those whose property is within the park borders. He promised that homeowners, through FIA and community associations, will play a role in the preparation of the new GMP and that he has already commissioned a study of the administrative history of the Seashore.
Superintendent Spirtes had attended a recent meeting at Fort Hamilton (home of the Corps of Engineers’ North Atlantic Division) at which the so-called "vision statement" (see June-July 2003 Newsletter) for the Fire Island Inlet to Montauk Point shore protection project was reviewed. The statement and the underlying plan for completing the project was endorsed by those present, including representatives of state agencies. Mr. Spirtes believes the Corps’ plans to implement a sustainable dune alignment for the Fire Island segment of the project is workable (in principle) from the park’s perspective. He noted that many changes have been made in the project since its authorization more than 40 years ago, an era in which there was no Environmental Policy or Endangered Species Acts, nor even a Fire Island National Seashore.
2004 is the fortieth anniversary year for the Seashore. (The Act was signed by President Johnson on 9/11/64.) The Superintendent hopes the occasion can be marked in some useful way, perhaps by a colloquium, with papers on park history presented and debated. The directors endorsed the idea of an appropriate celebration.
The question arose over what discretionary authority a Seashore Superintendent has on matters such as beach fill and beach scraping. Mr. Spirtes noted that a previous Superintendent had seen his authority specifically reduced in this sphere. He noted, however, that the overall objective, protecting the park’s resources, continues paramount for all Superintendents. One of the areas where this will be an issue, in terms of a potential shore protection project, is likely to be in the question of whether sand can be placed in federally owned beaches as well as those adjacent to communities. In its quest for "a natural dune alignment," the park has to recognize that a barrier island with stabilized inlets at each end can never be truly natural. The objective has to be to make it as natural appearing as possible. That means periodic nourishment in all areas, mimicking the forms created under natural conditions; i.e., in which inlets form when and where nature dictates.
The conversation was very useful and will be resumed
often, we hope. Certainly Mr. Spirtes seems determined to be available
to representatives of island residents and homeowners, and determined to
resolve any matters that can be. This attitude in itself is a major
advance from the previous park administration.
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Joseph R. Vietri, who had been Deputy Chief, Planning Division for the New York District of the Corps of Engineers, has been elevated to Chief, Policy and Planning Division, Civil Works Directorate, North Atlantic Division of the Corps.
In his new post Mr. Vietri will have policy and planning approval responsibility over all of the Corps’ Civil Works projects from Maine to Virginia. This elevates him to senior status among the Corps’ civilian employees.
The meeting at Fort Hamilton (previous story) occurred just prior to Mr. Vietri’s promotion. Those to whom he presented the "vision statement" for the Fire Island to Montauk Point reformulation plan (FIMP) gave it full agency support. Now his task will be to enlist the support of all of the "players," municipal and state governments, as well as independent agencies, environment interests and property owners. FIA has promised to do its part.
A key aspect of the Corps’ Reformulation project is that it must address the needs (if not the wishes) of a variety of governments, independent agencies and interest groups. As noted in previous Newsletters, the Corps has been reaching out to those whose participation and support will be needed if the 83-mile project is ever to become a reality. One way to be sure that no group’s needs are being ignored is to ask them individually what they are. This is the context in which FIA was asked by the Planning Division of the New York District to set forth what islanders view as "minimal project standards."
The result was a four page letter which, after vigorous debate among members of the FIA Board of Directors, was approved at the January meeting. Among key issues was FIA’s strong belief that Fire Island’s current plight of sand starvation affects the whole island, not just the public recreational beaches adjacent to the communities. A project that nourishes only those beaches and dunes would do little to hold off a breach in the threatened Barrett Beach/Talisman area, for example. If the effort is to protect the integrity of the island as a whole, it follows that all parts of it must be included.
This raises the question of whether the Wilderness Area could be protected by sand placement. Early on, the park’s General Management Plan (GMP) stated that "Sand nourishment on beaches of major federal landholdings will not be undertaken." But that was before the Wilderness Area was established. When it was, the seaward boundary was carefully placed "at the seaward toe of the dune." This was aimed at permitting the continuation of beach driving to ensure vehicle access to east end communities. But it might also be construed to allow beach (if not dune) nourishment. If sand is on the beach, dunes will form naturally, if slowly.
Another point argued in the FIA letter involved the potential of the state having to acquire structures in the course of building a protective project. In the beach fill projects now being completed, it was possible to build the new beach seaward of all existing homes. There may be some cases where doing this would require a seaward jog in the dune line, a difficult and expensive engineering feat. FIA’s letter acknowledges this as a possibility but seeks assurance that the dunes would "be constructed generally seaward of the seaward limit of existing structures."
FIA outlined standards for the height and width of dunes, as well as for the beach itself. We also noted that we expect Fire Islanders would tax themselves (in a new erosion control taxing district that would supplant existing districts for new beach nourishment projects only) for a portion of the local share of the cost of the project. Federal funds would cover 65 percent of the cost and state and local governments would share in the balance equally. For a $60 million project extending from Watch Hill to the Lighthouse, communities could afford to pay half of the non-federal, non-state share, or some $10 million. The erosion district would issue bonds repayable over several years.
Finally, the project would require periodic renourishment, with the first expected after about eight years.
These are some of the "minimal standards" Fire
Islanders will fight for. Other interest groups and agencies will have
their own views. The key to it all is that the Corps must gain consensus
of all participants if there is to be any project at all.
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ASBPA Washington Beach Conference:
Beach communities from all over the country will meet at the Washington Court Hotel in Washington, February 25-27 for the annual conference of the American Shore & Beach Preservation Association. Congressman Israel is among the many Congressional figures expected to attend. The meeting is held in February to provide an opportunity to visit Congressional offices and lobby for beach protection. This is a time when every interest group in the country is in Washington pleading for attention. Fire Islanders and Long Islanders must be among them.
FIA president Jerry Stoddard, long-time vice president of ASBPA for the northeast, is asking Long Island beach people to come to Washington, if not for the conference, then at least for a special meeting on Capitol Hill to meet with Congressional staffers and a representative of the Corps of Engineers, to discuss the importance of the Reformulation project to Long Island. If you would like to attend, or would like more information, send a postcard with your name and address to Fire Island Association, 263 West 20th Street # 1, New York NY 10011-3542, or send an e-mail.
The President’s Fiscal 2005 budget for beach projects looks to Washington observers to be the worst ever. His budget writers have, in fact, shown signs they intend to zero out the federal beach nourishment program. While the Fire Island to Montauk Point program (FIMP) is already authorized, prospects are grim for the long term unless Congress once again asserts its prerogatives in this area.
One thing to watch is the Water Resources Development Act approved by the House last year but not yet by the Senate. Among items for which funding is sought are projects that will add sand at the east end of Fire Island to protect the Flight 800 Memorial and parts of Smith Point County Park. This is sand that, once introduced into the littoral system, will move west toward community beaches. Another request would add funds to the Corps of Engineers’ Reformulation of the FIMP Project for a Regional Sediment Study aimed at the millions of cubic yards of sand tied up in the Fire Island Inlet. Sand is a precious resource to Long Island. It is time to explore ways in which it can be recaptured and pumped updrift to maintain beaches that have seen their normal sand supply interrupted by groins and jetties to the east.
FIA strongly supports these measures and hopes for
support from Senators Schumer and Clinton. You can help by contacting
the Senators at their LI Regional offices:
Attn: Resi Cooper, Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, 155 Pinelawn Road, # 250, Melville NY 11747.
(631-249-2825);
Attn: Christopher Hahn, Sen. Charles E. Schumer, 145 Pinelawn Road, # 300, Melville NY 11747 (631-753-0978).
You can also
remind our Congressmen of our support for the Reformulation project.
Contact:
Tracie Holmberg, Cong. Israel’s Office, 150 Motor Parkway,
#108, Hauppauge, NY 11788 (631-951-2210; and
Luis Rosero, Cong. Bishop’s Office, 3680 Rte. 112, Coram NY 11727
(631-696-6500)
See the complete "Officials
contact list for the Reformulation Project".
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When he was still Assemblyman Steve Levy, the new Suffolk County Executive began his quest for advancement on Fire Island. And he didn’t do it as a fair weather friend: in December 2002 he joined some fifty Fire Islanders, Legislator Angie Carpenter and LIPA Chairman Richard Kessel in a review of the power failures of the previous summer. On the ferry to Ocean Beach that day was the first anyone heard him mention that he would run. To be honest, only he was expressing confidence at that point that he would succeed. But succeed he did, besting Republican County Clerk Ed Romaine, who also campaigned vigorously on Fire Island. (Both candidates, along with Saltairean Bill Cunningham, who lost to Mr. Levy in the September Democratic primary, addressed the FIA summer meeting last June.)
In past summers, Fire Islanders in Cherry Grove, Davis Park, Fire Island Pines, Ocean Bay Park, Seaview and Ocean Beach attended fund raising receptions for Assemblyman Levy, who has always shown keen understanding of the island’s problems. When still in the Assembly, at FIA’s request, Mr. Levy drafted legislation calling for a new Fire Island-wide erosion control taxing district (that would have to be established under the state’s County Law as two townships would be involved). While details are far from being worked out, it’s thought that a single, island-wide district might be better able to work in tandem with the county, state and federal agencies in implementing the Corps’ Reformulation plan.
While that remains in the future, the fact that the
County Executive’s inaugural singled out beach erosion as one of the
environmental problems the county faces is significant. Dunewood
Attorney Irving Like, who served on the environment subcommittee of the
County Exec’s transition team, was expected to put forward strong
arguments in favor of county support and involvement in the
Reformulation process. Mr. Like will be among a group of Fire Islanders
who hope to discuss island issues with Mr. Levy soon.
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Absentee Ballots on Fire Island
In New York, people fortunate enough to have a residence in more than one voting district must choose between them on Election Day. Not long ago, several New Yorkers with homes in the Hamptons tried to convince a federal court that they were denied equal protection of the laws when they were prohibited from voting in both their summer and winter communities. Their lawsuit was rejected by the District Court as was their appeal. (Wit v. Berman, No. 00-9482, 2002 U.S. App. LEXIS 21301 (2d Cir. Oct. 11, 2002) But in its ruling the appeals court pointed out that while such voters did not have "to establish to the satisfaction of a registrar of voters or a court that one home or the other is their principal, permanent residence, they can choose between them" when deciding where to vote.
As is true of many summer communities, most Fire Islanders do not occupy their homes the year around; indeed, many spend the winter in other states or countries. People who live and work in New York City or Nassau and Suffolk Counties probably make up three-fourths of Fire Island property owners, and several hundred of these choose to exercise their right to vote at Fire Island, something FIA has long advocated.
It is not difficult to get an absentee ballot from the county Board of Elections, but voting on school district matters is another story. Last spring two residents of the Pines, at first denied absentee ballots, had to sue the Fire Island Union Free School District to get them issued. That both owned property in Fire Island Pines and were registered to vote in Suffolk County was not disputed. But the Clerk of the school board apparently felt that the Education Law required her to determine if they were "bona fide residents" of the district, as opposed, apparently, to "summer people" who merely pay taxes into the district.
That is not the issue, insists Alan Brockman, president of Fire Island Pines Property Owners Association and one of the litigants. "Registered voters on Fire Island have the right to vote in person or by absentee ballot, period," he says. He and fellow Pines resident Tony Roncalli seek a declaratory judgment that the Clerk "lacks authority to conduct an inquiry" as to whether an applicant is entitled to receive an absentee ballot beyond checking the voter registration rolls. On January 14 the FIA board of directors supported his position by approving a resolution that endorsed the suit.
People who know the Fire Island school best tend to be its biggest fans, not least because if it didn’t exist, the island would become part of a mainland school district and taxes would go through the roof. But the Woodhull School is also the recognized anchor of the Fire Island community, one of the most important aspects of year-round living on the island. Its existence keeps many families, good people who are essential to Fire Island, living here.
It’s the FIA board’s hope that, in future, the school
board will do all it can to encourage and facilitate voting by absentee
ballot by those summer residents who want to do so. Come spring, an FIA
board committee will call on the school to talk about the budget and
other matters and report back with recommendations.
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