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| Vol. XIX, No. 5 October-November 2005 | |
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Table of Contents:
Highlights |
Bulletin The conference committee on the 2006 Energy and Water Appropriations bill agreed on a $1.075 million appropriation for continuing the reformulation of the Fire Island Inlet to Montauk Point shore protection project. At a time when many projects around the country are being eliminated or cut dramatically, this appropriation, while small, shows the importance the Long Island Congressional delegation places on completing the reformulation effort. FIA has expressed thanks to members of the delegation staff and to Marlowe and Co., our Washington representative, for preserving this earmark in the final bill. |
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Highlights First Storms of the Season
The effects of Hurricane Wilma, like last October’s storm at sea, drove an angry surf against the Atlantic seaboard, from New Jersey to Massachusetts late in October. Coming a week after eight consecutive days of soaking rain had already swollen ground water levels, many areas saw retaining walls and similar structures collapse. On the mainland, bay flooding was very serious in Bay Shore, Oakdale and Sayville; Gary Divis (Water Island) reports bay tides were the highest seen in 40 years. Parking lot flooding near the bay probably destroyed hundreds, if not thousands, of automobiles, while basement flooding wiped out many a home laundry, furnace and recreation room. Boat owners waded to dockside to be sure their boats had remained tied to the general vicinity of their berths, only to find that many were on rather than alongside the dock. As for beaches, Fire Island, for the most part, was spared, while areas along the Southampton headland lost their summer beach in one fell swoop. Protective features, such as seawalls that had been buried for decades, were seen again. Had the storm hung around for a few more high tides, as nor’easters often do, the picture might have been much grimmer throughout the region. Gary Divis reports that Old Inlet, west of the Smith Point access to the beach, was overwashed more than a quarter mile in each direction. This former inlet (once the way whalers got to Bellport) is in a low portion of the island. Barrier island systems are characterized by inlets that open and close periodically, a process ended when inlets are stabilized, as Moriches Inlet was in the 1930s. Not surprisingly, it isn’t unusual for storm-driven surf to overwash former inlet areas. A side effect of inlets opening occasionally is that the adjacent area of the bay that seldom is refreshed gets a beneficial infusion of seawater. That’s why the Seashore’s enabling legislation provides for occasional mechanical opening of inlets by agreement between the Corps of Engineers and the Department of the Interior. The provision has never been implemented, however, in part because Wilderness Area rules forbid the use of any machinery. . Eastern Fire island has been under erosion pressure throughout the fall. Normally, the Seashore allows sport fishermen, in limited numbers, to drive west from the Smith Point access to cast lines into the surf south of the Wilderness Area. This year, erosion at the east end made this inadvisable. Year-Rounders who must get to east end homes are permitted to drive, at their own risk, but must do so within two hours of low tide. Stan Livingston, Davis Park year-rounder, has posted pictures of the storm’s impact on that community on his website (www.lejabeach.com). At high tide on October 25 seawater was well under several first row houses in the western part of the community; but none had been reported lost by the time the storm passed. The beach in Ocean Ridge, the eastern part of Davis Park, fared better, an indication that the hole in the offshore bar had focused wave energy on the western part of the community. Mr. Divis said Water Island lost some forty feet of dune and the stair to the beach was washed away. The community’s sole east-west walk, which runs along the bay, was undermined and had become impassable by the end of the storm. Mr. Livingston drives the beach to get to his off-island workplace. His travels so far have revealed erosion ranging from significant to serious from Blue Point Beach to Talisman, where some structures are threatened. Just to the west, he reports Fire Island Pines is in “pretty good shape,” although water was up to the dunes at high tide. This beach rebuilt rapidly following last year’s October inundation and may be expected to do so again. On the Pines’ bay side, water was lapping at the doorsteps of the businesses on the west side of the marina at high tide. Four sets of stairs were lost at the west end of Cherry Grove, a community that has been largely spared erosion in recent years, in part because of the hard work of its Dunes Committee. From the Grove through Point O’Woods, the beach displays the familiar scalloping effect, areas of build-up interspersed with minor to serious incursions. This effect, scarcely noticeable in a wide, healthy beach, is magnified when fixed structures come under direct wave attack. In Ocean Beach, in addition to extensive bayside flooding, a serious problem on the ocean side has developed. Several years ago the village won permission to install a geotube between the two groins that had been refurbished by New York State in the early 1970s in order to protect the community water supply. A geotube is a fabric, sausage-like device of about six feet in diameter and up to 300 feet in length. Once in place, the tube is covered with sand and planted with beach grass. The good news is that the Ocean Beach device did what it is supposed to do: the well is protected. The bad news is that the immediately downdrift areas of Corneille Estates, Summer Club and Robbins Rest experienced a scouring effect as the rushing east-to-west current swirled around the jetties. The village and its westerly neighbors are working with coastal engineers and state officials to see what emergency measures may be warranted. Further west, rumors of major erosion damage at Dunewood proved to be unfounded. In the western communities, Mr. Livingston believes the worst erosion is at Saltaire, but even there, no structures seemed seriously threatened by the time the storm had passed. Hugh O’Brien, however, reported bayside flooding was as severe as any in memory. Three fourths of Saltaire was seven to eight inches under water at one point. The community’s cherished wooden boardwalks may need extensive repairs. In all, says Village Trustee O’Brien, cost of the damage in Saltaire probably exceeded a million dollars. (If you can substantiate a loss figure for your community, you should convey it to Assemblywoman Ginny Fields (631) 567-8685, who is compiling loss data for interested agencies and the Legislature.) In all, things could have been worse and, in some ways, the evident stability of western Fire Island, as opposed to its uninhabited part, east of the Watch Hill Visitor Area, is reassuring. Scientists have known, at least since 1985, that western Fire Island is stable, not migrating toward the mainland as some insist. At the same time, however, the island is starved for sand. Updrift groins and inlet jetties, despite bypassing efforts, have reduced the amount of sand that is in front of the communities, protecting them, at any given time. Meanwhile, huge amounts of sand have accumulated west of the island, moving the Fire Island Inlet fully five miles to the west in the last century. Corps of Engineers surveys now indicate some 40 million cubic yards of sand are tied up in the inlet system. This sand is a valuable commodity. In Gateway National Recreation Area’s Sandy Hook, sand is re-used; i.e., pumped a couple of miles updrift and allowed to slide along the beach, nourishing it, a second time. On Fire Island, the Corps has designated the inlet a priority area for studying how sand can best be managed on a regional, rather than a local, basis. FIA will urge that the study look at the Sandy Hook example and think about applying it to Fire Island. Since the flooding disasters along the Gulf of Mexico and the eight Florida hurricanes of the last two years, there is new interest by Fire Island owners in flood insurance matters. FIA Executive Vice President Bob Spencer (71 Macdougal Street, New York NY 10012; bspencerassoc@nyc.roadrunner.com) is gathering information for a special information guide tailored for Fire Island owners. It would be helpful to Bob if you sent specific concerns and questions to him at the above address. At this point he is able to report that a huge FEMA website containing thousands of flood insurance references can be found using computer search engines such as Google. For example, at http://www.fema.gov/pdf/nfip.summary_cov.pdf there is a four-page document that covers the definition of what is a flood, along with other important facts about flood policies, including information on how to choose deductibles, what is insurable and what is not (e.g., living expenses while a covered house is being repaired). A question many have has to do with the maximum flood insurance coverage of $250,000 for dwellings and $100,000 for contents. In today’s real estate market, most Fire Island homes are valued well in excess of these amounts. The question is how to acquire coverage in excess of the face amount of the policy. Pending Bob Spencer’s report, the best advice for obtaining supplemental flood coverage is from your insurance broker. Here are three particularly knowledgeable ones: Bob Snyder, whose office is in Bay Shore (631-665-1084, www.resnyderins.com) tells the Newsletter that excess coverage is available through many markets. Don Hester, at Percy Hoek in Sayville (631-589-4100, don@percyhoek.com) places a lot of flood coverage as does Lori Kelly at the Roe Agency in Patchogue, (631-475-4000, lkelly@roeagency.com). Mr. Spencer notes that a policy issued under the National Flood Insurance Program is NOT a guaranteed replacement cost policy. Most values on Fire Island are based on what you paid (Actual Cash Value). In a permanent residence (where you live 80 percent of the time) you can recover what it costs you to replace the item (Replacement Cost Value) insurance. (Many feel this is arrant prejudice against second-home owners in disregard of the huge economic benefits, nationally and locally, the so-called second-home industry generates.) Further, decks and walkways are no longer covered by flood insurance. Nor is a loss of sand from under a house. Separate sheds and other buildings on the property should have separate insurance coverage, Mr. Spencer says. Your Fire Island house is in either the V (for “coastal high-velocity,” where wind-driven waves are the threat) or A (non-velocity) flood zone. B and C zones, with lesser flood risk levels, do not exist on Fire Island. That means everyone on Fire Island should have flood insurance coverage – both for structure and contents. And if you live near the ocean, you should carry the maximum limits available under the NFIP. Bob Spencer’s separate report to FIA members is expected to deal with questions related to but that go beyond flood insurance. This might include basic New York State and Seashore rules about rebuilding homes damaged by storms to an extent of 50 percent or more. If the damage is serious enough, some homes may be rebuildable only with a DEC variance. One of the questions this raises, and which Bob will look into, is the financial consequence to an owner faced with that situation. If you would like to see the report, write to Bob at the address given above. Please include any particular questions you have as that will give direction to his research. If there is sufficient interest, Bob may create a special e-mail list to disseminate information on an ongoing basis about flood insurance-related issues.
Erosion Control
Taxing District Moves Forward The bill to create an island-wide erosion control taxing district for Fire Island was introduced in the New York State Senate by Senator Owen Johnson just before the Legislature adjourned last June. Many minor changes have been made since then, the major one being the removal of the proposal to also impose a real property transfer tax that would have created a fund for the ECD Board to draw on for beach management purposes. The idea was dropped when we learned that Legislature has uniformly scuttled such taxes as they add to the cost of housing. Affordable housing is a critical issue on Long Island. The reasons for creating the ECD are spelled out in the Summer ‘04 Newsletter, updated by the April ‘05 issue. Basically, we need to do it in order to get a project – and the time is right: the Congressional delegation and Suffolk County are both supportive and the Corps of Engineers seems poised to recommend a plan satisfactory to all players that includes nourishing beaches. Nothing is for certain, of course, but having an ECD in place is the best hope we have of removing a major obstacle: the anticipated reluctance, if not outright hostility, of mainland county residents toward contributing in any way to a project they feel primarily will benefit out-of town beach house owners. Briefly, the bill would::
The FIA board approved the bill after considering member suggestions for requiring a two-thirds majority to set it up. Referendum rules for establishing taxing districts call for a simple majority of registered voters within the district to accept or reject the proposal. Another suggestion would have imposed differing zones of assessment, with higher ones closest to the ocean. This idea was also rejected because the board concluded such a provision would be divisive. The board concluded the erosion issue should be addressed from a whole-community standpoint. In any case, houses nearest the ocean tend to have the highest assessments rates to begin with. The next step is to get the bill introduced in the Assembly and to line up support in both chambers. The FIA board urges all members to become advocates for the ECD, as it may prove critical to future ownership of private property on Fire Island. A copy of the bill as a PDF file is available at the FIA website at this link As readers of this Newsletter are aware, a federal project to nourish and protect Fire Island beaches has been pending since 1960. An interim plan, whereby the Fire Island project reach would be constructed pending final agreement on reformulation, was presented to the public for comment in 2000, but New York State withheld approval. The Corps, with input from other agencies, the Nature Conservancy (TNC) and FIA, produced a “Consensus Vision Statement” in 2004 that described how the balance of the project would be completed. This approach was used in the construction of the West-of-Shinnecock Inlet interim project in 2005, leaving only the Fire Island reach and the coastal ponds as the primary elements remaining to be dealt with. Recently, however, the headlands of Southampton and East Hampton have emerged as problem areas. The Town of Southampton has joined in litigation to force Suffolk County to remove or modify the groins at Georgica Pond, as they are said to have an impact on beaches to the west. Lately, the Long Island Association (LIA) has emerged as “honest broker” in the discussions. Both FIA and TNC are members of the LIA Energy and Environment Committee and of its Coastal Subcommittee. That has provided neutral ground for discussion of differences. Recent meetings have been attended by the involved state and federal agencies, notably including the Fire Island National Seashore (FINS), Suffolk County, the Marine Sciences Research Center of Stony Brook University, New York Sea Grant and others. Recent discussions have been devoted to Corps presentations of the results of various scientific and policy studies, with general approval shown of the study techniques used and the conclusions reached. Increasingly, the scientific issues seem resolved to the satisfaction of most participants. Policy matters, and specifically, those that bear on land use policy, are the main issues that need to be worked out. Reformulation of a Corps of Engineers shore protection project is a complex, multi-faceted undertaking that must achieve specific objectives that grow out of broad and not necessarily consistent national goals. On one hand, a project must show a positive benefit to the economy (National Economic Development, or NED, objectives); on the other it must avoid making a negative impact on the environment (National Environmental Restoration, or NER, objectives). Designing and implementing a project that achieves the positive impacts while avoiding the negative ones is difficult, especially considering the many interest groups, each zealously protecting its interests. These range from those who want the right to use their property as they see fit, to those who believe that the very existence of private property on or near the beach threatens aspects of the environment that should be protected at almost any cost. FIA seeks a Fire Islander from the south shore of the mainland to serve as its representative on the Citizen’s Advisory Committee of the South Shore Estuary Reserve. This group was set up by the Department of State to draft a plan to address pollution, rebuild coastal habitats, preserve public access, and take other steps to preserve Great South Bay. John Lund (Davis Park) has kept FIA abreast of plans and progress for the past few years, but is no longer able to make the monthly meetings (in the evening) in West Sayville. He would be happy to introduce a replacement, and FIA needs someone to keep in contact with this group. Call Mr. Lund (631-567-9292) or Jerry Stoddard (212) 929-6415. |
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