The Fire Island Association was not a party to the lawsuit brought by the New York Coastal Partnership, described in the following complaint. The FIA Board of Directors concluded that, while Board members may, as individuals, support the factual assertions in the complaint, FIA should not be a party to it as doing so could interfere with necessary communications between our organization and the various state and federal agencies named in the suit. Accordingly, the complaint is provided strictly as a matter of information.
continue reading "June 2001 - NY Coastal Partnership Case"

The NPCA press release concerning the Fire Island National Seashore being one of the ten most endangered parks has several serious errors:

1. The Corps of Engineers is not “proposing” anything. At a cost of several million dollars and several years of study, the Corps responded to a request by Members of Congress and the State of New York to survey the south shore of Long Island and recommend methods of reducing storm damage. The Corps’ EIS was the subject of a public hearing in January 2000 where it was broadly supported by residents in the project area and in areas of the Long Island mainland that would be benefited by a stronger barrier island. In November 1999, the State indicated it expected to support the project if no new information arose either at the hearing or in the 30-day comment period. Nothing new arose, but the state has yet even to comment officially.
continue reading "FINS Named Among America’s Ten Most Endangered Parks!??"

The proposed Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP) for Long Island’s south shore estuary is disappointing to those who hoped it would provide a blueprint for improved management practices. Instead, the plan simply identifies areas of concern that were already known to localities well before the South Shore Estuary Reserve (SSER) Advisory Council began its work. By seeming to promise assistance to localities that it was not prepared to deliver, the Council may have actually impeded some local work from going forward.
continue reading "March 2001 South Shore Estuary Reserve Excludes FIA"

General

The following comments reflect the views of the Fire Island Association and relate, except where noted, to the Fire Island National Seashore, within whose boundaries there are some 3,850 properties and businesses. FIA, with over 1,600 paid members, represents the interests of these owners. As the comments note, it is the declared intention of some government agencies and environment groups to remove existing homes from communities that were protected by the Fire Island National Seashore Act, and this was a frequent subject of discussion during the workshop­. The Fire Island Association believes this is unnecessary, as well as violative of the statute, since well-established methods of beach nourishment can protect existing structures, while newly applicable state law provides adequate assurance that the approved density levels will not be exceeded. Accordingly, FIA intends to use all measures at its disposal to resist any effort to gain control of Fire Island property other than from a willing conveyor.
Opening Remarks by Col. William H. Pearce, NY District Engineer, USACE
continue reading "February 2001 “Non-Structural Solutions” Are Neither"

Non-Structural Solutions Workshop

General

It is the declared intention of some government agencies and environment groups to remove existing homes from communities that were protected by the Fire Island National Seashore Act, and this was a frequent subject of discussion during the workshop­. The Fire Island Association believes this is unnecessary, as well as violative of the statute, since well-established methods of beach nourishment can protect existing structures, while newly applicable state law provides adequate assurance that the approved density levels will not be exceeded.

continue reading "February 2001: Non-Structural Solutions"

…With Facts About the Shore

By Gerard Stoddard

The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) recently published on the internet (see nwf.org) a list of 25 Civil Works projects that NWF feels symbolizes the inherently anti-environment nature of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Project No. 10 on NWF’s list of “Top Twenty-five Environmentally Harmful and Financially Wasteful Corps Projects” is the Fire Island Interim Project. Called FIIP for short, this is a project with which the present writer is familiar enough to be able to point out unfair or inaccurate statements in the NWF analysis. People involved with the other Corps projects listed could probably provide similar comment.

 
continue reading "NWF Plays Fast and Loose…"

DON’T TREAD ON ME ! One oceanfront owner’s long-view of the struggle ahead to survive the onslaught of nature and government’s basic “acquisitive nature.” This is a personal commentary and does not necessarily represent the opinion of the Fire Island Association. I present strong evidence of an unfair intent to thwart your “sand civil rights” and your property rights. We must fight it!

By Bob Spencer

 
continue reading "Don’t Tread on Me"

1. 80% of Fire Island is public park land and will remain open and undeveloped space? (That includes a National Seashore, a state park, a county park, and a couple of Town parks.)

2. Only 20% of Fire Island is developed with approximately 4,000 usable lots in
17 small communities? The homes in these communities offer the major rental resource for public access.

continue reading "Did You Know These Facts About Fire Island…"

by Carole Paquette

(Reprinted with Permission of the Fire Island Tide)

Fire Island homeowner Gerard Stoddard has been president of the Fire Island Association, which represents more than half of Fire Island’s property owners, since February 1987. A native Long Islander and graduate of Cornell University and NYU Law School, he is a public affairs communications specialist active in coastal issues. From 1973 to 1986 he was vice president of corporate communications for SCM Corporation. In 1989, he founded the Long Island Coastal Alliance, a not-for-profit forum for research and discussion of national and Long Island coastal policy issues. His firm, Coastal Reports, Inc., publishes a newsletter dedicated to analysis of issues affecting coastal property owners, communities and businesses.

continue reading "Fire Island Tide, June 19, 1998"

MEMORANDUM

TO: Gerard Stoddard

FROM: Lawrence R. Liebensman, Mark M. Viani

DATE: June 5, 2000

RE: Coastal Zone Development Moratorium Proposed

This memo addresses the Department of Interior’s (“DOI”) demand for a development moratorium in its February 29, 2000 letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“USACE”).

continue reading "June 2000 — Park Demands a Moratorium on Building"