$37 Million Contract For Long Beach Dune Project Awarded

LONG BEACH, NY - A contract of over $37 million for phase one of the Long Beach Dune Project was recently awarded, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer and U.S. Representative Kathleen Rice announced recently.

The contract, totaling $37,595,900, was awarded to H&L Contracting for groin rehabilitation and construction of new groins between East Rockaway and Jones Inlet for a total of 7 miles.

"This contract award is the result of outstanding teamwork and cooperation on all levels of government to increase resiliency and reduce risk from storm damage on Long Island’s south shore in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy," Col. David Caldwell, commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said. "Construction will require some short-term patience and understanding from the public as we work to put these long-term risk mitigation and resiliency measures in place for this important coastal storm risk management project."

Schumer and Rice both say that this ensures "shovels will soon be in the ground."

“Long Beach is officially well on its way towards a more resilient waterfront and a more hardened shoreline between East Rockaway Inlet and Jones Inlet," Schumer said. "Now that a contract has been awarded, shovels will soon be in the ground and Long Beach homeowners and businesses will soon be better protected in the event of another storm."

The Sandy Relief Bill that was signed into law, only required that the feds cover 65 percent of the total cost of the project, which could be increased if the projects met the criteria of “on-going construction” or are updated to make them stronger, more resilient, and offer better protection against storms.

After the bill passed, Schumer began working with the Army Corps of Engineers and Office of Management and Budget to lay out a strategic pathway for this project, and others, to be considered as “ongoing construction” and modified to adapt to the changing climate in order to make it eligible for full federal funding.

The Federal Government will pay 100 percent of the cost of initial construction of the project using Sandy relief funds and 65 percent of the future renourishment costs subject to additional appropriations.

The cost of the initial construction of the project is estimated to be a total of $230 million.

In 2013, Schumer met with community leaders and local officials at Point Lookout and pushed the Office of Management and Budget and the Army Corps to begin construction and planning of the barrier island protection project immediately.

The Town of Hempstead and the City of Long Beach passed resolutions in support of the project.

“Hempstead Town has been committed to the Long Beach Island Project for decades, and we are pleased to be moving forward with the next step of this project,” said Hempstead Town Supervisor Anthony J. Santino. “This area is in desperate need of a long-term solution to the erosion that threatens residences and businesses that call our barrier island home.”

Details about the project proposal have been released and point to a dune of approximately 16 feet above sea level across the length of Long Beach’s shoreline. The proposal also includes raising the island’s beach by five feet.

"We are extremely pleased to see that Contract 1 has been awarded" City Council Vice President Anthony Eramo said. "Hitting this milestone serves as real progress towards phase one, the construction of stone groins along the beaches of our barrier island in the near future. Once completed, for the first time in this City's history, our community will finally have an engineered beach to help defend against flooding, an enormous step forward in our mission to rebuild a stronger, smarter and safer Long Beach."