Town: Montauk Beach Dune Project Will Continue Despite Protests, Arrests

The East Hampton Town Board announced Monday that it will continue to monitor the Downtown Montauk Stabilization Project, but the controversial project will not be stopped.

The board said in a press release that it has “listened carefully to the numerous, passionate concerns raised in response to the commencement of construction activity” and “sees no basis upon which to halt this project.”

The town board says it “fully supports completion of this interim protective measure until the completion of the Fire Island to Montauk Point Reformulation Study (FIMP).”

The commencement of work on the project has led to numerous protests and arrests in recent weeks.

The project, conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, involves burying a total of 14,000 large sandbags along 3,100 feet of Montauk beach to make artificial dunes over 15 feet high.

The project costs a total of $8.4 million and was started in order to protect downtown Montauk after Superstorm Sandy hit the area back in 2012.

“It can’t be emphasized enough that the current project is an interim protective measure until FIMP can finally be completed and the long-term stabilization solutions can be implemented,” Supervisor Larry Cantwell said. “We will do everything in our power to cooperate with our federal, state, and county partners and strongly advocate that the preferred sand-only stabilization project be authorized, funded, and implemented as soon as possible.”

Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc added: “The Town Board is charged with the responsibility of protecting the health, safety, and welfare of the people of the Town of East Hampton. The Town Board cannot ignore the specific findings made in the Corps’ environmental review, nor can it ignore the Federal Court’s rationale in protecting the public’s interest by undertaking this project,”

Cantwell added that the federal court has recognized the real risks that a future significant storm poses to downtown Montauk.

In its decision, the Court set forth: “There can be no question but that Long Islanders, including all those who live, work or visit the area sought to be protected by the project, have suffered catastrophic property and personal loss as a result of past hurricanes and other storms. New York’s latest tragic flooding took place almost three years to the date of this opinion in the form of Hurricane Sandy. It was that event that finally led the Federal government to fully fund disaster relief aimed at protecting coastal communities and citizens from future storms. ...It is clear that any order delaying the project, for even a short period of time, will put the shoreline in danger, and expose Montauk’s population to unnecessary risk.”

Opponents of the project have said that the project will destroy the natural dunes and ruin the look of the beach, and have protested on the beach, resulting in several arrests for disorderly conduct.

One of the people arrested, Lisa Spellman, of both Manhattan and Montauk, who refused to leave the construction pit, told Newsday, “I saw them bulldozing beautiful, healthy, wide dunes.”

The town board previously voted unanimously to approve the project, but after the recent protests by local residents and after about 250 packed the most recent board meeting to ask the board to cancel or delay the project, the town board considered attempting to delay or end the project.

“The calls to cancel this project are well meaning, but simply not in the interest of public safety. We recognize a “sand-only” project is the preferred option, but it was rejected by the Army Corps for this interim project and won’t be an option until FIMP is implemented,” Councilman Fred Overton said. “We will closely observe and track the construction activity of the contractors to ensure compliance with the significant environmental safeguards built into the project’s design that were developed over the past three years of design and environmental review to ensure the protection of both our coastline and downtown areas.”

According to State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., after Hurricane Sandy, “doing nothing” was not an option and leaving downtown Montuak vulnerable would be “irresponsible.”

“As I repeatedly stated during all of the public hearings on this proposal, this emergency project was far from perfect. In fact, I stated it was only marginally better than a sharp stick in the eye,” Thiele said. “This interim measure was necessary to provide some protection to downtown Montauk. The Fire Island to Montauk point (FIMP) project was still several years away. I believe the Town made the right decision in allowing the Army Corps of Engineers to proceed with the emergency project. Moving forward, we need to focus on working with all partners to ensure that under FIMP, an appropriate long-term coastal erosion management plan and soft, large-scale beach re-nourishment project are fully realized.”