Hashamomuck Cove Owners 'Praying For Best, Preparing For Worst'

SOUTHOLD, NY — As Friday's fierce winds and rain continued to batter the North Fork, residents of storm-socked Hashamomuck Cove are hoping for the best but fearful that the relentless gusts and swelling tides could spell doom.

After the recent January "bomb cyclone" slammed the North Fork, a fishing shack that has stood since the 1920s at Hashamomuck Cove was smashed, battered and completely washed away. Bulkheads were destroyed, homes severely damaged — and residents cried out for help.

On Friday, resident Lynn Laskos watched as high tide loomed and neighbors braced for a repeat. "The families of Hashamomuck Cove are praying for the best but preparing for the worst," she said.

Residents, led by Laskos, asked Southold Town for a roundtable discussion on a plan pitched by the United States Army Corp of Engineers before the town board made any decisions regarding signing on as a local sponsor for a plan to renourish the beach at Hashamomuck Cove.

That meeting was held at the Peconic Lane Community Center, but residents were left with few options, as the town board and county said they were not expecting to sign on to the beach replenishment project as local sponsors. Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell and town board members said they felt the financial price tag was too high a burden to place on the backs of taxpayers.

Russell and the board said they'd help residents in any way they could save taxing residents to pay for private property; to that end, a plan to create an erosion control taxing districts was discussed.

"We are disappointed that the town and county have zero interest in their residents, homeowners, taxpayers and voters," Laskos said Friday. "After all, we are the only buffer to the county road. The roundtable meeting was disturbing, to say the least."

She added that Hashamomuck Cove residents had reached out to Russell several times in recent weeks about an update regarding the taxing district idea; Russell reached out Thursday and said he was waiting on information from the state, she said.

"We are putting a meeting together to discuss taxing district options and will hopefully have that soon," Russell told Patch via email on Friday.

He added that so far, the town was faring well in the most recent storm. "We haven’t gotten any reports of significant flooding yet. Just puddles in low-lying areas. There have been no outages as of yet," he said.

After the storm in January, residents came to the town board to plead for help after their homes were left damaged.

And on Friday, Laskos said many of those homes remained in peril as fierce winds howled by.

"Our hearts are in our throats"

"Our hearts are in our throats," she said. "Most families have not even fixed their houses from the blizzard due to insurance and the permit process. They are going into today's storm damaged. I hope they make it."

Regarding the idea of signing on as a local sponsor for Hashamomuck Cove beach replenishment, Russell has said: "It is important for me to stress that the issue isn't about the cost for me. It is that I do not support the use of taxpayer dollars to pay for the restoration of private property at any cost," Russell said. "I understand that there is a separate goal and that is to protect County Road 48. To me, the optimum word is 'county'". The road, he said, "is not owned by or maintained by the town which means it is for the county to address. The town does not have and should not have any role here."

Suffolk County Commissioner of Public Works Gil Anderson and Suffolk County Chief Engineer Bill Hillman, at the roundtable agreed that the county had no current plan to sign on as a local sponsor to the project pitched by the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

Anderson said the county DPW would do whatever was necessary to protect the road, but said there was no intent for the county to sign on a local sponsor. "My main concern is County Road 48. We are not expecting to be a local partner," he said.

Suffolk County Legislator Al Krupski, when asked by resident Kathleen Phelan if the idea of the county acting as a local sponsor was off the table, said he hasn't said "no" yet, but added that it did not mean that he'd agreed. The ultimate decision, both Krupski and Anderson said, lies with Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone.

During the January storm, Southold Town Police Chief Martin Flatley said a portion of Route 48 between Boisseau Ave. in Southold and Chapel Lane in Greenport was closed due to flooding at Hashamomuck Cove. There was flooding and water damage by Albertson Lane in Greenport, Flatley said.

"The water made its way through the houses during the exceptionally high tide. There was 2 feet of water across Rt. 48, as well as debris from the Long Island Sound," Flatley said. "We had to close it down until the tide went out." The road was salted and reopened, Flatley said.

Patch courtesy photos.