Supe Reaches Out For Help To Avoid Dune Road 'Disaster'

SOUTHAMPTON, NY — Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman has reached out for help with a "critical condition" on Dune Road, flooding that he said could soon become a disaster if not addressed.

After four emergency declarations on storm-socked Dune Road near the commercial fishing dock in Hamptons Bays, Schneiderman reached out to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation via a letter requesting rehabilitation assistance.

"I write to advise of a critical condition at the West of Shinnecock Inlet project that imminently threatens life, property and resources of the people of the Town of Southampton, Suffolk County and New York State and to seek additional state and federal assistance to avoid a disaster," Schneiderman said. "Although I understand that the State of New York has already approached the US Army Corps of Engineers for ... assistance and that such assistance is 'in the pipeline', I fear without added impetus that help will come too late."

Storms beginning on Oct. 10 have repeatedly over washed Dune Road and are actively flooding portions of the commercial fish dock, local marinas and restaurants as well as eliminating access to public lands, Schneiderman said.

"To date the Town of Southampton, Suffolk County Department of Public Works and New York State Department of Transportation have been undertaking emergency measures to shore up the dunes and prevent over washes that threatened to breach the barrier island and destroy the commercial fishing dock, private marinas, and restaurants and smother productive wetlands," he wrote.

Over the last several weeks, town, county and state crews have moved more than 5,000 cubic yards of sand to prevent over washing and breaching; together the town and county have spent more than $400,000 in the last three weeks, the supervisor said.

"Unfortunately, these efforts have been unsuccessful in stopping major ocean waves and tides from washing over Dune Road," he wrote. "The locally sourced sand supplies have almost been exhausted and the town and county crews are being forced to scrape sand off the road to push back in the small berm holding back the Atlantic Ocean."

Suffolk County, he added, has advanced a scheduled dredging of a nearby navigation channel for an additional 90,000 cubic yards of sand to try and stabilize the "imminent flooding and erosion catastrophe. Unfortunately, almost all of 20,000 cubic yards of the nearly 45,000 cubic yards placed to date were washed away in two days."

Absent a major beach restoration effort as designed by the US Army Corps of Engineers in the WOSI project, "this area will be the latest breach in the barrier island, threatening lives, destroying natural resources and severing critical infrastructure," the supervisor said.

While there are several ocean-going dredges in the area under federal contract and the necessary Water Quality Certificate for using the WOSI borrow site is also current, there is no regulatory impediment in the way of undertaking the needed remedial efforts, Schneiderman said, adding, "What is needed now is assistance at the highest level of government to prevent a disaster. .. There are no regulatory hurdles to overcome, merely the will to move quickly and avoid a looming disaster."

This week, after the fourth state of emergency in a month, a breach was stayed and Dune Road is once again open to the public — for now.

On Tuesday, Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman reported that the dune "was all put back together," with Suffolk County dredging and building sand up in the impacted area of Dune Road near the Commercial Fishing Dock in Hampton Bays.

But the relief is just a stopgap measure, the supervisor said. "We are reaching for federal and state assistance," he said. "It's getting more and more dire. If there's another storm it's going to be very difficult to stop a breach in that area."

With work being done on the beach, not the roadway, Dune Road was able to reopen for traffic Tuesday, Schneideran added. "We're good for the moment but another little storm is moving in."

On Monday, the Southampton Town Highway Department "really stepped up," Schneiderman said, moving a couple of hundred years of sand into place and later, scooping the sand off the street to help fortify the berm. Tuesday morning, the crew cleaned up after Monday night's high tide as the county continued to pump sand onto the beach and commence with its dredging operation.

"This has been a team effort; everyone is really working well together," Schneiderman said. "But this is beyond the capabilities of the town. We need county, state and federal help here. We're doing the best we can with the resources we have available, but piling up lose sand against a tide is not a long-term solution. We prevented a breach — but we can't keep doing this."

Instead, he said, a federal dredge — the sand is already identified off shore and the operation is permitted, Schneiderman said — is critical, "to pump hundreds of thousands of yards of sand onto that beach. That's the only real answer. We're just biding time. I don't know how much longer we'll be able to do this."

Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming agreed. On Dune Road Tuesday, she said relieved property owners had come to check on their boats. "The breach has been stayed again but we need help from our federal partners," she said.

On Monday, For the fourth time in a month, Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman issued a state of emergency for the eastern portion of Dune Road near the Shinnecock Commercial Fishing Dock in Hampton Bays. The emergency order allows workers to use heavy equipment to restore the barrier dune in the area. Dune Road is now closed, the supervisor said.
In an interview with Patch, Schneiderman described the dramatic scene.

"The dune is gone," Schneiderman said. "It's all washed out again. We're back to where we started. There's a 200-foot hole right in front of the commercial dock."

Sand was completely covering the roadway, the supervisor said. On Monday, Suffolk County was mobilizing to help before the night high tide was scheduled to rush in at midnight, Schneiderman said.

"They're going to try to put something back there," he said, adding that dredging in the area had stopped due to the weather conditions.

In October, a storm sparked major flooding on Dune Road, prompting the first local state of emergency declared.

"The sand barrier is thin and will not withstand a minor storm," the supervisor said. "We need federal help with this from the United States Army Corp of Engineers."

Schneiderman issued the emergency order due to severe erosion and the potential of coastal flooding along the eastern end of Dune Road in Hampton Bays, he said. The section of greatest concern was east of the Ponquogue Bridge and opposite the Shinnecock Commercial Fishing Dock, town officials said.

After that first declaration, Schneiderman spent hours on Dune Road; Suffolk County's response was tremendous, the supervisor said. "The county ended up moving 200 truckloads of sand, relocating it from stock piles," Schneiderman said. The area was very close to breaching, with almost no dune left on the eastern end of Dune Road, he added. "Because of the angle of the waves and the position of the jetty, it creates a swirling motion that just pulls out a lot. There was a very big dune right there and it pretty much disappeared."

The county, he said, "was holding back the tide. It's an impressive project. They were able to mobilize very quickly." Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, he said, was "incredible. He directed his staff to do whatever was necessary to support the Town of Southampton."

The supervisor's emergency declarations indicated that an emergency existed or likely will exist and allows the closing of streets and other measures as deemed necessary, a release from the town said. In addition, the emergency declaration allows the town to accelerate any required coordination with the New York Start Department of Environmental Conservation to move sand and rebuild the dune, and it also allows the town to request assistance from the Suffolk County Department of Public Works to bring in heavy equipment to reconstruct the dune, if necessary.
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