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Overcast Bulkhead construction in Bay Park raises questions
Officials discuss new $3.6M project with residents, civic association
A new bulkhead currently under construction in Bay Park is drawing the ire from some concerned citizens due to its height. The new bulkhead will stand approximately 18 inches taller than its predecessor.
The Bay Park Civic Association and Town of Hempstead stand by the design for the bulkhead and say it will not have an effect on residents’ property. Jeff Tierney, coordinator of drainage for the Town of Hempstead’s engineering department, has worked on the bulkhead design and answered the questions of Bay Park property owners at the Jan. 17 Bay Park Civic Association meeting, along with Christopher Clement, a senior associate at Dvirka and Bartilucci Consulting Engineers.
The new bulkhead will extend the length East Boulevard, running from North Boulevard to Cooke Street. Some residents were concerned that the change in the bulkhead’s height would cause water to flow toward the west side of the canal — where their houses are.
Lorraine Keegan, who lives on the West Side of the Grand Canal, and other residents at the Jan. 17 meeting, voiced their concerns about the change height of the bulkhead. “We feel like we got smacked in the face,” Lorraine Keegan, Bay Park homeowner said. “These are our homes we’re talking about.”
Tierney said that residents would not see any more water on their property than they did with the old bulkhead. “We’re not changing the dynamics of the hydraulics of the area at all,” he said. “The height of the bulkhead has no effect on your property.”
The new bulkhead project has been under construction since November and has a price tag of $3.6M for the Town of Hempstead. The previous bulkhead was made out of wood and was last repaired in the 1980s, according to Trish Kearney, the financial secretary for the Bay Park Civic Association. The new bulkhead will be made of plastic and have a cap made of wood.
“[The Town of Hempstead] reached out to us because we kept calling to have the dirt behind the bulkhead replenished constantly,” Kearney said. “The bulkhead is damaged and the soil of course then flows out. It was beginning to undermine the road.”
