What’s up with post-Sandy reconstruction?

Five Towns projects waiting on the county

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In the bleak aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, Gov. Andrew Cuomo appointed 22 local committees to plan “resiliency” projects that are intended to hold back big storms if, and when, they strike in the future.

All but one of the communities covered under the plan—Bayville—are found on the South Shore—13 in Nassau County and nine in Suffolk.

The communities are eligible for up to $250 million in funding from the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery, which was established in July 2013 to help New Yorkers recover after Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 and Sandy in 2012. The program’s funding comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Cuomo appointed Community Reconstruction Program leaders and directed them to organize local planning committees, which drew members from fire departments, local governments, chambers of commerce, religious institutions and civic organizations. They held a combined 525 meetings in a little under eight months. Participants spoke on what they believed their communities needed to better prepare for tropical storms and hurricanes.

The state then hired four consulting firms, including multinational companies Arup, Jacobs, Perkins Eastman and URS Corporation, now part of Aecom, to do most of the design work.

Plans were submitted to the state for approval in March 2014. Projects vary and for the most part are yet to get under way.

In the Five Towns, a variety of projects that focused on flood mitigation in the villages of Cedarhurst, Lawrence, Hewlett Harbor and Hewlett Neck and the hamlets of Inwood and Woodmere are expected to cost $20.5 million.

Lawrence and Cedarhurst have flood mitigation proposals in the pipeline at a cost of $3 million each, and officials from both municipalities said they are waiting to hear from the county. Cedarhurst Mayor Benjamin Weinstock said he spoke to county officials who said the project is moving forward and would be done before the Sept. 2017 funding deadline. It involves a series of pumps with check valves that would help to regulate the water flowing through the storm sewers to better lessen flooding. A generator — either gas-powered or diesel-fueled — would also be installed in case of a power failure.

Why is it taking so long, since Sandy was nearly four years ago? “It has been my experience that projects involving multi-government agencies of the grant allocation process that is not readily apparent on the surface,” Weinstock said.

In Hewlett Harbor, the $3 million resiliency project involved drainage and pipe work revolves to mitigate flooding. “We are progressing,” said Village Mayor Mark Weiss. “We had another meeting on [Oct. 19] to review EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) issues. It is a process. We are getting close.”

Two generators were approved for purchase last year for the Meadowmere Park Fire Department through a NY Rising Community Development Block Grant for $500,000 that was administered by the Town of Hempstead. The community of nearly 100 homes was hit hard by Sandy. Many residents found shelter and were provided meals in the firehouse immediately after the storm.

The Atlantic Beach committee plans “to harden” the infrastructure around three water-pump stations to keep saltwater out if the Atlantic were to flood this Long Beach barrier island community once again.

And the list goes on. See all plans at stormrecovery.ny.gov/community-regions/long-island.