Schumer calls for Nassau coastline plan

Sen. Charles Schumer called for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to implement a comprehensive plan to protect Nassau County’s coastlines from future storm damage during a press conference in South Merrick on Monday.

“Sandy impacted many, many communities throughout Nassau County, like this one, Merrick, [and] Oceanside, Freeport, Lawrence,” Schumer said. “… We have to make sure there is a comprehensive plan in place, and then implement it, to make sure that when, God forbid, another storm occurs, or as a result of global warming sea levels rise, that the South Shore of Nassau County is protected.”

In Suffolk, the Fire Island to Montauk Point (FIMP) project, which received about $700 million in funding through the federal Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013, includes plans to elevate 4,400 homes five to 10 feet, elevate tens of miles of coastal roads, protect critical facilities like hospitals and police stations from flooding, raise dunes with 8 million cubic yards of sand, and restore wildlife habitats and wetlands, among other things, Newsday reported. The Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees FIMP, still needs to clear several legal hurdles to proceed.

Schumer lamented the lack of an equivalent plan in Nassau.

“Now Suffolk County will be protected. But what about Nassau County?” Schumer asked. “There was never a comprehensive plan in place. And if we were to ask the Army Corps to do it … it would take about five years and have to be approved by Congress, which is treacherous.”

He stressed that HUD, however, could work out a similar plan for Nassau using available Community Development Block Grant funding and without needing further congressional approval.

“This is a different way to skin that cat,” Schumer said. He set a goal for HUD of compiling a comprehensive plan for Nassau’s South Shore by spring 2014 and beginning construction in January 2015. The Sandy relief package Congress passed in January provided $16 billon in CDBG funding. Less than $6 billion has so far been spent, he said.

HUD has already picked 10 design teams as part of its “Rebuild by Design” program to draw up rebuilding plans following Hurricane Sandy. Schumer said that several of these teams should be tasked to develop a comprehensive plan for Nassau. “We need a comprehensive plan for the Five Towns,” Schumer continued. “… There was recurring flooding, for instance, on Meadow Lane and Margret Road in Lawrence. We need to harden the dike at the Isle of Wight [in Lawrence] that was breached during Sandy.”

Village of Lawrence Mayor Martin Oliner’s was glad to hear that. Oliner said that he and other village officials have spoken several times to Schumer and his aides about the flooding problem.

“We have certainly done our job focusing on it, I am very pleased he has taken this action and has continued the initiatives as well,” Oliner said. “We are trying to stay on top of this and get the assistance we need.”

John Cameron Jr., chairman of the Long Island Regional Planning Council, joined Schumer Monday. “Communities such as Merrick are involved in the Community Reconstruction [Zone] program, and there are 13 such plans in Nassau County and eight in Suffolk County where the shoreline communities are actually planning for future resiliency,” Cameron said.