A biologist weighs in on structure

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Q. I got a letter from the Department of Environmental Conservation regarding a proposed wall to build up my yard so I can limit the flooding that regularly happens at high tide. They asked my architect why he needed pilings under the wall, which will be made of interlocking concrete blocks, loose-laid on a concrete “grade beam,” as the architect describes it in his plans. Are they just delaying me more by asking this? Are they like a building department? The plans also have to be approved by my building department, as I understand it, anyway.

A. I really didn’t know the answer to your question without calling the DEC to ask. Since you attached the letter with your email, I called the person who composed the response to your application and was told that she was “just following the comments of the field inspector.” So I asked about the background of the field inspector, and was told she was a biologist and, further, there were no engineers on staff to review proposed structures. This may or may not be true, but I’ll take her word for it.

I told the letter-responder that I was surprised that a biologist, concerned about environmental conservation, appointed herself to question structural issues, wondering why piles are needed to support a masonry wall in a flood plain. On the face of it, I see that someone with a specific authority, environmental conservation, takes it upon herself to branch out, to expand that authority to issues that she isn’t qualified or capable to render an opinion about. So I asked the DEC letter writer, who never gave me her title or job description, whether the DEC has the authority to review or approve strength capacity of the structures within their jurisdiction. Of course, the answer was also no.

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