The plan still requires internal approval by the Army Corps, and approval by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Chris Gardner, a spokesman for the Army Corps, said that it anticipates entering into a project partnership agreement with the DEC. If all parties agree on the scope of the plan, Schumer said, the project could begin as early as the fall, starting with groin work and followed by work on the dunes and berms in 2016. 

“The city and town have already approved it, and all they need to do is put pen to paper,” a spokesman for Schumer said. “The state signs a project partnership agreement with the feds, which we don’t anticipate any problem with.”

Details of the project include:

•Construction of a beach berm, dune and groin system to reduce the potential for storm damage along approximately 35,000 linear feet of shoreline along the barrier island.
•Beach fill will be used to construct the berms and dunes, with an initial fill of 4.7 million cubic yards of sand. Replenishment would take place every five years for 50 years, subject to monitoring by the Army Corps.
•Rehabilitation of 15 existing groins in Long Beach and two existing groins in Point Lookout.
•Rehabilitation and a 100-foot extension of the terminal groin Point Lookout.
•Four new groins fronting the Town Park in the Town of Hempstead; construction of two additional groins deferred based on monitoring and determination of future needs.

Tentative timeline:

•If all parties are able to agree on the scope of the project, the corps’ Hurricane Sandy Limited Reevaluation Report is approved, and a project partnership agreement is signed in a timely manner, the Army Corps is expected to award the first contract, for groin work only, in the fall.
•Second contract for more groin work would be awarded in early 2015.
•Third contract for sand would be awarded sometime in early 2016. The majority of the groins need to be in place before sand work can begin.

Source: U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer’s office