City says beach plan is 'lacking'

      Six months after signing a letter of intent, the City of Long Beach received the DEC's Cooperation Agreement in late May. But to several city officials' dismay, the agreement seemed to be littered with vague language, missing attached documents and blank spaces.
      The City responded with a letter to the DEC on June 11 asking for the missing documents and clarifications on several issues, including costs and responsibilities.
      Given the language of the draft, Long Beach city manager Harold Porr read from the letter, the city doubts it will have any significant oversight of a full understanding of the financial and other obligations that may be incurred in the City of Long Beach.
      As of press time, New York State DEC coastal management engineer Roman Rakoczy did not return several calls.
      Cost has become a large issue within the agreement. The initial estimated cost of the project is $85.2 million, with most of that paid by the Federal government. The remaining costs of the project is to be cost-shared between three municipalities the City of Long Beach, Town of Hempstead and Nassau County. Long Beach is estimated to pay $5.7 million, the Town's share is estimated to be $3.1 million, and Nassau is expected to pay $180,000.
      Even with those figures, Porr said, finance is number-one and there are still some unknown costs. In order for the city to commit to the project, he said, you have to know the costs. The city needs some frame of reference, Porr said, about what kind of obligations we are going to be looking at down the road.
      We are very careful about leading the city taxpayers to open-ended obligations, he said.
      Long Beach corporation counsel William Holst said, he is concerned with the agreement's financial estimation. The estimated $5.7 million could work out to be much higher in the end.
      The $85 million is just an estimate, USACE project manager Anthony Ciorra said. The $5.7 million, he said, only includes the initial construction, the berm, and the dune. It doesn't include the re-nourishment, the finger boardwalks