By JEFF LIPTON
At its Dec. 16 meeting, the council agreed to pay $75,000 to Coastal Planning and Engineering of Boca Raton, Fla., to assess what can be done to protect the Reynolds Channel side of the barrier island as well as the oceanfront against potentially damaging hurricanes. The funds were transferred from the city-s administrative workers- compensation reserve.
Coastal Planning and Engineering will recommend a plan to stabilize shoreline structures, control erosion and prevent damage from storms.
In 2006, the council defeated the Army Corps of Engineers' multi-million-dollar Storm Damage Reduction Project, which would have raised the height of the beach with sand pumped from the ocean floor. Although it called for the replenishment of the shoreline, the plan was seen by many as too costly and did not address potential flooding problems on the bay front, according to council Vice President Mona Goodman.
I'm thrilled that the city is finally taking steps to address not only the problems of flooding from the ocean, but also the serious issue of flooding from the bay front, Goodman said.
The Army Corps' project was also turned down because of complaints that it would ruin the view of the ocean as well as the aesthetic beauty of the beaches, and would hamper surfing. Detractors also claimed the project would have produced too much noise during construction.
Among the Florida engineering firm-s tasks will be the assessment of coastal processes, including sea-level rise and wave and tidal fluctuations. The goal is to design a sustainable and economically feasible project to provide long-term flood protection from both the ocean and the waters of the channel, city officials said.
The city didn't go through with the Army Corps project, said City Manager Charles Theofan. We have to start to do something, but where do we start? This is precisely where one starts.
The study will begin later this month will take about 150 days to complete. The council will then receive a copy of the report, which will guide it as it decides on what to do about stabilizing the shorefront. The study will advise us what we should be doing, said Theofan. I can't say what that will be now.
Coastal Planning-s recommendations may include rebuilding the jetties -- known as groins -- to better break up the waves, dredging the bottom, replenishing the beaches or building dunes under the boardwalk, Theofan said. Another possibility would be to increase the length and height of the bulkheads on the bay, he said.
If there is a problem, we have to find out for certain, he said. It appears we may need to rebuild the jetties and make them more efficient in their operation.
The city will seek federal funding to help pay for any storm protection work. If none is available, Theofan said, the city will have to find other ways to fund the project.
The city rejected the Army Corps' proposal in 2006, Theofan explained, because the agency did not convince the city that it was the right thing to do. There were some missteps made along the way, said Theofan. It did not give the council the confidence it needed.
However, Morris Kramer of Atlantic Beach, a longtime local environmentalist, said the city made a huge mistake when it turned down the Army Corps' proposal. What the city should do is go back to the Army Corps of Engineers, get down on its hands and knees and beg for forgiveness, said Kramer, describing the study now being undertaken as too little, too late.
Kramer noted that it would take about three or four years for the city to fully implement a new plan, and that any attempt to rehabilitate the jetties would be useless. The jetties do not protect against hurricanes, said Kramer. He added that the creation of dunes would reduce the impact of waves.
For years residents have been living with the fear of the damage even a weak hurricane would bring. Besides the barrier island-s exposure to the Atlantic, one of its major problems is that it has only three evacuation routes -- the Atlantic Beach Bridge, the Long Beach Bridge and the Loop Parkway. They may flood, and people will be trapped on the island, Kramer said. Most oceanfront buildings would be undermined. A Category 3 hurricane would totally flood the entire barrier island.
If our water rises, there will be no way off the island, and that is a scary prospect, said Kramer, explaining that even a Category 1 storm would cause major damage at high tide.
Theofan said he does not consider annual beach erosion to be a major problem. What we lose in the winter is fortunately replenished in the summer, he said.
Nonetheless, Theofan acknowledged, the matter of protecting the shorefront is of utmost importance to the City Council, so much so that the entire council was involved in the process of interviewing potential coastal consultants, which is extremely rare. In September, the city put out a request for proposals for firms to evaluate the condition of its ocean and channel shorelines. Four proposals were received by the city, and the offer by Coastal Planning was by far the best, Theofan said.
They are extremely professional, he said of the firm. This is all they do.
Theofan added that even though the company is based in Florida, its owners are very familiar with Long Island, having grown up here.
Comments about this story? JLipton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.
