By Doug Miller
The Army Corps, bloodied from past hostile encounters in Long Beach, came prepared. "A disaster of biblical proportions is waiting to happen," shouted Joseph Vietri, the chief of planning and policy for the Corps' North Atlantic Division, which is headquartered in Brooklyn. "What you do with that information is up to you. History will judge if you were right or I was right."
Lazlow Jones, a member of the city's Citizens Planning Advisory Board, responded, "The animosity I'm hearing from this gentleman doesn't make me comfortable about doing a deal with them."
Unlike several previous public hearings, in which the Corps was met with undisguised hostility, this crowd appeared to be divided against itself. Perhaps a fourth of it represented the Surfrider Foundation, an environmental group that has condemned the project. In addition to the scores of Long Beach teens in attendance, there were more than a few Surfrider supporters from out of town.
Another quarter of the crowd, and perhaps more, comprised concerned citizens from the Point Lookout Civic Association, who desperately want the project to move forward in order to stem the erosion that community's beaches have suffered.
The rest of the crowd was rank-and-file Long Beach residents, many of whom had never attended a public hearing before. With a few exceptions, they railed against the plan. And since everyone was given a chance to speak, the 7 p.m. meeting dragged on until nearly 11.
The Army Corps' $98 million plan calls for raising the beach 10 feet - more than halfway to the deck of the boardwalk - by adding more than 6 million cubic yards of sand, and the addition of a five-foot-high dune under all two miles of the boardwalk. In addition, 18 groins, or jetties, from Nevada Avenue to Point Lookout would be rehabilitated, and seven more would be built. To protect the structure of the boardwalk from the infusion of sand, the Corps would replace the wood deck with a synthetic one.
The city of Long Beach would pay upward of $7 million of the cost, plus annual maintenance. The federal government would put up most of the money, with the Town of Hempstead and Nassau County also contributing. New York state would lend Long Beach the money until the project was complete.
The official outline of the project is available online, and links to it can be found on the City of Long Beach's Web site, www.longbeachny.org. A hard copy is available at the Long Beach Library.
The project, once conceived as an anti-erosion effort, is designed to protect Long Beach - particularly the low-lying central areas - from the crashing waves of a 100-year storm. Historically, parts of Long Beach have been obliterated by hurricanes, particularly in 1938 and again in the 1960s. But the Army Corps said the project would also serve to protect the city in case of another violent nor'easter, like the one that flooded parts of the city in 1992.
While Long Beach's need for the project is a hotly debated topic, no one doubts that Point Lookout is in dire straits, with the erosion of its beaches bringing the Atlantic, as several described it, within 30 yards of many homes.
Several speakers advocated a scaled-down plan, one that would rehabilitate the groins, add the sub-boardwalk dune and cure Point Lookout's ills, but would not include the beach fill in Long Beach. But the Corps has long said that the project is a package deal.
Previous incarnations of the plan had the dune some 10 feet south of the boardwalk, but facing extreme pressure from council members, the Corps agreed to move it under the boardwalk. Vietri said Tuesday that that was the final compromise.
Unlike several recent hearings, which had the feel of wheels turning without any forward motion, this one was significant in several respects. For starters, this debate should be the last one. A hard deadline of May 1 was established for the Long Beach City Council to bring the project, as is, to a vote. "It's take it or leave it," said Vietri. "Now we must close our books and move on."
Another new angle to the story raised the ire of several city officials. During his opening remarks, Vietri insisted this was not an "Army Corps" plan, a federal plan or a state plan. "It's a City of Long Beach plan," he said. "We were invited here, and if you call it anything else I'm going to correct you."
After Vietri made good on that promise several times, council President Lenny Remo got up and hit back. "You've got four members of the council here with their blood boiling," he said. "Long Beach invited you in 1985 for what was then an erosion plan. In 20 years this plan has morphed more times than anyone here can remember. The city did not design this project - we've tried to work with you to come up with a more workable project."
The other new development was a revelation, accidental perhaps, that the Army Corps may be ready to go ahead with an altered Point Lookout-only version of the plan, which has never been publicly discussed and the existence of which has been constantly denied by the Corps.
As speaker after speaker advocated a scaled-back plan, Roman Rakoczy, the Department of Environmental Conservation's liaison for the project, said that there would be no further compromise. "This is the best we can do for you," Rakoczy said. "If it doesn't meet your needs, we'll move on. If the ball is dropped in Long Beach, we'll move on to Point Lookout."
Comments about this story? DMiller@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.
