Conversation with Joe Vietri, Director Of Us Army Corps Of Engineers National Planning Center Of Expertise For Storm Damage Concerning Defense Of Gulf Coast And Fire Island

(As anyone knows Joe speaks faster than the hand moves a pen, or normal fingers type so these are random fragments covered in a recent conversation) Jeanne Lieberman

The dune replenishment project is not for recreation beaches – it is to protect the mainland. The majority of benefits are attributable to replacing the sand on Fire Island to protect L.I.

If scraping is done properly as an effective tool it must be done at correct time of year Spring and summer when the beach is naturally replenishing itself – not fall and winter when it does not accrue. In Aug the winds change direction and erode beach so you are stealing saved sand and reducing the berm

The DEC will create actual sand replacement very far offshore the deeper the water the bigger the wave. The shallow berms created by scraping create shorter more destructive waves.

Trapbags: “since the time of the Romans people have tried to hold back the sea with hard structures: GEO Tubes, steel walls have their place but are very ineffective as a stabilizer except for emergency situations and then they are recommended

When the Trapbags are not covered (therefore a hard structure) the waves break on them and energy is redirected (Wave attack – retraction and reflection) which causes more erosion.

The plans will be drafted between Sept and January; easements on property to be removed are needed by Jan/Feb.

Although stated that the plan must be accepted and executed in toto

Joe said that it can be done (less effectively) in segments – but he does not mean Saltaire OK, F.H, no – skipping towns not acceptable, he means by half – the eastern half or the western as one unit

Officials: Army Corps to restore Fire Island beach

About 30 oceanfront homes on Fire Island will probably be purchased and demolished in a federally funded program aimed at better protecting the coast of Long Island from ferocious storms, a U.S. Army Corps official said Saturday.

Seven to 10 additional homes on the barrier island probably can be moved back on their existing lots to make way for new dunes, said Joseph Vietri, of the Army Corps'

See article below

Originally published: March 2, 2013 9:18 PM
Updated: March 2, 2013 9:25 PM
By CANDICE RUUD candice.ruud@newsday.com

Photo credit: Randee Daddona | Park Service Ranger MaryLaura Lamont led a group on a winter's walk on the barrier beach of Fire Island to identify changes of the landscape created by Superstorm Sandy. (Feb. 24, 2013)

Several Islip Town and Fire Island village officials say the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers appears poised to take on a massive beach replenishment project that would restore the barrier island's dunes, decimated by superstorm Sandy.

At an Ocean Beach Village board meeting Saturday, Mayor James Mallott said the Army Corps is planning to step in to build dunes 15 feet high by 90 feet wide from Kismet to Davis Park, with the entire project paid for by the federal government.

"We're very happy about it," Mallott told residents.

Islip Town Supervisor Tom Croci said he and other town officials have had several meetings with representatives from the Army Corps to discuss the project and his understanding is that the Corps "intended to engage with the beach replenishment, and that they had been funded to do so."

Saltaire Mayor Robert Cox told residents at Monday's village board meeting it was "more and more likely" the Army Corps would take over the islandwide renourishment.

An Army Corps spokesman said Saturday the scope of the project doesn't fall under the agency's current legal authority, but that new legal authorities for the Corps could stem from the recently passed Sandy relief bill, adding that the bill "is still being interpreted by our higher headquarters."

The Islip Town board voted in January to bond for $19.9 million for the town's share of Fire Island beach and dune renourishment, which Croci said was a backup plan if the Corps doesn't step in.

"But it looks like the Army Corps is proceeding, and it's really good news for Fire Island and for Islip," Croci said.

But the mayors of both Fire Island villages said that while the federal government's involvement is welcome, it comes at a price: Mallott and Cox said the project would result in the oceanfront dune line being moved north, which would mean losing an undetermined number of homes.

Mallott said the Fire Island National Seashore was on board with the project, and has been meeting with the Corps to discuss where the new dune line would be.

A spokeswoman for FINS said Superintendent Christopher Soller has been meeting with the Army Corps on a variety of projects. Soller was not available for comment Saturday.

Cox said the federal government "might decide the dune line is farther north than we'd like it to be."

Mallott said it's unclear at this point how far north the dune line will advance, but that it would be worth losing houses to get the beach renourishment completed at no local cost.

"The consensus is that houses on Fire Island would have to go," Mallott said. "How many, we're not sure. We're going to lose houses if we want to get that sand. We have one shot at this."

"We're very happy about it," Mallott told residents.

Saltaire Mayor Robert Cox told residents at Monday's village board meeting it was "more and more likely" the Army Corps would take over the islandwide renourishment.

The Islip Town board voted in January to bond for $19.9 million for the town's share of Fire Island beach and dune renourishment, which Croci said was a backup plan if the Corps doesn't step in.

"But it looks like the Army Corps is proceeding, and it's really good news for Fire Island and for Islip," Croci said.

Mallott said the Fire Island National Seashore was on board with the project, and has been meeting with the Corps to discuss where the new dune line would be.

A spokeswoman for FINS said Superintendent Christopher Soller has been meeting with the Army Corps on a variety of projects. Soller was not available for comment Saturday.

Cox said the federal government "might decide the dune line is farther north than we'd like it to be."

Mallott said it's unclear at this point how far north the dune line will advance, but that it would be worth losing houses to get the beach renourishment completed at no local cost.

"The consensus is that houses on Fire Island would have to go," Mallott said. "How many, we're

FIC to FIA Summer Meeting

Gerard Stoddard
LICA
(Long Island Coastal Alliance, a forum for discussion of LI coast-related matters I created with Dick Curry, former Washington representative for FIA, in 1991).

FIC reaction to the FIA Summer Meeting

The FIA Summer Meeting became the two-thirds-through-the-summer point for Fire Islanders in the late 1980s. And since the storms of the early 1990s it has also occasioned serious discussion between homeowners, business people, the National Park Service, the Corps of Engineers and politicians on how to keep the island in one piece. The meeting also spent time on how Verizon is trying to get out of its responsibility to provide telephone and DSL service to Fire Island. If you want to keep it, write a letter saying what loss of the service means to you personally in terms of medical safety, your business, and quality of life. Your community association knows who to send it to.

But the main issue, as usual, was shore protection.

I attended this year's meeting with Irving Like of Dunewood – and found it decidedly more grim than usual. Last summer he and I agreed that Fire Island would benefit from a new non-profit-charitable organization, built along the lines of the Central Park Conservancy, where members are also users of the resource being protected. And because Fire Island is also unique, and threatened, we intend to explore the possibility that being designated a Unesco World Heritage Site might help assure its protection.

But the 2013 FIA Summer Meeting was aimed at more immediate problems. The main speaker was Joseph R. Vietri, a regular since the 1993 storm, and now the Corps of Engineers' national go to person on hurricane protection and recovery. A summer resident of Kismet for many years, Mr. Vietri qualifies as a prophet not without honor save in his own country in his own time. This year, his more or less annual prediction that it would take a truly major storm to focus government attention on Fire Island seemed to have come true. But, eyeing the smallish crowd before the meeting started, he observed that at some recent Long Island beach community meetings the audience was more like a thousand than a hundred. A large majority of those affected seem willing to let others decide the best course of action.

Here are some of the questions he tried to answer.

How much money is available for shore protection?

Congress has approved a Corps budget for fiscal year 2014 of $5.4 billion. Of this, some $700 million is tentatively slated for the Fire Island Inlet to Montauk Point (FIMP) project. The balance is for such areas as the Rockaways, Long Beach, New Jersey and other places visited by Sandy. Engineers see Long Island's storm damage recovery and protection in three pieces: mainland Long Island, the barrier island, and environmental projects where needed. The plan is to spend $500 million on the Long Island mainland to raise houses, roads and infrastructure. $60 million has been earmarked for mitigation of future storm events on Fire Island, from the Lighthouse to Smith Point, and the balance will be spent in locations such as Georgica Pond and Lake Montauk Harbor. Mr. Vietri stressed that the $700 million is not earmarked. Other states have similar projects lined up and waiting; Fire Island must use the proposed allocation, or lose it.

When will the project start?

First of all, some projects already built are in need of repair that will require new funding. The Fire Island Inlet and Shores Westerly project (inlet dredged and sand placed on beaches along Ocean Parkway), and the repair of Westhampton and Georgica Pond groins are in this category, and federally funded. Projects under study when Superstorm Sandy came ashore will also have the studies completed at federal expense. Money lent to the state will be repaid over 30 years. As for timing, there are five (sometimes six) dredges now operating in New Jersey. These can be sent to Fire Island quickly. The objective is to get as much protection as possible by next winter. The required draft Environmental Impact Statement is due in September for review, and to be in final form by December. It is critical to get interim stabilization before the coming winter storms.

What can get in the way?

The project can be de-railed by "the real estate issue". For example, how much sand will have to be placed on the beach, and what will be the impact of that on first-row owners? Estimates are that 6 million cubic yards of sand will be needed to build the beach to an adequate level of protection. A dune built to a height of 15 feet, with a width of 125 feet at the base, is a lot of sand. (Even so, it would not be sufficient to absorb the impact of a storm like Sandy; but Sandy will hopefully not be an annual or even decadal event.) Rebuilding the berm (the highest area in the middle of the beach) along some 9,400 feet of Fire Island's ocean beach to a height of 10 feet will take 5 million cubic yards of sand, about the practical limit of the amount of sand that can be placed in a year. Beach and dune construction will be from east and west simultaneously. Offshore bars must also be constructed or repaired.

What about "the real estate issue"

It seems the impact on houses will be minimized. Nevertheless, to those affected it will be the primary issue. Federal officials appear to be focusing on easements. In New Jersey, for example, some 5,000 easements have already been secured from land owners, mostly to allow equipment to be placed on the property for a variety of reasons.

Houses significantly damaged by Sandy that are south of the Coastal Erosion Hazard Area (CEHA), will be a special problem. Island-wide, there are some 200 houses south of the CEHA where these easements may be needed. Additionally, the Corps believes, up to 44 houses, mostly in Ocean Bay Park and Davis Park, will have to be moved or acquired as part of the project.

Irving Like believes the Fire Island Conservancy might be able to facilitate the collection of easements from property owners, where easements are needed by engineers to construct the project. While owners may not be able to convey the needed easements for cash, they might be donated to FIC, a charity, which in turn would donate them to the government. This would establish a charitable deduction from federal income taxes for the owner. (A similar arrangement was guided by Mr. Like in protecting the Long Island Pine Barrens.)

It is also true that some houses may have to be moved north. Some properties are deep enough to allow this; others might be moved into existing town rights of way, as in Ocean Bay Park. But there will be a need to purchase and demolish some homes, mostly in Ocean Bay Park and Davis Park.

Bottom line, there will be no construction until real estate questions are answered. This won't happen until there is general agreement on environmental checks and balances, including easements from ocean front owners that will be permanent. And the Corps is the only federal agency with the resources and personnel in place now to provide support for the protection of coastal resources – both Fire Island's and the nation's.

What work will be needed in the off-shore area?

Joe Vietri said the barrier island in Sandy performed "as nature intended." That means there was some landward migration of the barrier; higher in the middle of the island than at the ends. And, he pointed out, the island is "sinking" as sea level rises. A rise of one foot per century is the minimum scientists expect, but some say the rise could be as much as six feet. As for breaching, the threat is most pronounced on the bay side, which is where most barrier island breaches originate. On the mainland it is already common to see a mere 1 foot of freeboard along inlets and docks at high tide. This is why some 5,000 mainland houses in the 10-year floodplain must be raised. (The 100-year floodplain extends to Sunrise Highway.)

What about the Piping Plover?

Plover issues are expected to be the least of the problem, although they limit the time window when dredging can be done. October through March is the normal window. The Corps does not control this; other agencies do.