The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has announced plans to kick off the second phase of construction on Plumb Beach in April, but say they’ll have to close the parking lot and detour the damaged bike path until the end of the year.
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Hours before Superstorm Sandy rolled in, Manhattan Beach was already under water. (Photo by Max T.)
The Army Corps of Engineers canceled plans to speak before the Manhattan Beach Community Group less than 24 hours before tonight’s meeting, according to the group’s president, who claims that the corps is “embarrassed” by their lack of coastal protection plans.
The Army Corps of Engineers contacted the group yesterday to inform them a representative would not attend, said MBCG President Ira Zalcman, despite weeks of planning that included a dozen or so demands from the agency.
“They gave us a list of things that they wanted, like security, parking, it was 10 to 15 items. We were trying to do them, and reassure them that security would be okay,” Zalcman told Sheepshead Bites. “But they just kept on wanting things, then they wanted to get a different person to speak to us, blah blah blah.”
Zalcman said he’s not entirely sure of what spurred the last-minute dodge, but he’s got a theory.
“I don’t think they have anything to say, to be honest. I don’t think they wanted to be embarrassed,” he said.
“Either they have no plans or they’re afraid of,the grey tigers of Manhattan Beach,” Zalcman wrote on the organization’s website.
The Army Corps of Engineers recently received $20 million to study flood prone areas affected by Sandy and offer solutions for future storms. The study is still in the planning stages, according to a report yesterday.
MBCG was heavily promoting the meeting as a must-attend event for those in Manhattan Beach, Sheepshead Bay, Gerritsen Beach and other coastal communities, as neighbors would have the opportunity to hear the corps’ plans for long-term protection from future storms like Superstorm Sandy, as well as offer input as the people with the the most at stake.
“I wanted them to keep us informed on an ongoing basis. We have a right to know what they’re thinking of, and they have to communicate with us,” Zalcman said. He added that the group has been working on the issue for several years before Superstorm Sandy, as Manhattan Beach has seen flooding – particular from the Bay and not the ocean – several times in the past two decades. “Whatever group, whatever forum, they need to start speaking to us.”
The Army Corps of Engineers did not immediately return a request for comment.
Tonight’s Manhattan Beach Community Group’s (MBCG) meeting will be held at 8:00 p.m. inside Public School 195, 131 Irwin Street.
Photo By Jeremy Drakeford
The New York District Army Corps of Engineers will perform an emergency dredging along the Atlantic Coast of New York City, including Jamaica Bay, for the purposes of beach nourishment, according to a report by Dredging Today.
The plan consists of dredging the federal navigation channel at Jamaica Bay and transferring the dredged up material to nourish Rockaway Beach.
Local residents have long wished for Sheepshead Bay to be dredged because the water in the Bay itself is too shallow, so it would be nice of the Army Corps of Engineers to swing by our parts and do a little digging – but it doesn’t look like we are being included in those plans.
A little duck walks around the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Source: peterjr1961 / Flickr
The Jamaica Bay Task Force (JBTF) will hold its next meeting January 29, 6:30 p.m. at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center, 175 Crossbay Boulevard in Broad Channel, Queens. The public is invited to attend and partake in the open discussion period.
New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Carter Strickland will be on hand to discuss the DEP’s response to Superstorm Sandy and Gateway National Recreation Area Superintendent Linda Canzanelli will give the National Park Service’s update on damage to the Wildlife Refuge from Sandy.
Project Managers Dan Felt and Lenny Houston will highlight Jamaica Bay projects currently being undertaken by the Army Corps of Engineers and Region 2 Director of the NYS DEC, Venetia Lannon, will talk about DEC’s response to Sandy.
A question and answer session will follow each presentation.
To learn more about what the JBTF does and how to get involved, contact Don Riepe of the American Littoral Society at (718) 318-9344/driepe@gmail.com or Dan Mundy of the Jamaica Bay EcoWatchers at (718) 634-5032/dmundy5032@aol.com.
YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Local mariners have something to be happy about this New Year: the Department of Environmental Protection reversed course on plans to destroy a 78-year-old navigational aid between Manhattan Beach and Breezy Point that mariners say makes them safer and shows them the way home when gizmos can’t.
According to documents released under a Freedom of Information Law request filed by Sheepshead Bites, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection decided to leave a wastewater diffuser pipe that locals affectionately refer to as the “roundhouse” after sailors and other mariners objected to its removal.
“Comments received questioned whether it would be more advantageous to leave the existing outlet chamber in place,” DEP reps wrote to partnering agencies in a September 2012 letter. “If kept, it could serve as an underwater fish habitat and provide opportunity for sea birds to perch.”
It wasn’t just the environmentalists that the DEP sought to please; the agency determined the now defunct roundhouse served a crucial purpose for navigation, and as a marker for underwater infrastructure that could damage vessels.
As we reported last week, the Army Corp of Engineers began the process of restoring Plumb Beach by pumping more than 127,000 cubic yards of sand into the eroded stretch.
The video above shows you exactly what you’d expect sand pumping to look like, with a motorized plume of sand exploding onto the coastline in a near continuous stream. The sand itself is coming from Ambrose Channel, one of the city’s navigational waterways that serves commercial vessels coming and going from New York Harbor.
The process of pumping sand onto the beach is part of effort’s first phase, which should be completed in November.
The restoration of Plumb Beach, which was nearly destroyed by Hurricane Ida in 2009, is expected to be completed in 2013 at a cost of $6.5 million dollars.
The parking lot is temporarily closed to visitors.
Plumb Beach Repairs Begin Today! Army Corps To Dump 127,000 Cubic Yards Of Sand On Eroded Beachfront
The Plumb Beach bike path after Hurricane Ida swept through in 2009.
The Army Corps of Engineers will begin hotly-anticipated long-term repairs to Plumb Beach today, dumping the first of 127,000 cubic yards of sand on an eroded stretch of the coastline.
The first phase of the project will see sand pumped onto Plumb Beach, brought here from Ambrose Channel – a navigational waterway that serves many of the commercial vessels entering and exiting New York Harbor. The Staten Island-based Great Lakes Dredge and Dock won the $3.5 million contract, and they will also place temporary geotube groins to prevent against any further erosion during the construction.
“Plumb Beach is being saved. The Belt Parkway is being saved. It is a good day for our community,” said Councilman Fidler.
Photo by Erica Sherman
If you are a motorist who frequently drives over the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge — prepare to be inconvenienced for the next month or so.
According to a release we received from the MTA, beginning on Wednesday, August 29, through an undetermined date in October, there will be multiple daily bridge lifts at the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge due to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ marsh islands restoration project in Jamaica Bay.
The MTA tells us that the lifts, which will take place around-the-clock, “require full periodic closures of the bridge” and that “it takes approximately15 minutes to raise and lower the bridge.”
If you’re looking to avoid the inevitable traffic delays caused by the bridge lifts, motorists are advised to use the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge as an alternate.
Federal code requires MTA Bridges and Tunnels to comply with bridge lift requests to allow large marine vessels to cross.
SEAL! (Credit: Melissa Alvarez, Senior Project Biologist, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District.)
The following was sent to us by Dr. JoAnne Castagna, a public affairs specialist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District:
As construction workers maneuver bulldozers and spread sand to restore the degrading marsh island, Yellow Bar Hassock in Jamaica Bay, their work is being closely observed by an area resident.
“For the past few months we’ve seen him on the site. He just keeps doing his thing,” said Melissa Alvarez, a senior project biologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District.
The resident Alvarez is referring to is a harbor seal who has been seen lying on the dredge pipeline that is delivering the sand and sunning himself as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers performs its work.
“I find it so amazing every time we construct one of these island projects how quickly wildlife will use this area.”
Photo by Erica Sherman
NotifyNYC released the following announcement over the weekend, which modifies its previous announcement that daily bridge lifts of the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge, which began January 26, will be extended through March (and before that, through February):
Due to a restoration project in Jamaica Bay, multiple, daily bridge lifts of the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge that began January 26th will be extended through April. The lifts will take place around-the-clock and require full closure of the bridge to traffic. It takes roughly 15 minutes to raise and lower the bridge. Motorists are advised to use Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge as an alternate route.
At least they didn’t alert us at the end of March.
