SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

Source: Susan Sterner via Wikimedia Commons

When Congress passed the $60 billion Sandy aid package this past January, they agreed to provide 65 percent of the needed funds to finance sea walls, and repair dunes and beaches for our area’s coastal communities. The idea was that the city and state would provide the remaining 35 percent of the money but thanks to Senator Charles Schumer, the feds have agreed to pick up the rest of the tab, according to a report in the New York Times.

The remaining 35 percent needed to complete the beach restoration projects, which totals $1.2 billion overall, amounts to $436 million. The new funds will help finance projects that will be administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The projects the money covers include dune protection and repair for several miles of beachfront property in Long Beach and other locations in Nassau County and hurricane prevention and beach erosion control along the coast of Fire Island.

Our area will receive beachfront repairs in Coney Island and Brighton Beach. The Rockaways and other parts of Brooklyn will also receive similar repairs.

Schumer stressed the importance of these projects to the Times”

“These are some of the most important projects in New York and you might even argue in the country in terms of protecting heavily populated areas from storms,” Senator Schumer, a Democrat, said. “They have been held up for decades — the Long Island one for 50 years — for lack of funding.”

The projects, some long dormant, will finally get some much needed attention and funding after Schumer loosened language that limited the Army Corps’ ability to finish the work.

Schumer hopes that their final completion will payoff in the case of a future devastating storm.

Photo by Erica Sherman

Having completed the first phase of their restoration of Plumb Beach, the Army Corps of Engineers has put out a request for proposals regarding the second phase of their operation, according to a press release.

The first phase of the Engineers project involved the dumping of 127,000 cubic yards of sand to rehabilitate the eroded coastline. For the second phase, the Corps are now planning to construct two terminal groins and one offshore breakwater. They also plan to plant 1.2 acres of beach grass.

UPDATE (1:36 p.m.): Looks like our report was a little late. Army Corps of Engineers announced this afternoon that the contract has been awarded. Here’s a portion of their press release:

NEW YORK – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District has awarded a $2 million contract to Village Dock, Inc., of Port Jefferson, N.Y., to complete the second and final phase of construction at the coastal storm risk reduction project at Plumb Beach in Brooklyn along the Belt Parkway.

Phase I was completed in late 2012 and involved placing approximately 127,000 cubic yards of sand in the severely eroded Plumb Beach area along the Belt Parkway, a busy highway and a critical piece of the city’s infrastructure. The sand was placed just prior to Hurricane Sandy’s arrival and helped prevent serious damage to the Belt Parkway. Phase I also involved the installation of a temporary geotube groin structure to help mitigate the loss of Phase I sand while the Corps awaited the ability to award Phase II.

Phase II involves the construction of two permanent stone groins at each end of the beach to help mitigate erosion in the long run. It also involves the construction of a permanent stone breakwater in the water off of the severely eroded area essentially parallel to the beach to mitigate future sand loss. Phase II also involves planting vegetation in sand dunes to help strengthen them as well as the installation of sand fencing to trap sand blowing landward.

While Phase I provides immediate coastal storm risk reduction benefits to both the Belt Parkway and the frequently used bike path along it, Phase II is designed to keep the coastal storm risk reduction benefits in place longer by managing the movement of sand and greatly reducing the need for future renourishments at the project site.

The Phase I contract went for $3.5 million, so the total between the two contracts is $5.5 million – $1 million shy of the Army Corps of Engineers’ estimated price tag of $6.5 million.

Source: Howard N2GOT / Flickr

A cadre of city, state and federal representatives spoke of Superstorm Sandy’s impact on Jamaica Bay last Tuesday at the latest Jamaica Bay Task Force meeting, according to a report by Rockawave.

The gathering was stuffed with over 150 people, all eager to hear from officials over the state of the Bay.

“Whatever you think of climate change, it is an indisputable fact that in the past 100 years water levels have risen,” said Carter Strickland, an NYC Department of Environmental Protection representative.

Learn the specifics of how Jamaica Bay weathered the storm.

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.

We’ve extensively covered the mayhem and damage visited upon Coney Island Hospital since Superstorm Sandy flooded its basement and first floor and knocked out its power late last October. A Metrofocus report now looks to the future as Coney Island Hospital, and other hospitals shut down by Sandy, begin to plan to better protect their infrastructure  and better handle mass evacuations to prevent life threatening conditions for patients in critical need.

When Sandy struck Coney Island Hospital, the situation was dire.

“It was really, really frightening because all of a sudden there were no lights […]no communication. No communication even with the telephones that we have here in the hospital. No communication with any cell phone,” Terry Mancher, the chief nursing officer at Coney Island Hospital told Metrofocus. “We were pretty much left totally by ourselves.”

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