East Hampton reacts to erosion with renewed focus on coastal resilience

Back-to-back storms that battered East Hampton Town’s shoreline last week heightened the urgency among officials to implement policies and procedures to increase coastal resilience in the face of climate change.

Town officials discussed both short-term and long-term solutions at a town board meeting Tuesday while Montauk community leaders sought immediate help to address the damage in the hamlet's Ditch Plains section.

“It’s a tremendous concern and we need to talk about how do we, as a community, work through the recovery in the short term and look at resiliency in the longer term,” said Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez.

At Ditch Plains Beach, a popular surfing spot east of downtown Montauk, the recent storms seriously damaged existing dunes and at least one home, residents and officials said.

Property values near that beach have surged in recent years to the point where 1,100-square-foot condominiums at the oceanfront Montauk Shores Condominium are listed for sale for up to $4 million.

Kay Tyler, executive director of the nonprofit Concerned Citizens of Montauk, said she was “alarmed” by the current state of erosion in Ditch Plains.

“With the frequency and severity of each passing storm, the situation is disastrous and unsafe for the public,” she said during the meeting.

A complex solution

Burke-Gonzalez said she invited Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to visit the town’s “ravaged beaches” so East Hampton officials could lobby the Senate majority leader to seek more federal funding to fight erosion.

But the supervisor also said a solution for Ditch Plains will be more complex than just bringing in truckloads of sand.

Laura Michaels, president of Ditch Plains Association civic group, read from a petition the organization of homeowners and renters started Monday. The petition, which had more than 1,500 online signatures by Friday morning, urges town board members to take “immediate and decisive action to address the critical loss of the protective dune at Ditch Plains.”

Michaels said if another storm hits, water will likely flood onto Deforest Road, which runs parallel to the shore east of Ditch Plains Beach. 

“There’s no protective dune now,” the association president added.

Nearby erosion fight

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began mobilizing in downtown Montauk this week for a beach nourishment effort known as the Fire Island to Montauk Point project — an effort unrelated to the recent storms.

The project will add 450,000 cubic yards of sand to reinforce existing dunes and beachfront along the area parallel to South Emerson Avenue. But the work won't extend to Ditch Plains.

Michaels said the Army Corps of Engineers' existing dredging infrastructure should be used to pump sand onto Ditch Plains. Town officials, however, said it’s not that simple.

Kim Shaw, the town’s environmental planning director, said East Hampton officials have asked multiple times about adding Ditch Plains to the project. Shaw said while the town hasn't gotten a “hard no,” discussions are ongoing. 

“It might be too late for this contract,” she said.  

The environmental official said there could be better hope for help when the federal agency returns for periodic beach replenishment every four years after the initial project finishes.

Army Corps of Engineers spokesman James D'Ambrosio said Friday the agency does not independently select its projects and added that Ditch Plains isn't part of the congressionally authorized Fire Island to Montauk Point project. 

In the meantime, town officials said it's time to implement policies from a Coastal Assessment Resiliency Plan that board members adopted in 2022. It was designed to guide future boards on ways to reduce the town's vulnerability to coastal flooding and shoreline erosion.

Town officials said the plan accurately predicted the areas now facing the worst shoreline erosion — including Ditch Plains, which it labeled as high risk. The plan outlined recommendations such as:

• Relocation of high-risk property
• Roadway elevation
• Select use of levees and beach nourishment “as an interim measure”

“We know that we will see increasing storms with increasing storm surge and increasing impacts across the board,” said Councilwoman Cate Rogers.

Shaw said the town could seek an expert such as a coastal adaptation specialist to help implement new policies. The town board then agreed to pursue hiring such an expert.

Pitch for new tax district 

Another suggestion, Shaw said, would be to establish an erosion control district, a taxing district that funds beach management.

Shaw said an attempt at establishing such a district that started in 2018 covered too wide an area and included homeowners less likely to be impacted and who therefore resisted such a change.

Nearby Southampton Town has erosion control districts in Bridgehampton and Sagaponack.

Jeremy Samuelson, the town’s planning director, said it’s important for officials to become more proactive in discussing with residents how they're allowed to rebuild in the event that homes sustain serious weather damage.

The two recent storms, after a mid-December storm, unleashed coastal flooding across Long Island’s South Shore. The weather events led to road closures throughout East Hampton Town, with ocean water inundating Wainscott Beach near the town's western border. 

Samuelson said planning and other town officials should invite homeowners to discuss potential rebuilding efforts now to try to head off problems later with possible code violations.

More long-term plans in the erosion fight could mean “moving up, moving back, relocating, rebuilding,” according to the planning official.

“These last couple of storms have been devastating, but not surprising,” Samuelson added.

By Joe Werkmeister

joe.werkmeister@newsday.com

Joe Werkmeister covers the towns of Southampton, East Hampton and Shelter Island. He is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University and previously worked as the editor of two North Fork community newspapers.

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