Residents, Families, Friends and all concerned are welcome to sign to support this issue. Thank you all …
( note: no $ contribution is required or requested - please just consider signing with your support )
Petition to: Mario R. Mattera,NYS, AssemblymanKeithBrown,esmyth@huntingtonny.gov,JohnMcCarron,fspatafora@huntingtonny.gov,adam.saccardi@mail.house.gov,Joan Cergol,ecook@huntingtonny.gov,dbennardo@huntingtonny.gov,sferro@huntingtonny.gov,stephanie.bontempi@suffolkcountyny.govDear Town, County and State Representatives,
It's Dead ! But not from natural causes - this is not a case of Mother Nature or Global Warming, it is a case of 90 years of misguided and mismanged Army Corp activities and projects - all leading to this critical failure to our vital infrastructure. Please HELP !
As you will see from the attached White Paper, the Bevin Seawall in Asharoken is now well past it's intended life and rapidly "failing". March 4, 2023, again illustrates the fragility of that road area to "normal" storm tides.
The US Army Corp is holding firm to their 2015 promise “…The US Army has no obligation to maintain or repair the seawall…” and although the Village of Asharoken and the Town of Huntington have undertaken some rock reinforcement actions, the Village of Asharoken Mayor and Deputy Mayor confirm – there are currently no planned projects and no current funding for any projects –to quote the Mayor: “We Are In Limbo”.Based on the property boundary lines between the Village of Asharoken and Town of Huntington Eatons Neck, the Village of Asharoken is “In Charge”, but keep in mind that 200 of the 300 homes in Asharoken never go past the seawall – When we’ve consistently asked Asharoken what we can do to help – we were met with “lobby your representatives”.
So Representatives – there are over 2,000 people in 700 homes residing ON EATONS NECK, they are 100% reliant on the Seawall and Road as our ONLY ROAD, yet 600 of the 700 Eatons Neck homes are Town of Huntington and WE HAVE NO VOICE or direct, active representation in this getting a plan established and funded.
Specifically, we are asking YOU to take the lead to assess the current situation, meet with the TOH Eatons Neck Community Leaders to discuss your assessment and our concerns, then develop recommended immediate, short term and long term solutions, and pursue funding for those solutions.
We're taking on water and need help !
Thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter,
John J Ballowas Liason for The Greater Eatons Neck Community ( Our HOAs, ENFD and USCG )
White Paper - Asharoken / Eatons Neck
“The Late Great Bevin Seawall”
Issue 1 – “ US Army Corp You Broke It - You Fix It ” (But, we ALL just let them walk away… )
So how did that extensive and expensive $3.5m USACE ASDRP Study/Proposal end back in 2015?
On the last call with Senior US Army Corp of Engineers (USACE), Asharoken Officials and “Working Team Members” - to paraphrase the USACE and USACE Legal, “The Bevin Seawall built in c1994 was a USACE temporary fix awaiting the USACE final solution proposal – the Village of Asharoken has rejected the USACE final solution proposal, therefore USACE has no obligation to maintain or repair the seawall.”, and they’ve held up on their end of that bargain – zero has been done by USACE and the next storm will drag portions of that wall into the sea, and compromise access to the 700+ homes and US Coast Guard Base Eatons Neck.
After the lights went out with our ASDRP working committee, it hit me that buried in the back history and detail sections of the USACE (~800 page) proposal was the smoking gun - the US Army Corp has actually and continuously caused the problem over the past 90 years:
- 1930’s USACE grants Metropolitan Sand and Gravel a permit for 5 year temporary 100ft Jetties for sand transport barges at the now Northport Powerplant Site, and includes that the 100ft jetties must be removed after 5 years, as they will cause significant erosion to Asharoken beach (it may have included mitigation as well at end of 5 year term – not sure) - So Metropolitan Sand and Gravel Co mines out the site, goes bankrupt(?) and walks away leaving the 100 foot jetties and no mitigation for next 30 years. Asharoken Beach erodes.
- In the early 1960s, a major storm prompts the Army Corp to do a BIG replenishment project like the 600,000 cu yards proposed for ASDRP, and they mine a big hole in the sound on the west side of the 100ft jetties to get the sand. Remnants of the “Big Hole” (aka “Nodal Point”) still exists today and USACE admits in their proposal “the Big Hole remnants actually accelerates waves onto Asharoken Beach – amplifying the erosion to this day and for last 60 years.
Late 1960s LILCO acquires the site for the Powerplants. USACE allows the older 100 ft jetties from 1930s to be replaced and extended to 200 feet jetties to provide an input for the water from the sound to cool the plant. As a condition, LILCO has to “bring around collected spoils” on the east side of the jetties to help mitigate the known erosion to Asharoken Beach - BUT the real kicker here is the LILCO hot water discharge basin further east, at full operation the discharge basin flows at the same rate as the Connecticut river (1million+ gal/hr outflow estimate) and what’s real obvious from even just google maps is you can see the sand coming from the east of the discharge basin being pushed out into the sound.
- 2015 ASDRP Study – Guess where the available “Sand Borrow” was located for the USACE ASDRP 600,000 cubic yard Asharoken Beach Replenishment Project was? In the sound between the lighthouse at the northern tip of Eatons Neck and the Powerplant. Exactly where one might expect the sand to be pushed out to sea and settle.
- So, the littoral flow of sand from Orient Point out east toward Manhattan that would normally flow along and accrete to Asharoken Beach is first pushed into the sound by the Powerplant discharge basin outflow (a 1m+ gal/hr flow rate equal to the Connecticut River) and any sand that does get past that “river” gets hung on East side of the 200 ft jetties and again excess is probably being pushed out to the sound – the powerplant owners are responsible to move the sand that remains hung up on the east side of the jetties around to Asharoken Beach on some annual or bi annual frequency – but the majority of the normal sand is pushed into the sound, starving Asharoken Beach all the way to the Seawall.
(Edit update 3/10/2023) Army Corp ADMITS they DID IT !
According to the Asharoke CDRM Draft Feasibility Report on page 3::
"Jetties by the Northport Basin located in the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA)Northport Power Station have contributed to the long-term erosion problems west of thewest jetty, although coastal effects from Long Island Sound dominate the erosionprocesses along the entire downdrift coastline. Since the original construction of thejetties in 1932, the shoreline just east of the jetties has experienced accretion, while the shoresto the west and northwest (Asharoken Beach) have experienced continuederosion. Analysis of sediment transport around the effluent pipes and the jetties indicate thatan effective littoral block is formed near the outfall. This littoral block effectively limitsediment movement from the east to west. The only sand that is currently being bypassed around the jetties is the inlet dredge material that is placed on the beach justwest of the west jetty as part of the power plant operation." (End of edit)
Perhaps, because of the scale and duration of damages,we need to think of this problem like it’s a “Superfund Site”?
So, shouldn’t this be a case of “US Army Corp - You Broke It - You Fix It “ – PERIOD?
Issue 2 – “Public Access – THE BIG LIE !”
USACE has twisted US Legal Code 426 into Army Corp Reg 1165, and used that to perpetrate the lies regarding “Public Access” requirements. This made the Asharoken ASDRP Project untenable to the community and homeowners affected. More importantly it added 47.2% to the cost of the Army Corp Proposed Solution so as to render the project unaffordable. (Purposely?, and to what end?)
US Code 426 states 3 mutually exclusive conditions for Federal Assistance on non-public shores “…1) public use or 2) from protection of nearby public property or 3) if the benefits to those shores are incidental to the project..” Very clear English for US Code…
Army Corp Reg 1165 restates USC 426 differently, but still with 3 mutually exclusive conditions “1) Public use unless 2) the protection of privately-owned beaches is incidental to protection of public beaches, or 3) provide protection to nearby public property.”
The USACE ASDRP Proposal identified at least 12 nearby public properties that this project was designed to protect:
- Asharoken Avenue itself, a public road, and sole access to and transport for people, supplies and services to over 2,000 people in 700 homes on Eatons Neck
- Asharoken Avenue, the designated evacuation route
- The Asharoken Avenue Seawall at Bevin (assume that is a USACE Asset?)
- The U.S. Coast Guard Station
- The Eatons Neck Fire and Rescue Department – our de-facto Public Emergency Center
- The Suffolk County Water Main, buried alongside the length of Asharoken Avenue, the ONLY source of water for over 2,000 residents, the USCG and firefighting use
- The PSEG Electric Lines, (both overhead and buried lines) running alongside the Asharoken Avenue roadbed, the ONLY source of electric power to 2,000 residents, USCG and ENFD
- The PSEG gas main, buried alongside the length of Asharoken Avenue, the ONLY source of gas.
- The Verizon telephone poles and lines, the ONLY source of phone and cable services to 2,000 people
This issue and several others were addressed directly to the USACE during the public hearings and provided in writing to the USACE as public commentary – IT WAS NEVER ANSWERED….YET “PUBLIC ACCESS WAS THE USACE RALLYING CRY TO THWART THE PROJECT” – when pressed the USACE responded US Code is subordinate to Army Corp Regs (WHAT?), and specifically the USCG ( A US Military Base) is “not Adjacent to the Seawall and Project Site” – Yet the first right hand turn,1,927ft from the seawall IS the USCG Military Base Entrance? (USACE: “ITS NOT ADJACENT- GO AWAY”- they redefined “Nearby” to “Adjacent”, two very different words…) …. And the rest of that public stuff is insufficient to void PUBLIC ACCESS! PUBLIC ACCESS IS THE OVER RIDING CONDITION – PERIOD. US CODE AND EVEN ARMY CORP REGS BE DAMNED.
Issue 3 – “Build it – they WON’T come” - There was no Public Access demand found by NYS DEC.
The USACE completely dismissed the NYS DEC conclusion:
“..the recreational use (from PUBLIC ACCESS) is so low as to not warrant consideration of recreational benefits attributed to the project.”
Doesn’t that say “even if you make it accessible – no one is going to use it”?
But the Army Corp goes ahead and adds 47.2% to the project cost to MANDATE “Public Access” – even though US Code 426 and Army Corp Reg 1165 allow for exclusion of public access when the project protects nearby public property” and NYS DEC found no case for Public Use.
- And the cost of this fiasco of “Non-Mandated Mandates”?
o USACE Proposed Project Total $23.6 m
o Less: Jetties (agreed to be eliminated) $2.1m
o USACE Adjusted Proposal $21.5m
o Beach Replenishment Project $14.6m
o Plus: Public Access Cost $6.9m
- So, the basic sand fill proposed was $14.6m and PUBLIC ACCESS added $6.9m.
- My math says 6.9 / 14.6 = 47.2% - the USACE added 47.2% to the proposed cost of the required sand replacement project for PUBLIC ACCESS…
ISSUE 4 – Fast Forward to 2023 - “We’re in Limbo …” to quote the Mayor of Asharoken.
The US Army Corp seems to have held true to their 2015 promise “…The US Army has no obligation to maintain or repair the seawall…” Over the past 90 years their repeated actions caused the problems, they lied about public access to make fixing it untenable, they were unwilling to negotiate on any of it, and then just walked away with no liability for the massive damages caused to the area. How did we all let that happen?
Village of Asharoken Mayor and Deputy Mayor confirm – there are currently no planned projects and no current funding for any projects – Grant Funding requests have been submitted, but as of today 3/6/2023 – “We Are In Limbo”.
Based on the property boundary lines between the Village of Asharoken and Town of Huntington Eatons Neck, the Village of Asharoken is “In Charge”, but keep in mind that 200 of the 300 homes in Asharoken never go past the seawall – When we’ve consistently asked Asharoken what we can do to help – we were met with “lobby your representatives”.
So Representatives – there are over 2,000 people in 700 homes residing ON EATONS NECK, they are 100% reliant on the Seawall and Road as our ONLY ROAD, yet 600 of the 700 Eatons Neck homes are Town of Huntington and WE HAD AND HAVE NO CURRENT VOICE or direct, active representation in this getting a plan established and funded ….. HELP ! , PLEASE !
Specifically, can you take the lead to assess the current situation, meet with the TOH Eatons Neck Community Leaders to discuss our concerns, then develop recommended immediate, short term and long term solutions, and pursue funding for those solutions.
March 4, 2023 The Late Great Bevin Seawall - R.I.P.
Northport Power Plant Site 1927 before Army Corp and Sand Co 100’ Jetties. 1960 before Army Corp and Power Plant 200’ jetties and Ouflow basin. 2023 where we are today Stunning destruction
And great older video of Seawall under attack from nor’easter. Before it was structurally unsound
https://youtu.be/P7zaNMxpBnw
