McCabe’s and Kenny’s Beach residents who have begged the Southold Town board to save their beachfront homes from dramatic erosion are still pleading for help — even after the Southold Town board decided not to craft a resolution asking that the study of Hashamomuck Cove by the United States Army Corps of Engineers be extended, as planned, to include the Goldsmith Inlet area.
Susan Geitz, a year-round resident, said her family has lived on North Sea and Leeton Drive for 60 years and said the jetty at Goldsmith Inlet has wreaked havoc on the shoreline. “When I was a teenager we used to ride in a beach buggy from Horton’s Point to the inlet,” she said. “People who lived on the inlet used to be able to come in on their boats and tie up at the entrance to the inlet.”
At one time, she said, there was 100 feet of beach in front of her family’s home. “Then they built the jetty.”
Geitz said last winter was “horrendous,” stripping the beach of sand and leaving boulders exposed.
The Peconic Dunes 4-H Camp, Geitz said, has “suffered tremendous loss of beach and dunes.”
Her voice breaking, Geitz said, “I don’t want to lose my house. It breaks my heart to see what’s happening.”
On Tuesday, Geitz was back before the board. “I realize the Army Corps of Engineers will not include us in the study, as we thought. Are we on our own now, as far as the jetty goes? It’s just getting worse and worse.”
Geitz reminded that at one point, the town considered asking Suffolk County to pay to put sand on the beach. “Now, it wouldn’t do any good, but there is no beach to plant grass on, or put sand on,” she said. “The sand brought up from the Goldsmith Inlet dredging is long gone. That’s not the answer. Something else has to be done. There area lot of us there who were hoping you would help us. We are in danger of losing our homes with every storm that we have.”
Neighbors nearby her home, Geitz said, are “putting in what looks like the Bastille — six foot high stone walls” that are not only “ugly”, but cost over $40,000. “Most of us that live along there have been there for a very long time and don’t have that kind of money,” she said. “Also, it’s ruining the character of the beach. It’s ugly — but I can’t blame the people that have million dollar homes that they’re trying to hold on to.”
She added, “I wish the town would do something — if you would just come look at it.”
Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell said he and the board “are down there quite often” but said addressing the jetty requires a “very expensive study. We don’t have the money.”
The past study can’t be used, Russell added. “The time has changed, and so has the dynamics of the shoreline. That study we did is too old to take action on.”
“Something has to be done,” Geitz said.
Russell said the town’s hope was that the Army Corps of Engineers would include the area in the broad scope, but in the end, it was decided that they would “hone in on Hashamomuck Cove. We will work with federal representatives to secure funding to do a more thorough coastal study.”
Councilman Bob Ghosio suggested that Geitz proceed in a fashion similar to those residents at Hashamomuck Cove who lobbied successfully for funding for the study.
Recently, despite a cry of protest from residents who’ve asked that a study of Hashamomuck Cove by the United States Army Corps of Engineers be extended, as planned, to include that area, as well, the Southold Town board decided not to craft a resolution asking for the extension.
Members of the Goldsmith Inlet community, and others from Kenny’s Beach, have said that the study was initially meant to cover those areas, too, and the request would be to just finish what was promised.
Russell, who said he has received “dozens of requests for the expansion of the Hashamomuck Cove study” said the study was farther along than he’d imagined and now specifically focuses on the Hashamomuck Cove area.
The funding itself, he said, was “specific to the protection of public infrastructrure and obvious threats to County Road 48″ and funding was secured after Sandy and designed for that purpose.
To expand the study, he said, would mean “significant” delays; the Army Corp of Engineers is already planning its first public meeting for November, he said.
Councilwoman Louisa Evans said initially both public and private structures were discussed and said the decison was made to “narrow it down”‘; she said she could understand why people on either side were frustrated.
Russell said initially, a “pretty broad area” was included in the study.
“Their intent was to throw the broadest net they can, with concentration on Hashamomuck Cove, to see how far out the reach is, that affects Hashamomuck Cove,” Councilwoman Jill Doherty said. “When they did the study, they kept narrowing it way down because they realized that those areas didn’t affect what was happening there.”
The supervisor said a common misconception amongst the public is that the town board had the authority to expand the scope of the study; the board could only make a request to the Army Corps of Engineers, who’d told him that to do so would mean delays.
Councilman Jim Dinizio has said that he did not want to see efforts at Hashamomuck Cove slowed down by requests for expansion.
In March, the long-anticipated feasibility study at Hashamomuck Cove began, fully funded by the federal government.
“I have been working closely with the United States Army Corps of Engineers to keep them engaged in the project at Hashamomuck Cove,” said Congressman Tim Bishop. “I am glad to hear that the Corps will begin their study within the next week or so. This study, which should take about six months to complete, is the first step that must be completed before any work can be undertaken. The $2.6 million study will be fully funded by the federal government.”
And that was a welcome relief for Southold resident Lynn Laskos, whose home is located on Hashamomuck Cove; she has been advocating for the study for years, as storms battered the shoreline, resulting in significant erosion and flooding on County Road 48.
According to the United States Army Corp of Engineers, Hashamomuck Cove is located on the Long Island Sound, on the North Fork, and the study area was initially to extend along both the Long Island Sound and Peconic Bay, east to Orient Point and west to, and including, both sides of Goldsmith Inlet.
The study area, the Army Corps said at the time, included several businesses and private homes that were subject to “substantial overwashing and erosion during coastal storms. Additionally, County Road 48 may be subject to undermining along Hashamomuck Cove.”
A federal shoreline protection project along State Route 25 was completed in 2011, which was damaged due to erosion of the shoreline.
Laskos has cried out for years over conditions at Hashamomuck Cove, as the shoreline was battered by severe storms, including Sandy.
One of the most critical concerns, Laskos has said, has been the fear that the flooding from the Sound could breach County Road 48, making it impassable in the event of an emergency when residents to the east might need to evacuate. Gas and water mains could be crippled during such an event, she said.
Her home and others along the shoreline, are the only structures standing between the Sound and County Road 48, as the beach continues to erode, Laskos said.
