Long Island community divided over needed upgrades to shoreline erosion measures
PORT JEFFERSON, N.Y. -- A winter of raging storms has taken its toll on Long Island's shoreline.
One glaring example is in Port Jefferson Village, where some recently installed erosion measures have washed away.
A jewel in the village is a country club with stunning Long Island Sound views. But a bird's-eye view shows the catering facility and tennis courts precariously close to a 100-foot-high eroding bluff, and recent work to shore up the bluff has taken a big hit.
"After a huge rainstorm, it is heartbreaking to see that," one person said.
In storm after recent storm, large swaths of the $5 million in soil, burlap, and new plantings that were supposed to anchor the bluff, got eaten away.
Mayor Lauren Sheprow is not deterred. She believes a second phase of the work to install steel underpinning, costing the village another $5 million, is a needed fix to save a property voters chose to purchase back in the 1970s.
"Once we put that wall in, I feel there will be ... it will protect the work that was done on the first phase of the project," Sheprow said. "Our community utilizes this facility in many ways and it's something we are committed to and don't want to see anything happen to."
But it's a community divided, said resident Myrna Gordon, who added she would rather see the building demolished and new one put up out of harm's way.
"You're talking about monies that is being put into a piece of property where it's not going to be saved due to the increasing number of storms that are happening, with climate change," Gordon said.
It's a debate that is cropping up across Long Island and the nation: at what cost do we try to save what Mother Nature seems to want her way?
Professor Henry Bokuniewicz, a Stony Brook University erosion expert, says we have the technology to slow down erosion, but there are debatable costs.
"If you value the some benefits of the shoreline enough, you can armor yourself against it. Kind of like treating the disease, not solving it," Bokuniewicz said.
Sheprow said the treatment is needed now, before its too late.
The second phase is awaiting Federal Emergency Management Agency approval.