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Updated 10/1/10.
A narrow strip of beach on Moriches Island has been used by residents for a number of years. It is located in an area that is managed by the State's Department of Environmental Conservation as the "Moriches Bay Water Access Site". Besides the beach, it features a boat ramp, a parking area and natural vegetation. DEC says that the beach was never for bathing. The image to the right shows the area several years ago.
Within the last year, DEC decided to improve the area. It did not consult residents regarding what they might want. Rather, it announced on 11/5/09 that the site would be closed until completion of construction activities. The announcement was in a release on its website and perhaps circulated to news media. The work to be done was described in a 10/27/09 site plan--which EMPOA obtained only recently.
The work was stopped. At that point, as shown in the photos below, DEC had deposited tons of boulders on the beach, reducing its area by perhaps 1/2, and removed most of the vegetation between the road and beach. According to DEC, the work had to be stopped because the Legislature had not passed the State's budget. Nonethless, DEC stated oddly on 6/11/10 in a "field note" on its website that
"renovations have been made to the Moriches Bay Waterway Access site. The site received a 700 foot stone armored shoreline for erosion control, an improved upland area with removed invasive vegetation, and a newly re-graded blue stone parking area and access road to the ramp."
As shown by the photos below (taken 8/5/10), the work is not done. And residents are upset, as seen in a recent article in the Press of Manorville & the Moriches.
9/22/10 update:
Residents were able to hear DEC's explanations and give their views on the situation at EMPOA's 9/15 meeting. Bill Fonda, a DEC Regional Citizen Participation Specialist, gave some of the history and showed a plan of work which is now planned. It does not include any steps over the rocks to the beach.
A DEC representative provided the following information to EMPOA on 9/20/10:
"The Moriches Bay Waterway Access site is a 12 acre parcel managed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. This property, which contains 1300 feet of shoreline of Hart Cove, was donated to the DEC by the U.S. Department of Interior in 1981. The terms of the donation stipulated that the property be used "exclusively for public park or recreation purposes by the people of the State of New York." Again though as federal money is involved in the use of this site, it has to be open to non-New York State residents as well, as is true with all of our boating access sites.
"In the effort to fulfill this obligation the DEC assembled in 1993 and 1994, when this site was built, $107,000 of Federal and State funding to rehabilitate the shorefront portion of this property and to construct a small boat launch ramp and upland parking area accommodating 38 vehicles. Sixty thousand dollars of this money came from the Federal Sport Fish Restoration Fund, while the remaining $47,000 came from state capital construction and rehabilitation monies.
"Staff have informed me that Wallop-Breaux Act funds, which are derived from an tax on motorboat fuel sold at waterfront locations, provides the maintenance funding for this site.
"The construction work that was done earlier this year and the work that will be done in the next few weeks is from a 2009 Parks Capital fund, which was a one-time only fund. Total funding from this fund amounted to approximately $200,000 which funded construction material and staff time on this project.
"As for the work timetable, DEC staff are doing prep work presently on the boardwalk at our Ridge location and work may begin on the boardwalk as soon as the first week in October or perhaps even soon."
10/1/10 Update:
DEC has resumed work on the boardwalk.
EMPOA has sent a letter to DEC's Region 1 Director summarizing residents' comments.
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Government officials contact information:
DEC Region 1 Office
NYSDEC
SUNY at Stony Brook
50 Circle Road
Stony Brook, New York 11790
631-444-0350
http://www.dec.ny.gov/about/603.html
Regional Director: Peter A. Scully
Phone: (631) 444-0345
Fax: (631) 444-0349
Regional Citizen Participation Specialist (Public and Media Affairs): Bill Fonda
Phone: (631) 444-0350; Fax: (631) 444-0349
Elected officials
Senator Kenneth P. LaValle
325 Middle Country Road, Suite 4
Selden, NY 11784
(631) 696-6900
Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr.
2302 Main Street
Box 3062
Bridgehampton, NY 11932
631-537-2583
Click for Thiele's online email form & website
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