Asharoken beach restoration plan faces deadline for local OK

The Army Corps of Engineers is to deliver a final proposal in early April for a multimillion-dollar Asharoken beach restoration, giving local officials just a few weeks to decide whether to support a project that many residents oppose.

In order for the project to move forward, corps officials said Asharoken must provide a letter of support — and they want it by May 1.

Corps officials need “reasonable assurance . . . Asharoken wants to move forward,” spokesman James D’Ambrosio said in an email.

Village officials have assured residents that the community will have a chance to offer input on the final proposal before a response is sent to the corps.

“The board and I feel, without any equivocation, that the decision to either move forward or chose to opt out . . . should be made by the residents and property owners,” Mayor Greg Letica said in a Feb. 19 letter to residents.

The corps released its tentative plan in November after considering five options. But it wasn’t the approach village officials preferred. The corps plan included using groins — structures built to reinforce against erosion — and the village preference did not.

Since then, the agency has received public comments from village officials, residents in Asharoken and Eatons Neck, and lawmakers at the local, state and federal levels. The agency is using those comments to develop the final proposal, which a spokesman said Monday would be issued in early April.

Supporting the corp’s rebuilding plan would mean opening the village’s private Long Island Sound beaches to the public, a trade off many residents and village officials oppose. The corps requires a public benefit from projects that use taxpayer money.

The project is needed because the village’s shoreline has eroded, putting Asharoken Avenue at risk of flooding or damage in storms, officials have said. As the village’s main road, it is the sole land evacuation route for residents of Asharoken and Eatons Neck.

Village officials have said that protecting Asharoken Avenue is a sufficient public benefit.

“The decision to either move forward or turn down the . . . project is probably the most important decision our village will ever make,” Letica said in his letter to residents.

The initial phase of the project would cost more than $20 million, with long-term costs estimated at more than $57 million.

If village officials sign a letter of support, the overall plan can’t be changed, although small revisions could occur.

The project would add more than 600,000 cubic yards of sand to the most vulnerable 2.4 miles of shoreline. The corps’ preliminary proposal would also replenish the beach with an additional 80,000 cubic yards of sand about every five years, with a total projected cost of $57.8 million.