Brookhaven completes $1.3M bluff stabilization project

Brookhaven Town officials have announced the completion of a $1.3 million project to stabilize bluffs and shorelines in Sound Beach that had been severely eroded in 2012 by superstorm Sandy.

The four-year project required construction of a 3- to 4-ton armoring stone revetment wall and a recharge basin near Shore Road and Amagansett Drive, officials said in a news release.
Erosion caused by superstorm Sandy had left some homes and roads at risk of collapse, town officials said. Town crews had stabilized the bluff in 2013 by installing about 2,000 cubic yards of clean fill, officials said.

Building the recharge basin allowed the town to abandon an outfall pipe that had been broken during the 2012 storm; the basin also is expected to prevent storm water from flooding nearby beaches and eroding bluffs overlooking Long Island Sound, officials said.

The town received $233,651 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to stabilize the bluff four years ago. The rest of the project was funded by town capital budget funds.

“In the long run, the results of this project will save taxpayer dollars due to fewer erosion costs in the area,” Brookhaven Highway Superintendent Dan Losquadro said in a statement. “And the hardening of our infrastructure leaves us less vulnerable to damage from future storms.”

The project also included construction of a new staircase from Shore Drive, and wood terracing and native plants.

“The bluffs along the North Shore are especially vulnerable to erosion, but the more we can do to stabilize our shoreline, the safer it will be,” Councilwoman Jane Bonner said in a statement.