Feds to hold 2nd hearing on Fire Island dunes after flub

Fire Islanders will get another chance to ask questions and express their views about the federal government's plan to condemn property and take it -- if necessary -- to build dunes.

Suffolk County will hold a second public hearing at 6 p.m. Feb. 17 in the Van Nostrand Theatre at Suffolk County Community College's Brentwood campus, Gilbert Anderson, the county's public works commissioner, said by telephone.

The second hearing always was planned, he said, but it became mandatory because Suffolk advertised the first hearing only for three days instead of the required five-day period, he said.

"We felt it would be worthwhile because of all the questions that were raised. This just kind of forced our hand," Anderson said.

All public comments from both hearings will become part of the record, he said.

The Army Corps of Engineers devised the $207 million anti-flood project, but Suffolk must secure the 41 homes slated for demolition and 421 easements needed to build and maintain the barrier island's dunes.

Anderson said surveys, needed for easements, that have not already been sent are likely to go out in a month or so. Appraisals will not be conducted if the homeowner donates the land sought.

The 41 targeted homeowners might have to wait three months to receive their appraisals.

The Fire Island Association, the main homeowners group, pressed to get the project approved. Some scientists and engineers have faulted the project, saying it mostly shields the barrier island's 4,000 summer homes, and not the South Shore.

Thomas LaGuardia, Suffolk's former chief deputy public works commissioner and a Davis Park resident, attacked the Army Corps' analysis that the dunes would thwart flooding on the mainland, according to a transcript of the hearing Suffolk provided in response to a Freedom of Information Law request.

"That modicum of sand that you're putting on is going to protect my home better and it's going to protect some of the residents of Davis Park and some of the other communities," he said.

"It's not going to protect the South Shore of Long Island, which does need protection."

The Army Corps advanced Fire Island's dune project about a year by extracting it from the agency's much bigger plan to defend the South Shore by raising thousands of homes and recreating wetlands.

An Army Corps spokesman answered such criticisms by noting the Fire Island plan was "thoroughly reviewed." He added: "We look forward to taking meaningful action and implementing this project to reduce coastal storm risks to thousands of Long Islanders."Several individuals, some of them lawyers, who attended the first hearing said the county had failed to inform them by mail, as it is required to do, that the hearing would be held.

Property owners have voiced the same complaint at other hearings. Anderson said the county was working to ensure it had all the required contact information.

Anderson stressed the county's commitment to ensuring property owners have the information they need and said officials will hold an informal question period an hour before the February hearing starts.

Several people who attended the first hearing had complained that it was held in the middle of the Christmas-New Year holiday period, which undercut attendance.

New York attorney Jonathan Houghton, who spoke at the first hearing, found it troubling that the county failed to follow the notification process.

"This is the easiest part of what they do," he said. "There is a statute that's been on the books for 40 years, it's not that hard."

The law also spells out Suffolk's deadlines, Houghton said, noting that a 30-day public comment period follows an eminent domain hearing.

The county then can take as long as 90 days to issue its "Determination and Findings."

"That is the document which states the 'results' of the public hearing," he said.

After that, any property owner who wishes to fight a condemnation must file suit within 30 days, Houghton said.