Home buyout offers for Fire Island dune project expected in 2 months

Owners of 41 oceanfront Fire Island homes slated for demolition to clear the path for a federally funded dune project can expect buyout offers in about two months, a Suffolk County official said this week.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers devised the $207 million project, but the county must secure the required properties and 421 easements needed to build and maintain the barrier island's dunes.

The county has scheduled a public hearing on the project for Dec. 30. The 7 p.m. hearing will be held at Suffolk County Community College's Brentwood campus in the Van Nostrand Theatre.

After the hearing, the county, which repeatedly has warned it will condemn properties if necessary, has 90 days to issue a report authorizing its use of those powers.

"We're not saying we're going to go into eminent domain," public works commissioner Gilbert Anderson said. "We're trying to get ahead of the curve."

If property owners decline buyout offers or easement requests, "it takes us about two months to go from rejection of an offer to getting it before a court," Anderson said.

Homeowners who wish to fight a buyout in court would have to do so within 30 days of the county's report, said Mike Rikon, a Manhattan eminent domain attorney.

Almost all properties targeted for $46 million in buyouts are in Davis Park and Ocean Bay Park.

Scheduling the hearing during the winter holidays irked some Fire Islanders, who noted that many residents will be unable to attend.

Vanessa Baird-Streeter, the county executive's spokeswoman, stressed that people with an interest in the project may testify in person or submit written comments to the Suffolk public works department.

Owners of the 41 properties should receive the surveys their appraisals will be based on this month, Anderson said.

Preliminary work on the first phase of the dune project, in public lands on the east end of the island, has begun, including plant removal. The dredge is expected to arrive about Dec. 17 to begin loading sand onto the shore, Anderson said.

Officials hope to begin building dunes in front of communities in the middle of the island by fall 2015.