$2.3M in storm repairs complete at Callahans Beach 

A popular Fort Salonga beach is open after a more than two-year closure following damage from remnants of Hurricane Ida, Smithtown officials announced.

Federal pandemic recovery funds paid for the $2.3 million in infrastructure repairs to Callahans Beach, which reopened Nov. 7.

Damage included a collapsed sea wall following the tropical depression in September 2021 and a second storm that arrived soon afterward.

A delay in the repairs sparked residents to speak out this summer, with 30 people attending an August rally to push for town officials to move faster to fix and reopen the beach.

Along with sea wall reconstruction, the repairs included installation of new drainage infrastructure and the rebuilding of a stairway leading down to the beach — with platforms also built between stories.

Town officials said the beach’s bluff was completely rehabilitated and now features rows of plantings. The project also included all new walkways, curbing and asphalt.

Smithtown Supervisor Ed Wehrheim said in a statement that the repair efforts were “a massive undertaking" but "the incredible amount of teamwork involved solidified a beautiful end result … one that Smithtown residents will enjoy for years to come."

At the time of the rally, the supervisor said the beach repairs would be finished by October.

Wehrheim blamed the delay in the beach's reopening, originally targeted for summer, on supply chain issues and the time it took the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to grant a permit for repairs to the environmentally sensitive area.

The DEC issued the town the permit in February after its May 2022 application, Newsday previously reported.

In the end, the repairs finished before the Nov. 15 date in the project's bid specifications, according to Wehrheim's spokeswoman Nicole Garguilo.

Irwin Izen, 64, of Commack, who visits the beach regularly and took part in the August rally, said he felt the sea wall’s appearance could have been made to look more visually appealing. Apart from that, Izen said the repairs “look beautiful."

He added: “As long as the beach is open by spring and this summer, when the beach is more popular and we can enjoy it, I can be happy."

Not everyone is pleased with the new sea wall, however.

Kevin McAllister, president of Sag Harbor-based nonprofit Defend H2O, said he's concerned it may accelerate beach erosion.

He said the town could have used plants and soil to stabilize the area instead of a sea wall and ultimately should consider moving it back from the shoreline.

The environmentalist acknowledged that in such a scenario, areas such as the parking lot and even some nearby residential homes would be lost.

“I’m arguing that if we care about public access to the beach into the future and ecological health, then we have to pull back instead of armoring the coastline," McAllister said.

But Garguilo said the more than 600 new plantings near the beach bluff will aid in preventing erosion and that the town adhered to all environmental guidelines while working with the state DEC on the project.

She said building the sea wall was “the only way to give people access to the beach."