Upgrades at Huntington's Halesite Marina Park, delayed for months, nearly complete

Town of Huntington officials are pushing forward with infrastructure improvements at town waterside sites, including a $3.5 million bulkhead project at Halesite Marina Park overlooking Huntington Harbor that, after months of delays, is nearly complete. 

The improvements also included repaved parking lots at some town beaches.

Town Supervisor Ed Smyth said for the last few years, the town has been in maintenance mode, particularly at facilities along its 62 miles of waterfront.

“We’re rebuilding and repairing the infrastructure that we have before we start on new projects,” he said, adding waterfront facilities are the most susceptible to damage and wear over time.

Construction to replace the bulkhead and give a face-lift at Halesite Marina Park began in December 2023 and was expected to be completed last year. But, Smyth said, rebuilding existing infrastructure comes with challenges that include finding things that need to be repaired once work has begun.

"It's like renovating an old house," he said. "You don't know what's there until you open it up."

Smyth said once excavating started, workers discovered the decades-old underground concrete drainage system had collapsed, contributing to the undermining of the bulkhead as well as the lawn of the park.

That discovery, and the additional work needed because of it, prolonged the process.

“It was a very complicated job; even more so than we anticipated,” said Garrett Chelius, deputy director of the Department of Maritime Services.

Now on track to be completed by the end of this month, the project also includes an additional 200 feet of dock, upgraded lighting, an additional 11 parking spaces, a new traffic pattern,  a brick walkway,  flagpoles,  decorative fencing, rain gardens and additional bench seating, Chelius said.

Beach parking lots repaved

The parking lots at Asharoken, Gold Star Battalion, West Neck and Centerport beaches were all repaved during the spring by the General Services Department, Smyth said.

Their locations in low-lying areas often make them receptacles for stormwater and extreme high-tide flooding, he said.

“Because those parking lots are seasonal, they don’t always get the attention they deserve,” Smyth said. “It got to a point where putting patches on these parking lots was no longer an option.”

Town officials didn’t provide the cost of the repaving projects.

The restrooms and lifeguard houses at Asharoken, Crescent and West Neck beaches also were painted, with paint donated by Huntington-based nonprofit 1653 Foundation, Chelius said.

Upcoming projects include Phase 2 at West Neck Beach to rebuild the roadway to the beach and add drainage. Smyth said the town is awaiting Department of Environmental Conservation approval to begin construction.

More work on tap in Halesite

Just north of Halesite Marina Park is Halesite Park. Officials are working on a redesign of the shoreline that will include removing a concrete barrier and replacing it with natural materials to improve stormwater runoff. Oyster reefs and sea grass will be planted to help with water purification and erosion. Shade structures also will be installed. The town will seek grants to help fund that project.

In July 2023, the town board adopted a plan to build a public walkway along Huntington Harbor, on the northern end of New York Avenue in Halesite. The Harbor Walk is expected to improve access to the shoreline, connect existing parks and develop new parkland in the area, Newsday previously reported. No start date has been set for that project.

Meanwhile, in Northport, Woodbine Marina remains closed. The town in May settled a lawsuit with several contractors over allegations of botched work on the bulkhead there.

In 2020, town officials filed a lawsuit seeking $1 million in damages from the contractors who designed and reconstructed the marina. In the settlement, the town received a total of about $1.5 million from three of them.

The marina is still in need of a new bulkhead, Smyth said. The town is in the process of getting DEC approvals to move forward with any plans, he said.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated the roadwork planned in Phase 2 at West Neck Beach.