Last week the dredge from the Suffolk County Department of Public Works opened the channel at the end of the Shell Beach peninsula and pumped excavated spoils to the heavily eroded bend on the south side of the spit. The spoils partially replaced sediments lost when an April 2007 nor'easter and other storms washed away the beach, gullied the bank and ate away the asphalt pavement of the road that has been closed for months going on years.

But only part of the peninsula was bolstered and much more is involved in the project to restore the public beach and repair the extension of Oak Tree Lane that provides the only vehicular access to it. The Town Board met in a special session on Friday, January 9 to award a contract for the restoration project, which was designed by consultant Dave Andrews of Fagan Engineering and approved for 75 percent funding of a nearly $1 million estimated total by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Highway Superintendent Mark Ketcham, interviewed Tuesday, said that the project will come in under the FEMA total, based on the new contract approved Friday and engineering support agreements authorized earlier this month. The primary restoration work was awarded to Chesterfield Associates, a 40-year-old company with 40 employees based in Westhampton Beach and Westport Island, Maine. Chesterfield's bid of $378,900 came in under the $484,032 bid of Greenport-based Costello Marine. Representatives from both companies were interviewed during a Town Board executive session, Supervisor Jim Dougherty told the Reporter. “We thought very highly of both of them,” he commented. Contract signing and the approval of a performance bond was scheduled for today, January 15, but Chesterfields began ordering materials for the project “on good faith” last week, Supervisor Dougherty said.

Engineering supervision by Mr. Andrews with local support from Matt Sherman is expected to come in at under $130,000, according to Mr. Ketcham. The town has submitted its first requests to FEMA to reimburse initial engineering costs of $52,660; FEMA reimbursements are turned around in approximately six to eight weeks, according to Mr. Dougherty.

Project details

Shell Beach restoration work, laid out in engineering plans designed by Mr. Andrews and approved by FEMA, will result in a different looking and better protected shoreline. The weather-beaten south slope of the spit will not only be replenished with sediment, the process begun by the dredge, but will also be engineered with a three-tiered gabion system. Each gabion is a mesh enclosed terrace of sediments, about 3 feet high. The lowest tier will serve as the toe of the engineered slope and will be embedded 2 feet beneath the beach surface. The terraced slope extends for over 500 feet and will eventually be planted with native grasses and shrubs to create a natural look. A ramp will allow beach access over the terraces from the roadway above, which will be repaved (on the western asphalt section) and regraded (over the longer dirt section of road).

To keep the beach below in place, three low-profile groins of C-lock vinyl panels anchored by pressure-treated wood will be installed, positioned about 200 feet apart. The groins are designed to interrupt the littoral drift of sand, which is deposited on either side of a groin, Mr. Ketcham explained. The low-profile design avoids the scalloping effect seen around Shell Beach's old jetties.

In addition to the physical stabilization of the peninsula, Shell Beach will undergo a habitat restoration, to create what Mr. Ketcham called “a better and safer piping plover breeding ground.”

The five-year plan, which the town and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to as a permitting requirement for the overall Shell Beach restoration project, aims to eliminate threats to the piping plover, an endangered species, by eradicating invasive vegetation. Tree of heaven, black locust, Japanese black pine and Russian olive will be eliminated or reduced. According to the plan Mr. Ketcham provided the Reporter, “These species provide perching and nesting habitat for a number of species that can prey upon the federally listed piping plover.” Control of invasives will begin at the end of Shell Beach, where plovers have nested in recent years, and must be complete before breeding season. Control activities are planned for each year of the program from September 1 to March 31.

To improve the habitat, native vegetation (such as beach grass, seaside goldenrod and dusty miller) will be planted. The vegetation density will be coordinated with the Fish and Wildlife Service in a future on-site meeting in order to maintain a “suitable” environment for the piping plover.

The project as a whole is “moving at absolute flank speed,” Supervisor Dougherty said at Tuesday's Town Board work session.

Additional reporting by Jake Williams

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