Montauk Beach is preparing to begin a massive beach renourishment project that has been in the works since 1960. The Fire Island to Montauk Point beach renourishment project, or FIMP, is scheduled to begin on Thursday, January 18.
The 83-mile-long stretch of coastline between Fire Island and Montauk Point will receive an infusion of 450,000 cubic meters of sand this winter. A 480-foot suction hopper dubbed the Ellis Island will dredge the sand offshore and deposit it on the downtown ocean beach in Montauk. According to the federal Army Corps of Engineers, which is providing funding for the initial round of construction, the project is a temporary solution to rising sea levels and beach erosion.
FIMP was approved by the Federal Rivers and Harbors Act in 1960 and was slated to go into effect in 2025. However, the East Hampton Town Board pushed the Army Corps to start the Montauk portion of the project sooner, with recent storm cycles having made Montauk’s coastline a priority.
On Thursday, a series of two-week road closures will go into effect, and dredging will officially begin. South Elder Street, South Eton Street, and parts of South Emerson Avenue will be closed to allow bulldozers, 35-foot lengths of piping, and other large construction materials to be mobilized along the beach. The contractors, Great Lakes Dredge and Dock of Houston, have also been authorized to use the Kirk Park parking area for stationing equipment. Other inconveniences to residents include noise from the construction as well as a distinct smell. The project is expected to last six to eight weeks but is largely dependent on weather conditions.
“This is tied to the Fire Island work schedule project, which is all currently weather-dependent,” Councilman David Lys said at the town’s board meeting last Tuesday. If there is an extreme weather event during construction, the Ellis Island will retreat to Fort Pond Bay, and work will be halted. Beach infill will continue into April if necessary, but the project must be completed by May 1 because of the arrival of threatened and endangered nesting bird species.
“The Ellis Island holds approximately 40,000 cubic yards of sand per load, and about two loads per day of slurry mix are expected to be deposited on the beach,” said Lys. Infill is scheduled to begin in February, and construction will continue around the clock from then on. “There will be a main line feed that will be coming off the shore, about three-quarters of a mile out . . . with floating pipe, where the Ellis Island will hook up and then push their slurry in,” Lys explained, adding, “During this time frame, in this location specifically, there will be no pedestrian access from the east or west of the beach, or from the dune overpasses, which also means from private properties.”
This may seem like a major inconvenience to residents, but it is something any long-term Hamptons resident will have to get used to. Beach renourishment will now take place every four years until 2054. The cost of future renourishments will be shared between the town, state, and federal governments. The current project is entirely covered by the federal government, with an estimated cost of $11.55 million.
