First Steps Taken To Restore North Sea Beach

In an effort to restore a section of North Sea Beach, located west of North Sea Harbor, the Southampton Town Board recently agreed to invest town funds to plan and map a new beach erosion control district in a North Sea neighborhood.

The North Sea Beach Colony, a neighborhood association, has proposed a beach nourishment project that would aim to restore and maintain the beach that runs approximately 1,400 linear feet and overlooks Little Peconic Bay, near the terminus of North Sea Road.

The approximately $337,000 sand restoration project—funded through the creation of a new erosion control district—would allow a special tax on the colony’s 62 property owners to pay for the work, which would include dumping up to 15,000 cubic yards of sand, and to maintain the beach for five years, according to Deputy Town Attorney Kathleen Murray.

“Right now, we have an acute need,” explained Aram Terchunian, the chief environmental analyst for the project and the owner of First Coastal, an environmental consultant company in Westhampton Beach. “Beaches are like bank accounts, and this bank account has run dry.”

Officials from First Coastal and the town discussed the proposal at a Town Board work session on August 10. A First Coastal report estimated the initial construction cost to be $300,000, with an additional $37,000 needed for design. Five-year monitoring and maintenance would cost an additional $35,000.

Ultimately, the Town Board expressed full support of the proposal, and a resolution to approve design funding is expected to be subject to a vote at the board’s next meeting on August 22.

Mr. Terchunian noted that the erosion situation has accelerated ever since dredged spoils from North Sea Harbor began being dumped along the east side of the waterway more than 30 years ago. The dredged sand is no longer making its way to their neighborhood beach, he explained. Instead, most is being trapped in the North Sea Inlet, which sits about 2,000 feet east.

As outlined by Mr. Terchunian, First Coastal would pump excess sand from east of the canal to restore the health of the beach, all while working with Suffolk County officials to have sand placed to the west in future annual dredging.

“In my estimation, if we go back to the way it was done for decades … this situation will heal itself, and we won’t have to do anything,” Mr. Terchunian said.

Southampton Town Board member John Bouvier raised concerns about the project, calling for more direct efforts to combat climate change, which he said may one day require such communities to retreat from the beach all together.

“We have a coastal community, this one, and many others that are faced with this problem,” Mr. Bouvier said. “Sometimes I feel like we're just putting Band-Aids on something that we're not addressing on a much larger scale.”

Supervisor Jay Schneiderman agreed that the town needed to think long-term in its planning, but that the board also needed to deal with the depleted beach now.