Several residents of the Lazy Point neighborhood on Napeague have voiced concerns at recent meetings of the East Hampton Town Trustees about a Suffolk County dredging project in the channel between Lazy Point and Hicks Island, arguing that widening the channel as proposed would allow water to rise and encroach even more on their houses. (The trustees own the land beneath the houses, and lease the lots to the homeowners.)
Ten years ago, the county conducted a similar project, widening and deepening the channel. A contract signed at the time stipulated that in 2024 the dredging would happen again.
During the process in 2014, the county cut 50 feet off the end of Hicks Island. That 50 feet had been an important barrier against erosion, which has since threatened the house of Susan Knobel, a 50-year resident of the area.
Ms. Knobel, who called in to last week’s trustee meeting, said she’d found out about the project only two weeks ago. The trustees themselves had only heard of it several weeks ago, answered Jim Grimes, when the county requested that kayaks be removed from the beach in anticipation of the work. “We were blindsided,” said Mr. Grimes.
The depth that was added to the channel 10 years ago allows boats and Jet Skis to speed through the channel in the summer, Ms. Knobel told the trustees. “It just baffles me how, with the channel being so open and moving so fast and doing what it’s doing, that [the county] would not know this, that they wouldn’t see this or understand this, and that they would go ahead with the dredging,” she said.
“I know that it’s a done deal,” she added.
During storms, when the wind stirs and the waves kick up, her house takes the brunt of it head-on, she said, owing to erosion and the loss of the barrier from Hicks Island. At high tide near the channel, the water comes almost all the way up to the house.
“It’s terrible,” she said. “That’s all I can say: It’s terrible. There’s no protection for me anymore. I don’t know how to protect my house. I mean, I go down there, and I pray.”
Ms. Knobel acknowledged that the town trustees are in a difficult position: “These trustees are decent human beings, and they’re trying very hard, and I know they feel bad about this.”
“It’s not acceptable,” Mr. Grimes agreed, “but I don’t see any immediate solution. Moving forward, we’re all going to have to be more diligent on these things.” The trustees asked the county not to go ahead with the project, he added, “but what happens is, the contractors in turn finds themselves forced to sue the county for the full value of the contract.”
Asked if the town could help, Patrick Derenze, its public information officer, said no. In fact, he said, the county plans to bring in the dredging equipment on Tuesday, and the work is expected to start soon after, barring inclement weather.
“I’m blessed to have had my home there for 50 years. It’s been a miraculous place to live,” Ms. Knobel said. “I don’t want to lose my home. It means too much to me, and it means a lot to my daughter and my grandchildren.” Over the years, she has fought erosion as best she could, she said, including periodically replacing the steps in front of the house.
“I don’t know that I will lose it, and maybe it’ll hang in there, but I’m always on guard. I’m always worried,” she said. “It hasn’t felt like a winning battle.”
Also at the meeting, at the behest of Suffolk County Legislator Ann Welker, the trustees voted to support a County Legislature amendment that will conserve “working waterfronts,” defined online as “docks or land adjacent to navigable coastal waters of the State of New York, or any political subdivision thereof, which supports the commercial fisheries business.”
The intent of the law as it now stands is to conserve environmental assets and resources, such as open spaces, forest land, historical areas, etc. If the amendment passes, “working waterfronts” will be added to the list.
“As you know, with escalating real estate values, there’s increasing pressure on our working waterfront,” Ms. Welker said by phone earlier this week. “Maine has 5,000 miles of coastline, and 20 miles of it has been preserved for working waterfront. They’re working to acquire more, and this is the vehicle which has been most impactful or effective in Maine, and this is how we hope to proceed forward in the county.”
“We had a tremendous amount of support for it from the East Hampton and Montauk community,” she added. “We appreciate the ongoing support from the East End . . . because it’s critically important to the future of our commercial fishermen, our aquaculturists, our baymen, and anyone else who’s working on or with the water. It would provide a place for storage of gear, of boats, and access to the water.”
The amendment now goes for discussion to the Legislature’s environment, parks, and agriculture committee on Monday, and on Dec. 17 to its next general meeting. Information for those wishing to submit public comment can be found at https://www.scnylegislature.us/civicalerts.aspx?aid=1539.
