Finally.
After years of effort, accelerated recently because of dangerous conditions, the inlet at Lake Montauk will undergo emergency dredging, perhaps by the end of the month. At the East Hampton Town Board meeting on Tuesday, Councilman David Lys announced the development during his liaison reports, saying he was "very pleasantly surprised."
"This is the greatest indication that we will have some temporary relief there," he told the board.
The United States Army Corps of Engineers posted a public notice to its website Monday announcing the project that will remove shoals down to a depth of 12 feet below the mean low-water level (plus an allowable two feet over depth), and place 10,500 cubic yards of dredged sand on the beach immediately west of the inlet. The Army Corps is seeking public comments. "Only critical shoals will be dredged under this emergency," read the notice.
"The channel was last dredged in 2018, where approximately 40,000 cubic yards of material was removed," the notice continued. "The dredged sand was used as beach nourishment and placed along severely eroded areas of the beach just west of the west jetty." Dredging "is currently anticipated to occur during the winter of 2025, subject to the availability of funds."
To do the work, the corps needed to receive an "emergency declaration" from its regional North Atlantic division engineer, who is coordinating with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to ensure there will be no impact on winter flounder, a federally regulated species.
At Monday's Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee meeting, Councilman Lys was questioned by Chris Yula, who feared the emergency dredging would delay the larger project to dredge the inlet to a depth of 17 feet. Dredging of the inlet was first authorized way back in 1945, but that authorization only allows for dredging to 12 feet.
"So, is there an unintended negative on this where they kind of treat this like a trauma center that the next biggest emergency is handled and now we drop on the list because they spot-fixed one thing and now it's not as critical as other areas and we're going back in the line again?" Mr. Yula asked.
Plans have been in the works since at least 2019 to dredge the inlet to a depth of 17 feet, with an eye to resolving recurring shoaling, and last month County Executive Ed Romaine asked the Army Corps to utilize emergency funding to do just that.
Councilman Lys indicated that the emergency dredging was separate from the larger dredging project, which, it is hoped, would be done in the fall.
"Then we're still waiting for the rest, so then they're going to have to come back again and do another five feet?" asked Marcy Waterman.
"Well, they're going to have to do the whole project," he answered. "This is just to get the 12 feet in the area where it's shoaling right now."
Senator Chuck Schumer, in a letter written Tuesday to Col. Alexander Young of the Army Corps, once again outlined the issue. "A recent United States Army Corps of Engineers survey revealed that only a very narrow serviceable channel exists within the inlet, and even that channel has depths as shallow as three feet in areas. Many of the boats docked in Montauk Harbor, including United States Coast Guard vessels, possess drafts of up to 12 feet, making traversing the inlet perilous." Colonel Young received a similar letter from Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine in January, which also noted economic impacts of the shallow inlet. If the Montauk fishing fleet were unable to land their catch locally, New York's allowable fishing quotas could be lowered, commercial fishing interests fear.
In the last few months, boats were often forced to wait hours to enter the inlet, timing their navigation of the 150-foot-wide channel with high tide.
"In order to ensure the safety of these vessels and prevent a future disaster, I urge U.S.A.C.E. to follow through on their findings with dredging action to remediate the shallow depths," Senator Schumer wrote.
Any public comment on the project must be emailed to Alexander Gregory, the project manager, at [email protected] before Wednesday.
With Reporting by Denis Hartnett
