As they look to move closer to reopening the east channel of Napeague Harbor, the East Hampton Town Trustees voted on Monday to hire George Walbridge Surveyors to provide updated baseline mapping and conduct upland topographic and ownership surveys, bathymetric surveys of the east inlet, the west inlet, and western beach areas that could receive dredge spoils, and of Hicks Island, which is a dredge-spoil deposit site.
Drew Bennett of D.B. Bennett Engineering has been working on the permitting process, which would involve the federal Army Corps of Engineers, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and possibly the State Department of State. The trustees had voted in November to allocate up to $25,000 to Mr. Bennett to prepare an application to the D.E.C., which would have to sign off on the project.
At the trustees’ request, Mr. Bennett attended their meeting this week. He previously sought bids from three surveyors, and received two, one from Walbridge Surveyors ($11,680) and one from the Raynor Group ($58,900).
“To be able to prepare the application, you need to have a map,” Mr. Bennett told the trustees, “and the map has to have certain pieces of information on it. We have a fair amount of historical information, but we don’t have an up-to-date snapshot of existing conditions.” The last topographic survey of both inlets was done in 2012, he said. The Suffolk County Department of Public Works does occasional surveys of the west inlet, he said, but has not surveyed the east channel, shore profiles, or the topography of Hicks Island.
“The first step is topography, water depth, mean high water, mean low water — the basics, so that you could prepare a plan if you decide to go forward for an application,” Mr. Bennett said. “That’s the checklist for an application.”
Walbridge Surveyors, he said, has a history and database on ownership of the land in the Lazy Point area, “which is a little complicated, and they also have a marine drone to be able to do the bathymetry data. The Raynor group is a little less familiar and experienced in the area, so they had budgeted a fair amount of time in terms of determining property lines and who owns what.”
He showed the trustees a sketch depicting areas where soundings and surveys would be conducted. “The idea is that the east inlet would be restored and, based on prior studies, it has been determined that [Napeague Harbor] really can only support one inlet, so that the west inlet would probably be narrowed or filled in.”
The trustees “will put together the best application package we can,” Mr. Bennett said, “using the base map that we’re going to create here referring to some prior studies.” If the trustees agree, he will file it with the appropriate agencies and “take the temperature, and then if there are outstanding data needs that various agencies are looking for, you would be able to formulate studies focused on responding to the agencies’ questions that they need to have addressed.”
“If it’s got to be done to file the first blush into the D.E.C., I think we should just go ahead and do it,” said John Aldred, a deputy clerk of the trustees who presided at the meeting, “because they’re not going to ask anything less, that’s for sure.”
“I think we would do that after the survey is set,” Mr. Bennett said. “Typically, we do a pre-application conference for the D.E.C. in Stony Brook.”
The D.E.C., the Army Corps, and the Department of State are likely aware of the trustees’ plans, Mr. Aldred said. “They’ve been at several meetings about this in the past. So there’s an awareness of the agencies that this is coming.”
Also at the meeting, the trustees were visited by a former member of the board. Susan McGraw Keber spoke about East Hampton Village’s recent discussions to prohibit animals and vehicles on its beaches between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. from May 15 through Columbus Day (Oct. 12), where the prohibition at present ends on Sept. 15.
“We look forward to that,” she said of dog owners and the date on which they can take their pets to the beach again. “I’d like to see us keep the Sept. 15 date, and also I know this involves the trucks that go on the beach for fishing, which is very important to our local community and is a tradition — and also a tradition for dogs to be able to be on the beach, from here all the way up to New England and in Maine.”
A meeting with village officials has been delayed, Mr. Aldred said. “There have been some conversations between the trustees and the village,” he said, “and I think the village is reconsidering this full change of dates. They may try it on a lifeguarded beach first.”
The village board will next meet on Friday, Feb. 20.
