Southampton Town Trustees Worry FIMP Will Strip Away Their Control Over Beaches

The Southampton Town Trustees are urging residents to speak out against the Fire Island to Montauk Point Reformulation Project—out of fear that when the plan goes into effect, it ultimately could lead to the Trustees losing their ability to regulate the beaches as they have for 330 years.

Also known as FIMP, the plan calls for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to spend more than $1.1 billion to build up 83 miles of beaches along the south shore to combat erosion and protect them from future storms. The draft plan includes major beach nourishment projects, rebuilding and long-term maintenance of ocean dunes 13 to 15 feet high, dredging inlets and ocean shoals to provide sand to nourish eroded sections of shoreline, and raising or removing homes in areas under threat of extensive flooding in storms.

Thirty years after finishing the project, the Army Corps plans to step away and hand the beaches back to the local municipalities, or to erosion control districts, which are set up by residents who live in areas susceptible to erosion to pay for beach work. Such districts exist in several places in the town, including at Tiana Beach in Hampton Bays and in a stretch from Sagaponack to Bridgehampton, which funded a major beach nourishment project.

“They stated, at that meeting, that in 30 years they are out of the beach nourishment business, and their intent after 30 is just that,” Trustee Scott Horowitz said on Tuesday, referring to a meeting he attended on the matter on September 27 at Stony Brook Southampton.

Mr. Horowitz said the federal mandate is public access for everyone—which raises a problem for the Trustees. Currently, the Trustees’ regulations allow only residents of the town to drive on the beaches. If FIMP goes through as it is written now, Mr. Horowitz said, the beaches could be opened to anyone, not just residents.

“How will we maintain that level of control for even that one activity on our easement?” Mr. Horowitz said.

The Trustees’ easement runs from the toe of the dune to the mean high water mark. “If [the] local municipal erosion control district will be the primary source of beach nourishment, as per the plan in 30 years, it is imperative, for the interest of public access as we currently know it, that the Trustees and the easement we hold for the benefit of the public to be respected, reinforced and integrated into the plan,” he said.

At a Town Trustees meeting on Wednesday, October 12, all five Trustees appeared to agree that they had concerns that their authority could be compromised by FIMP.

Trustee Eric Shultz also said he was concerned that FIMP could open the beaches to everyone, adding that the easement held by the Trustees needs to be documented on everyone’s deeds to help reinforce their case to be recognized.

A written comment period on the draft plan closed this week, and now it is up to the Army Corps to go through the comments and incorporate whatever changes its officials believe are necessary. There will be another round of public comment sessions.

“Every little comment helps,” Mr. Horowitz said. “We are unique, and they have to understand we are unique.”

State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. said he does not think the Trustees have much to worry about when it comes to their regulatory powers. “There’s nothing in this project that has any impact on the Trustees’ rights,” he said. “My position is that the FIMP shouldn’t have any impact on the Trustees—and I would fight to maintain that.”