East Hampton Plans To Replenish, Restore Ditch Plains Beach

Montauk’s famed Ditch Plains beach will get an infusion of more than 4,000 tons of trucked-in sand next week in the hope of making the beach more friendly to the crowds of sunbathers expected to descend on Montauk this summer, East Hampton Town officials said on Tuesday.

The beaches in downtown Montauk will also get another dose of trucked-in sand next week to re-cover the sandbags that protect the beachfront hotels, Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said on Tuesday.

The town and Suffolk County spent more than $750,000 this spring to recover the sandbag revetment from the winter erosion, only to see a Memorial Day weekend storm wash away much of what had been deposited in early May, leaving Ditch Plains a barren, rocky shoreline.

“For the most part, there’s no sand covering the boulders and debris,” the supervisor said during a Town Board work session on Tuesday. “In 2013, it needed about 3,500 [cubic yards], when it was in similar condition.”

The town will purchase the sand from whatever contractor is hired to conduct the work. Patrick Bistrian Jr. Inc. conducted the downtown nourishment work in the spring. At least some of the sand could be material that was excavated from the Georgica Pond cut over the winter as part of the East Hampton Town Trustees’ efforts to increase the transfer of water between the pond and the ocean when the “cut” is dug open in the spring and fall.

Mr. Van Scoyoc said he will ask the Town Board to approve the funding for both projects on Thursday from the town’s funding reserves — which are now more than $50 million. The total cost of bringing in the sand and spreading it on the two beaches could be more than $200,000.

Councilman David Lys said that it will take at least three or four days for contractors to haul in the sand and bulldoze it onto the beaches, so that getting the work done before the start of the July 4 holiday will require quick planning and coordination.

Mr. Lys said that while the trucked-in sand will offer little resilience in the face of a storm, calm weather should be helping the beaches bolster it naturally going forward. But Ditch is in dire need of a boost.

“There’s been some accretion, but Ditch is just not getting any sand,” Mr. Lys said. “I think it’s wise to make sure our economic engine is sustained for this season.”

“And let’s hope we’re done with nor’easters for this year,” Mr. Van Scoyoc sighed.