Frustrated Sheepshead Bay sailors pleaded with the Army Corps of Engineers last Tuesday night to fix eroded Plumb Beach with sand from nearby and too-shallow Sheepshead Bay, but the federal agency insist the that bay’s depth is just fine — and sand from farther away will allow it to do the job for less.
Right now, the Corps plans to move sand from the far-off Ambrose and Rockaway Inlet channels to tack 40 feet of beachfront onto Plumb Beach, even though residents would rather it take the sand from Sheepshead Bay, which they say has gotten dangerously shallow over the years.
“You got a hell of a lot of sand right here to take!” said Bob Berardelli at the Sheepshead Bay Plumb Beach Civic Association meeting, held in the Palm Beach Home for Adults on Emmons Avenue.
But a Corps representative said taking sand from miles away is cheaper because the government is already planning to dredge the heavily trafficked Ambrose and Rockaway Inlet channels, and the sand it picks up would come in handy.
“It’s basically getting free sand for this project,” said Corps project manager Dan Falt.
On top of that, Corps officials maintain that Sheepshead Bay doesn’t need to be dredged, as it is deep enough “for vessels to pass into the ocean,” according to Joe Olna, another project manager for the Corps.
But Sheepshead sailors insist that accumulating sand at the eastern edge of the bay makes it difficult for boats to exit the harbor at low tide.
“One of my cruise vessels needs the water to be eight feet deep, but at low tide the water is less than 6 feet deep,” said Capt. Fred Ardolino, who has been navigating the bay for more than 50 years. “My boat often scrapes the bottom, and the problem has gotten worse over the years.”
Sheepshead Bay is an active hub for boats thanks to six marinas, 10 public piers and chartered party boats that call the bay home.
Falt spoke at the meeting, hosted by the Sheepshead Bay Plumb Beach Civic Association, for about 30 minutes — and more than half of the comments and questions he fielded concerned the shrinking depth of Sheepshead Bay, rather than the Corps strategy to fix Plumb Beach.
The Corps has four options to replenish the beach, which is inching closer and closer to the Shore Road bike path and the heavily traveled Belt Parkway. All four solutions utilize beach-fill from the two channels.
The most comprehensive — and costly — solution to the problem includes installing two stone structures about the length of two basketball courts off Plumb Beach’s shore to trap eroding sand and sediment before it makes its way into the ocean. Every couple of years, city workers would return the captured sand to Plumb Beach, making what is currently a sliver of land into a 50-foot-wide beach. This proposal, which would cost about $5 million, also includes the construction of another 200 foot-long underwater stone wall close to the shore to reduce the spread of sand, according to Falt.
Both residents and Falt are hoping that the city and federal governments will splurge for the big-fix. The Army Corps is requesting $1.5 million from the city and the remaining $3.5 from the feds.
“This is a really elegant solution without any real drawbacks,” Falt said.
If the money is allocated, construction will start in the fall, according to Falt.
But with no plans to remove the sand from Sheepshead Bay on the table, some at the meeting weren’t happy with its outcome.
“You guys have let us down by not addressing these dredging problems,” sailor Stan Kaplan told Falt.
