"Since the longevity of large-scale beach nourishment projects nationwide is variable at best and poor at worst, all concerned need to understand that the long-term efficacy of the proposed project is not guaranteed. Funds expended to carry out the project could be wasted and there could be the expectation of the expenditure of additional funds to re-nourish the beach after the material from the first nourishment erodes."
"Oceanfront property owners must know that they are taking on considerable risk when they purchase or otherwise acquire their properties. These property owners, not the municipality, should be responsible for maintaining them."
And there is my favorite statement: "The current development pattern on the barrier island in Quogue is unwise and unsustainable. The very large, very expensive, permanent homes which now exist on the oceanfront engender in the owners the understandable desire to protect them, at almost any cost, against the forces of nature, to the detriment of the beach and dunes. In the not so distant past, many people contented themselves with much smaller, less permanent, less valuable beach cottages, structures which they could afford to lose and/or replace if they were damaged by erosion or storms."
The DEC called on Quogue village's "agent" on the sand-dumping project, First Coastal Corporation, to "review this letter" and comments "with the mayor and other village officials" and provide "responses to the issues raised."
The Quogue proposal is overshadowed by the plan of the Army Corps of Engineers to dump sand from Fire Island to Montauk Point, first advanced nearly 60 years ago but failing to occur because of the folly it has always represented. Post-Sandy, however, beachfront homeowners and some politicians are pushing for it anew. A recent cost estimate for the sand-dumping along this 83-mile stretch of Long Island's south shore: $700 million in taxpayer dollars.
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