A team of scientists say they can save the Belt Parkway from falling into the ocean and tack 40 feet of beachfront onto Plumb Beach — but it will take $5-million and a lot of muscle.
The Army Corps of Engineers has come up with four different ways to replenish the beach which, thanks to a pounding surf, is inching closer and closer to man-made infrastructure like the Shore Road bike path and the heavily traveled Belt Parkway.
The most comprehensive — and costly — solution to the problem is to install two stone structures about the length of two basketball courts off 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 project manager Dan Falt.
“This is a really elegant solution without any real drawbacks,” Falt said. “The only issue is that it is the most expensive.”
For about $3 million, the engineers say they can replenish sand without erecting the structures — but that would allow the sand to, slowly but surely, slip back into nearby wetlands and channels.
Residents think the city should splurge.
“What’s the sense of just replenishing the sand if you’re not going to make sure it stays there,” said Community Board 15 Chairwoman Theresa Scavo. “They should do the full-fledged job, but the government may not want to allocate that kind of money.”
Right now, the only thing protecting the bike path and highway from the ocean is a flimsy sandbag barrier.
But thanks to the year-long study by the Corps, that could soon change.
“We are prepared to get something done by next winter,” said Falt.
The study has been a long time coming. Last year, after Hurricane Ida destroyed the more than 40-foot buffer between the beach and the Belt Parkway, local politicians started calling for a fix. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D–Midwood) even said that the Belt Parkway could be destroyed in a future storm and asked the Army Corps to prepare for emergencies.
The Corps will consider the community’s feedback at a public meeting next month before implementing one of its proposals, which will be paid for by the city and federal government.
Public meeting for addressing shoreline erosion at Plumb Beach (The Salt Marsh Nature Center on E. 33rd St. near Avenue U in Marine Park) Feb. 15 from 6-8 pm.