Concerned Citizens Call on Neighbors to Fight Against Beach Nourishment Project

A group of residents, which call themselves the Concerned Citizens of Quogue, are asking their neighbors to help in their fight against a beach nourishment project, proposed by the non-profit Save the Dunes Foundation. 

In an e-mail blast sent to neighbors late last week, the Concerned Citizens of Quogue, asked for conventional administrative and financial support and also asked for assistance in spreading their message. 

"We are committed to protecting the beaches and dunes by the natural forces that dictate the movements of the barrier island, without the intervention of man, and in supporting environmentally sound alternative methods for managing erosion," the group's leaders wrote. 

The Concerned Citizens of Quogue, which formed in 2013, specifically oppose the Save the Dunes Foundation's DEC application, which asks for permission dredge of 1.1 million cubic yards of sand and use it to replenish Quogue's beachfront at a cost of $13 million. 

The plan, if carried out, would take about two months to complete. 

"We believe that dredging a 100 acre trench, 7 feet deep and depositing 1,000,000 cubic yards of sand on our beach, at a cost upwards of $13,000,000.00, will be environmentally damaging," said the Concerned Citizens, who undertook a letter writing campaign in November calling on the state to reject the plan because "it will create an artificial, engineered beach that will affect the natural ebb and flow, at an extremely high and never-ending expense, which will be funded completely by the taxpayers of our community."

The Save the Dunes Foundation, however, argues otherwise and has stated that the project would be funded through the creation of a special taxing district, similar to what was recently done in Sagaponack, Water Mill and Bridgehampton. The project would also, the group said, ensure that the beachfront, which took a beating during Hurricane Sandy, would be preserved for the next ten years. 

The Village of Quogue has not committed to either plan. 

For more information on the Concerned Citizens of Quogue, click here and for more information on the Save the Dunes Foundation, click here.