Hamptons Beach Erosion Civil Trial Gets Underway in NY

March 30, 2008

Beach erosion is not just a local issue that is unique to our local beaches on Plum Island and Salisbury. A few hundred miles to our south, property owners on Long Island, NY are dealing with similar issues.

This past week a civil trial got underway in a Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn, NY to determine if Suffolk County should be held responsible for repairing the beaches in the Town of Southhampton that are losing sand because of erosion.

This is an interesting case with significant ramifications if the Town of Southhampton and a private homeowner should win their case and prove that groins (jetties) owned by Suffolk County are causing the damage. An article by Mitchell Freedman in Newsday, March 27, 2008, describes details of the case in more detail.

If the case is successful against Suffolk County, the County could be forced to spend millions of dollars to pump sand back onto the beaches, and continue to do it for decades to come. The issue of groins and their impact, in particular, on the shoreline located on the downdrift side of the groins is one of the key points being argued in this trial.

With the unavailability of Federal and State funds and their unwillingness to support and maintain beach replenishment efforts throughout the country, legal action by coastal property owners and communities may prove to be another tool to use for brokering a solution to beach replenishment efforts.