Marcellino: DEC Delaying Asharoken Sea Wall Repairs

Senator Carl Marcellino, R-Syosset, blamed the DEC for holding up repairs to the because of concerns over ecological impacts of dredging at a on Thursday.

"The DEC is the problem, not the Army Corps," he said. "The DEC has a concern of disturbing the bottom, hurting the shellfish beds at the bottom, and disrupting the food chain and worsening the lobster die off."

Swift and constant erosion has proven to be a major problem for the sea wall, causing large boulders to move away from the base. Both Marcellino and Asharoken Mayor Pat Irving, present at the meeting, agreed that a design flaw is at the root of the problem.

"When we held meetings at talking about repairing the wall, we were told that they would only repair the wall as it was, to the original specifications. Both the mayor and my comments to them was, wait a minute, it failed. It's going to fail again."

A woman in the audience suggested artificial reefs as an eco-friendly alternative to dredging which would keep sand from moving with minimal disruption to the ecosystem along the sea bed. Marcellino agreed, but added that lanes must be kept clear for shipping and recreational boaters. He also discussed building groins and said they presented their own set of problems. "The theory is now not to disturb the natural flow of sand along the bottom, but to work with it," he said.

In a sort of punctuation mark to the subject, flooding shut down Asharoken Avenue for over an hour on Thursday afternoon with seawater and floating debris obstructing the road after a period of . One Asharoken resident in the audience said he was stranded by the floods and urged Marcellino to do something before more severe storms hit. "This is it, this is the time," he said.

Irving sent a video of Thursday's wash over to Marcellino who then sent it to the DEC. He said he is working on a compromise with the DEC, but could not give a deadline as to when anything would be decided.

"The state is in desperate money straights," said Marcellino, "and the state and DEC have other requests where the situation is just as desperate...All we can do is keep the pressure on and hope that it works."