Townsend: More Than Just a Pile of Sand

By Margo Frink

Caption: Pictured are Carmella Montello of the state Canal Authority, Senator David Valesky (D,WF-Oneida) Sylvan Beach Trustee William Shaughnessy, Sylvan Beach Mayor Rick Stewart, Assemblyman Dave Townsend (R,WF-Sylvan Beach) and Sylvan Beach Trustee Joe Clements.

(Sylvan Beach, NY Oct 30, 2009) A project to restore Sylvan Beach’s beach front to the way it was just 30 years ago has taken several years of planning and collaboration between local, state and federal agencies. But the restoration has begun and the people involved in its planning gathered in Sylvan Beach to throw out the first shovels of sand to celebrate.

Assemblyman David Townsend said “this is more than just a pile of sand. It serves as years of hard work between village, town, state and federal government. It’s a project to rebuild Sylvan Beach beach.”

Townsend said the project began several years ago when he was approached on how to get Sylvan Beach back.

Village Clerk Wanda Durant had discovered a photo of the beachfront that was taken in 1975. Village trustees and then Mayor Tom Statkewicz were surprised at how much of the beachfront had eroded over the years, Durant said.

“This is the selling point of the Beach,” Townsend said. “The Canal Authority has sand. We can just come out and get it. Not.”

Although the Canal Corporation dredges the sand from Oneida Lake, the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the Army Corps of Engineers first had to check the sand to insure its safety for the public.

“It’s a long, long process,” Townsend said.

Townsend thanked Carmella Montello of the Canal Authority, the DEC, the Army Corp of Engineers, the village of Sylvan Beach and the town of Vienna for getting this project off the ground.

“This has been a labor of love,” Townsend said.

Montello said the Canal Authority needed the DEC and the Army Corps approval before 60, 000 cubic yards of sand can be brought onto the beach. She said it’s not just sand for recreation but for flood mitigation. She thanked the village trustees for involving the Canal Authority and showing them where the beach’s shoreline used to be.

“We were happy to partner with them and make sure they had everything they needed,” Montello said.

Village Administrator Joe Benedict said engineering studies have been done and surveying of 120 to 140 feet of shoreline – depending on the water level – from just behind Pfohl’s Beach House to 19^th Avenue or about 15 blocks has been designated as beach restoration. Grant money, secured by Townsend and Senator David Valesky in the amount of $43,000 paid for engineering and surveying costs. About $14,000 remains.

The village has applied for a $690,000 New York State Department of Coastal Resources grant through the Local Water Revitalization Program. Benedict said it will cost all of that to complete the project. With the grant, Benedict said the entire project will take about one to two years; without it the restoration will take the village 10 years.

“And there’s constant maintenance,” Benedict said. “We lose 1.2 feet per year of beach front to erosion. We’ve been losing that every year for the past 90 years.”

About 4,500 truckloads of sand will be hauled from a Cove Road location where the Canal Authority places sand it dredges from the lake. Benedict said the village and town do not have the resources to move it so if the grant is secured, the work will be outsourced.

A turbidity curtain has been placed within the area of sand fill. Benedict said they will do as much work as they can until winter, remove the curtain, put it back in the spring and begin work again until the summer season. The summer season will not be interrupted and people who enjoy the beach during that time will still be able to do so.

Photo by Margo Frink

Townsend: More Than Just a Pile of Sand

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