Proposals to Build Seawall Could Alter Need to Elevate Homes

By Mark E. Ruquet

Many victims of Superstorm Sandy are facing a dilemma—whether they will raise their home to three feet above flood level or pay exorbitant premium rates for flood insurance. That dilemma may become just a bad memory for homeowners if a community flood-mitigation project meets federal flood prevention standards, said community and government representatives.

At the Wednesday, March 12, meeting of the Midland Beach Civic Association, Tom McDonough from the Siller Foundation addressed the need to elevate homes in flood zones, but many homeowners are not eligible for federal or state funding. He said the foundation is looking for ways to deliver the construction at cost, along with funding assistance for homeowners.

However, association members said during the meeting that elevating homes would not be necessary if a seawall is constructed and certified to meet the flood mitigation standard of the Federal Emergency Management Administration.

Alex Zablocki, the regional lead for the New York Rising Community Reconstruction Program, who was on-hand to discuss the state’s efforts to help Sandy ravaged communities get back on their feet, said the state has $40 million committed to a pilot program to construct a seawall and other flood mitigation measures along the Staten Island’s South Shore. This project has been in the works since 1993. With the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the lead, the project is almost at the point where construction could begin by 2016, if not sooner.

Civic Association member Debi Vadola said it is important for residents to have this information as they go about making decisions about what to do with their homes. She said it is equally important that residents push government officials to build the wall to FEMA specifications to ameliorate the eventual high costs homeowners in the flood zones will face in the future.

Zablocki said that an outline of the plan is available at the Army Corps website.

According to the Army Corps web page titled “FACT SHEET — South Shore of Staten Island, NY,” the project covers 13 miles of coast line from Fort Wadsworth to Tottenville extending along lower New York Bay and Raritan Bay. The project, which is still in the study stage, “is to identify possible risk management solutions for hurricane and storm damages in the area, and to determine whether Federal participation is warranted in constructing shore protection measures.” The fact sheet indicates that Congress authorized funding for construction in 2013.

The study is evaluating plans for “a system of levees, seawalls, stone revetments and acquisition and preservation of natural open space storage” from Fort Wadsworth to Oakwood Beach. A second phase of mitigation from Great Kills to Tottenville “is still under assessment.” 

In an e-mail, U.S. Army Corps Project Manager Frank Verga said the Army Corps is preparing a feasibility study in cooperation with state and city officials. He added that more information would become public over the next couple of months.

For those residents who want to make their voices heard and let the press and city officials know we are not happy with the pace of aid coming to those of us devastated by Superstorm Sandy, the Yellow Boots Foundation is sponsoring “Walk a Mile in Our Shoes,” on Saturday, March 29, at 10 a.m. Those who want to show their dissatisfaction are urged to meet at Midland Beach at the Turtle Circle for a peaceful demonstration to remind city and state decision makers that we’re still here and not happy with the slow rate of progress.