Rockaway sand replacement costs a bundle

From the Queens Courier:

According to Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski, the East Rockaway Inlet is dredged every two years to make it more accessible for boats. The sand is then deposited on the peninsula’s beaches, from Beach 26th and Beach 38th Streets. However, due to the recent Nor’easters beginning last November, there was a need for sand between Beach 80th and 110th Streets.

“This past year we lost a lot of sand in higher numbers like the 90s to lower 100s, so we reached out to the Army Corps [of Engineers] and asked them to consider putting it [the sand] there rather than in the 30s, which didn’t really lose sand,” Lewandowski said.

Army Corps Project Manager Joe Olha said that from where the federal channel is usually dredged, the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation requested sand to be placed more westerly – between 81st and 110th Streets – resulting in an additional $1 million cost.

Final plans are still being discussed, and Olha said they are developing “a scope of works that will detail what material will be placed where.”

The Parks Department made $1.5 million available for the project, including contributions by both Borough President Helen Marshall and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. However, the contractor’s bid for the incremental cost to place material further west than between 26th and 36th Streets was greater than $1.5 million, Olha said.

Lewandowski said the Army Corps estimates the project will begin in late March/early April.