Trustees approve retaining wall at Veterans Park
Town Trustees on Tuesday approved plans to install a retaining wall along superstorm Sandy-ravaged Veterans Memorial Park beach on the bay in Mattituck.
The approved plan varies slightly from the Mattituck park commissioners’ original request to install 619 feet of bulkheading along the beach, which the commissioners say is highly vulnerable to additional storm damage.
The idea received mixed reviews when the commissioners first approached the Trustees last month. The Trustees were concerned that bulkheading — intended to protect the beach from future storm damage — would distract from the beauty of the beach.
The new site plan calls for the construction of a 619-foot retaining wall, which will be set back farther from the shoreline than the proposed bulkheading, leaving a wider beach in its place, according to Trustee James King.
[Previous Coverage: Trustees suggest installing boulders at Veterans Park]
The retaining wall will replace the skeletal remains of bulkheading on the property’s west side and the cracked and sinking concrete barrier along the edge of the parking lot on the east side with standard bulkheading. It includes two openings — at least one will be used for a handicapped-accessible ramp, in front of the old concession stand.
“The wall will help project the property,” Mr. King said Friday. “The community benefits from [the beach] and I’d like to see it preserved.”
It’s unclear whether the work will be completed by Memorial Day. Mattituck Park District Commissioner Gerard Goehringer said the beach will be opened to the public.
