By Tim Healy
tim.healy@newsday.com
An $8 toll road for non-residents coming into the waterfront community is one of many proposals being considered by the Asharoken Village Board in the wake of a court ruling against the village in a long battle with KeySpan Energy over beach erosion.
The fee would go toward paying to replenish beaches that have been eroding for years. Village officials and residents had argued in a $20 million lawsuit that high-powered expulsion of about 1 million gallons of water per minute from the utility's Northport power plant into Long Island Sound disrupts the flow of sand to the shore. The village learned last month that the court had thrown out the suit, which had been filed against the former Long Island Lighting Co.
The village board last night voted to hold a public meeting Aug. 29 at the Laurel Avenue School in Northport to brief residents on what the village might do next.
“We have an obligation to explain to as many people as we can what our options are and what we are going to do,” said Mayor William Kelly, who pointed out that the toll road proposal was not his idea but that it was under consideration.
The toll road proposal was greeted with some skepticism at last night’s meeting. Other options to pay for the beach repair, according to Kelly, include funding it with long-term bonds or enlisting the help of the Army Corps of Engineers to press KeySpan to take responsibility. An attorney for the village is to make a recommendation soon on whether to appeal the court ruling.
The village maintains that sand would build up on the beach if it were not disturbed by the water expelled from the power plant, and that the sand would create a protective barrier against waves during storms. KeySpan Energy, which now owns the plant and inherited the suit, had always disputed the beach erosion was the plant's fault.
The judge's decision said the Army Corps of Engineers found a loss of 20,000 cubic square yards, according to Kelly. A surveyor for the village found a yearly loss of 24,000 cubic square yards of sand.
Check back later in the week for further coverage of the village board, including:
Break considered for solar power.
Fundraising for Village Hall expansion.
Caption: Asharoken Mayor William Kelley on a short beach in 2004, with KeySpan plant in the background. Photo by Richard Slattery
3 comments:
I don't suppose anyone has considered that all a toll will do is force the residents to travel the other way to do things.. like have dinner with family etc? Since the beaches are restricted to those able to park (i.e., residents) who exactly is supposed to pay the toll? Friends and relatives of those already living there? I can't imagine how that would solve the problems... rather they should looked toward other solutions like limiting the wholesale rampant building and remodeling taking place on Asharoken Ave... which merely replaces natural beach barriers with hideously oversized houses that drain both natural and structural resources!
Well, it finally has happened --
Bill Kelly has lost his marbles. Perhaps if he got rid of the Asharoken PD he could save enough money to work on the beaches. Another thought; isn't a village with about thirteen residents a bit over the top?
As Huntington residents we already pay for a beach usage permit. To pay $8.00 each time we go to the town beaches is an outrage. As it is, our taxes are sky high. Get rid of the unnecessary Asheroken Police Department and use the county police in the same way as it used in the rest of Huntington Township.
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