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COPYRIGHT 2014, NEWSDAY LLC, LONG ISLAND, VOL. 74, NO. 180

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Flooding in Freeport, right after Sandy struck

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AFTER SANDY

BY JO NAPOLITANOjo.napolitano@newsday.com

Long Island communitiesare in line to receive$240 million through astate program meant tomake the region’s infra-structure stronger after

superstorm Sandy.The money, provided by

the U.S. Department of Hous-ing and Urban Development,represents the first set of fed-eral funds intended to addressproblems identified by grass-roots efforts.

The South Shore communi-ties of Long Beach, Oceansideand Freeport have been slatedto get the largest local sharesof the money.

Long Beach could get $25million in grants, officials said.Oceanside could gain $22.2million; Freeport $17.8 million.

Jack Schnirman, LongBeach’s city manager, said al-though his city needs far morein infrastructure upgrades,the initial grant “will result insignificant shovels in theground” for key projects, in-cluding those related to shore-line protection and drainage.

“It will cover some of ourmust-haves,” he said.

Freeport Mayor Robert T.Kennedy said that while he’sglad for the allocation, he’s notsure the plan being formulatedby the group tasked with identi-fying the village’s infrastruc-ture needs will make the region

more resilient going forward.While the group wants to

spend $3 million to move un-derwater transmission linesfrom one of the village’spower plants and $10.4 mil-lion for solar-powered lightson several streets, amongother things, Kennedy said,the rebuilding of an 18.5-milebarrier island in Nassau Coun-ty and the creation of locks orgates at Jones Inlet and Rey-nolds Channel would better

protect the region.The Freeport group’s plan,

he said, “will not protect or re-duce the devastation to our res-idents and businesses shouldwe encounter another Sandy.”

While a few Island resiliencyprojects have begun, such as el-evating Long Island Rail Roadequipment in Long Beach, theNew York Rising CommunityReconstruction Programmarks the first attempt to givelocal communities a say in how

some infrastructure moneyshould be spent.

Twenty-one NY Risinggroups across Nassau and Suf-folk submitted their first infra-structure-improvement pro-posals in October. Bay Shore’saddition in the spring willbring that number to 22.

The groups, made up oflocal residents and consult-ants provided by the state,must submit their final plansat the end of March.

Projects need strong com-munity support and must be el-igible for HUD funding to gainstate approval, a New YorkRising spokeswoman said.They must also pass muster interms of feasibility, risk assess-ment and cost-benefit analysisas determined by plannersand storm recovery staff.

While local officials saythey are grateful for the feder-al funds, they warn that theircombined resiliency costscould run into the hundredsof millions.

DOWN TO THEGRASS ROOTS

A sampling of projects that NY Rising groups on Long Island are asking for. *-Possible projects as of October 2013

FREEPORT

Plans: Address vulnerabilities in power plants, improve upstreamstormwater management, develop/enhance natural storm buffersystems, solar-powered lighting for some village streets N

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LINDENHURSTLI communitiesgetting $240Min bid to protectagainst thenext big storm

Allocation: $17,780,855

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Kevin McCaffrey, formerdeputy mayor of Lindenhurst,said the problem is that theLindenhurst group does notyet know the costs of its pro-posals, so it can’t determine if

the $6 million that the statehas designated for the villageis adequate. McCaffrey, now aSuffolk County legislator, saidthat if road raisings are need-ed, the amount won’t be

enough.“The same would also hold

true for Babylon and WestBabylon,” he said.

The state is aware of the dis-parity. Gov. Andrew M.Cuomo said although the fedscalculated $3.76 billion inunmet infrastructure needsthroughout the state, minusNew York City, New York’sown estimate is $11.5 billion.

The $240 million set tocome to Long Island is partof the more than $664 mil-lion that will be distributedstatewide through the NYRising Program.

It does not include other fed-eral money slated for the Is-land for large-scale infrastruc-ture improvements, such as$800 million from the FederalEmergency ManagementAgency for the Bay Park sew-age treatment plant, whichfailed during the storm.

Sandy inflicted about $8.4

billion in property and eco-nomic losses for the Island, of-ficials have said.

Since October, the NY Ris-ing groups have been honingtheir plans. As of mid-Febru-ary, many of the communitygroups surveyed listed improv-ing drainage as one of their toppriorities, followed by shore-line protection through bulk-head and berm construction,or the shoring up of dunes.

After that, many want toharden or raise vulnerablestreets, provide first respond-ers with better equipment, im-prove communication with resi-dents before severe weather ap-

proaches, and find a safe placeto park cars during a storm.

For example, Massapequa,East Massapequa and Massape-qua Park, which could get atotal of $26 million, are consid-ering solar-powered street-lights and want their emergen-cy vehicles to be able to oper-ate in water several feet deep.

Baldwin, which could get $3million in New York Risingmoney, is looking to plantsome 8,000 trees to help slowwinds and to curb pollution.

Everett “Ken” Budd, co-chair-man of Amityville/Copiague,said his group is consideringraising roads along the MerrickRoad corridor. But the pros-pect is complicated — it wouldstill require drainage measuresto keep water from runningonto residents’ property — andis considered more of a longer-term proposal.

See SANDY on A4

New YorkRising Group Allocation Plans

Baldwin andBaldwin Harbor $10,578,484

Storm drain improvements, plant8,000 trees to slow winds in heavystorms and to curb pollution

Barnum Island,Oceanside,Village of Island Park,and Harbor Isle

$36,627,315

* Improve stormwatermanagement and shorelineinfrastructure, restore andexpand wetlands and marshes

Bay Park and Villageof East Rockaway $6,650,555

* Improve drainage, considerbulkheads, levees, floodgatesand green infrastructure tomanage stormwater

Bellmore and Merrick $12,096,426 Storm drains, bulkheading

Fire Island $3 millionImprove bayside shorelinemanagement and emergencycommunications Islandwide

Lido Beach andPoint Lookout $6 million Repair dunes, improve stormwater

infrastructure to prevent flooding

Massapequa, Village ofMassapequa Park,and East Massapequa

$26,034,451

Back flow valves to improvedrainage, solar streetlights, betterevacuation routes, strengthen firedepartment, find safe place tostore cars during storms

Mastic Beach andSmith Point of Shirley $3 million

Harden vulnerable roads, createshelter to protect residents duringsevere weather

LONG BEACH

A sampling of projects that NY Rising groups on Long Island are asking for. *-Possible projects as of October 2013

Plans: Provide shoreline defense throughbulkheading, curb local flooding by improvingdrainage and better protect emergencyresponder facilities

FEMA GRANTSSee how much

LI municipalitieswere awarded.

newsday.com/sandy

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Allocation: $25 million

Allocation: $6,120,465Plans: Improve drainage and evacuationroutes, dredge canals and waterfronton a regular basis, strengthencommunications systems

MORE COMMUNITY AID LISTINGS ON NEXT PAGE

SandyaidgetslocalU.S.DepartmentofHousingandUrbanDevelopmentfundingplans

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Business F1Corrections A23Editorials/Opinion A28Flash! A15Long Island A16Lottery A71Nation A24Obituaries A32Reaching Newsday A23Weather A34World A25

TOP STORIES

New YorkRising Group Allocation Plans

Oakdale-West Sayville $3 millionDrainage study, improve emergencyresponse plans and communicationamong agencies, improve drainage

Seaford and Wantagh $11,240,099

* Protect major streets and roadsagainst storms to help in evacuations,install check valves on sewers, modernizeenergy distribution

South Valley Stream $3 million * Upgrade storm sewer infrastructure,seek more reliable power supply grid

Village of AtlanticBeach andEast Atlantic Beach

$9,020,118

* Improve stormwater drainagesystem, consider regional approach tobulkheading, develop plan for floodwallunder the boardwalk

Village of Babylon andWest Babylon $10,180,658

* Better equip emergency responders,acquire environmentally sensitive landsin flood zones to reduce exposure

Village of Bayville $3 million Acquire pump stations, build up thedunes on the Long Island Sound side

Village of Cedarhurst,Hewlett, Village ofLawrence, Woodmere,Village of Hewlett Neck,Village of HewlettHarbor, Meadowmere,and Inwood

$27,609,814

* Stormwater infrastructure upgrades,bulkhead construction, dike repair.Consider movable storm surge barriersalong Rockaway Turnpike at Hook andMotts Creek

West Gilgo to Captree $3 million Improve fire protection, beachreplenishment, dune strengthening

West Islip $3,089,547Clearing and cleaning of streams toalleviate flooding, downtownrevitalization, drainage

Bayville Mayor Doug Wat-son said the $3 million for hisvillage could fulfill his commu-nity’s needs. After studying theissue, he believes Bayvillewould benefit most from the in-stallation of 2,500 feet of a rein-forced berm near the Bayvillebridge and in another areaalong Long Island Sound at theeast end of the village.

Watson said he hopes theprogram supports his plan,which he said would cost about$2 million.

“I made it clear to them thatthis is an important thing,” hesaid. “This is an opportunitythat should not be squandered.”

Many of the people partici-pating in the program say theyhave faith in it, but there is a lin-gering concern about howmany or how much of the planswill become a reality.

Carol Schwasnick, workingon the Oakdale and West Say-ville plan, said she’ll know ifthe program is successful whenit produces concrete solutions.

“You see a lot of programsthat start up and there isn’t a re-sult,” she said. “There are neverany guarantees. I’ll believe itwhen something happens.”

New York Rising has provid-ed the region with a great op-portunity to strengthen local in-frastructure and better preparepeople for catastrophic weath-er events, she said, but that theprocess is cumbersome.

“There seems to be a lot oflevels of approval required andI’m hoping at the end of the dayit works for us,” she said. “It’sgreat to do the planning but . . .the program has to deliver.”

Budd said he has confidencethat at least some of the moneywill come through but that he’snot sure they’ll get the entire $14million because their proposal— for a bucket truck, generatorsand equipment to clean stormdrains, among other requests —may not fit the state’s vision.

Besides worries about howfunding will come through, atleast one community has aproblem all its own.

A dispute between the 3-year-old Village of Mastic Beach andthe Mastic Beach PropertyOwners Association could holdup funding efforts to protect 6miles of fragile waterfront.

But committee member FrankCappiello remains hopeful.

“I think at the end, when ev-erything is all said and done,”he said, “we will have a muchbetter Mastic Beach.”

SANDY from A2

And employment adsstart on page F9

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VILLAGE OF AMITYVILLEAND COPIAGUE

Plans: Better equipment for first responders, bulkheading,drainage, possible road raising, bridge improvement

Allocation: $14,110,066

A sampling of projects that NY Rising groups on Long Island are asking for. *-Possible projects as of October 2013

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