Tags Posts tagged with "David Knauf"

David Knauf

Destruction to Phase 1 work to the East Beach Bluff face as of March 2025. Photo from the Port Jefferson Village website.

By Lynn Hallarman

A community informational forum about Phase 2 of the East Beach Bluff stabilization project was held by village officials at the Port Jefferson Village Center on March 27. 

Audience in attendance at the forum held at the Village Center.  Photo by Lynn Hallarman

The forum aimed to update residents on the current status and finances of the upper wall project, summarize the next steps and review the work of Port Jefferson’s Citizens Commission on Erosion. 

Mayor Lauren Sheprow presided over the meeting. The board of trustees, village attorney David Moran, village treasurer Stephen Gaffga and clerk Sylvia Pirillo were present. 

Project summary

Phases 1 and 2 of the East Beach Bluff stabilization aim to halt bluff erosion and prevent the Village of Port Jefferson-owned country club from collapsing down the slope. 

Phase 1 was completed in August of 2023, with the construction of a 358-foot wall of steel and cement at the base of a steep bluff, about 100-feet-tall, facing north toward the Long Island Sound. Terracing and plantings installed along the western portion of the bluff were destroyed in a series of storms shortly after the project’s completion.  

Phase 2 involves installing a steel barrier driven into the bluff’s crest, just a few feet seaward of the country club. This upper wall is intended to stabilize the area landward of the bluff and reduce the risk of structural failure. 

As part of Phase 2’s preconstruction, GEI Consultants of Huntington Station—the engineers for Phases 1 and 2—will be engaged to update the land survey, analyze drainage options, reevaluate wall design for cost efficiency and monitor construction. Village officials will then prepare requests for proposal documents to solicit bids for the upper wall’s construction. 

Concerns of the Citizens Commission on Erosion

David Knauf, chair of the Citizens Commission on Erosion, speaks at the forum. Photo by Lynn Hallarman

David Knauf, chair of the Citizens Commission on Erosion, presented the benefits and concerns of various approaches to stabilizing the country club at the bluff’s edge.  

The CCE serves as a volunteer advisory group to the village on erosion-related issues.  Members are not required to have specialized expertise.

Among the advantages, Knauf noted that a portion of Phase 2 costs will be covered by a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant, reducing the financial burden on local taxpayers.  However, the committee expressed concerns about the reliability of FEMA funding.

“If they are withdrawn, that is going to put us in a heap of trouble fiscally,” he said. 

Key concerns include the unknown long-term costs of the overall project beyond the Phase 2 wall installation. These include a drainage plan, repairs to damage sustained during Phase 1 and ongoing maintenance expenses.

“All of us on the committee are taxpayers, and we’re concerned about getting value for money spent,” Knauf said. “The bluff wall project is not something that you just do and you’re finished. It’s going to have responsibilities and obligations for the village in perpetuity.”

Knauf outlined alternative approaches to building the upper wall, including: 

●Rebuilding the clubhouse inland in conjunction with bluff restoration and drainage improvements. 

●Implementing a partial wall and drainage plan, followed by the eventual relocation of the clubhouse.

 “It is the opinion of the committee that detailed plans for the whole project — including Phase 1 repairs, drainage and Phase 2 — are completed so an accurate assessment of final costs can be presented to the village taxpayers,” Knauf later told TBR News Media in an email. 

Comments from GEI

Following Knauf’s presentation, GEI licensed professional engineer Adon Austin  explained the steps necessary before construction can begin on the upper wall.

The project is designed as a “two-part system [lower and upper wall] working in combination to control bluff erosion,” Austin said. 

“Once we have the design reconfigured and a drainage plan, all of this will go to the New York State arm of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for review,” he added. “FEMA will then revise the cost estimates, the scope and the grant, to align with what the current scope of the project would be.”  GEI will then issue a final design along with construction documents.

GEI has recommended that the village evaluate the current risk to the building’s foundation in response to written questions from the Citizens Commission on Erosion. 

Laura Schwanof, senior ecologist and landscape architect for GEI, commented on possible contributing factors to the current erosion of the bluff face:

“ We were only allowed [by the state Department of Environmental Conservation] to put terraces up six rows — nothing more.” Schwanof said. “ We were prevented from doing any structural work on the western end beyond the golf course.  As far as failure of the system, we worked within the confines of the regulatory agency requirements.”

Treasurer outlines project costs

Village treasurer Stephen Gaffga presented an overview of the financial history related to the East Beach Bluff stabilization project.  To date, the total amount spent so far for Phases 1 and 2 is approximately $6.02 million. 

Phase 1 was funded through borrowed money as part of a $10 million bond resolution passed by the board of trustees in 2021. The resolution was approved by a permissive referendum, meaning it did not move to a public vote. Of the $10 million, “$5.2 million was spent on Phase 1,” Gaffga said.   

According to a fall 2024 audit by CPA firm, PKF O’Connor Davies — previously reported by TBR News Media — Phase 1 exceeded its original budget by approximately $800,000. This overage was not discussed during the forum. 

“The overage on Phase 1 was paid for in past years with taxpayer funds out of the general fund balance,” Gaffga wrote in an email.. 

Gaffga estimated the combined costs to individual taxpayers for Phases 1 and 2 at approximately $77 per year over a 15-year period. However, he noted this estimate may need to be revised once actual costs for the wall construction and other related projects are known. 

”We don’t know what the costs are going be until we actually go out to bid on the construction of the project, and we’re not there yet,” Gaffga said. 

Additional expenses — including a drainage project, repairs to the bluff face and ongoing maintenance costs to the bluff — were not addressed at the forum.

Community questions focus on costs, property use

Most audience questions centered on the project’s cost to taxpayers, technical aspects of the stabilization effort and how the property is used by residents. The golf membership currently includes  “3 percent of village residents,” according to Moran.   

Moran responded to a question about holding a public referendum on whether to proceed with construction of the upper wall or rebuild the facility inland. 

“During that permissive referendum vote back in 2021, no petition was received [from the public within 30 days] as required for a public vote. Bond counsel to the village advised that there’s only one way to call for another vote— the trustees would have to rescind that initial bond resolution. This would mean the loss of FEMA money.” 

Village resident Myrna Gordon said in a statement to TBR News Media:

“Residents who own the facility should be the ones that determine through a referendum how best to resolve its use, function and future — of both the building and bluff that is so greatly compromised.” 

The meeting closed with comments from members of the board of trustees:

“Phase 2 is a way to ensure that we protect the bluff so that we buy time. To decide how to deal with the building.  Maybe we retrieve the building; maybe it gets moved — who knows?” trustee Xena Ugrinsky said. 

“ If you have strong feelings about this issue, I highly encourage you to email the board,” trustee Kyle Hill said. 

The Citizens Commission on Erosion can be reached at: [email protected].

PJ Country Club prior to collapse of gazebo and edge of tennis courts, undated photograph. Courtesy of PJ Village website

Phase 1 of the East Beach Bluff Stabilization was the first part of a $10 million initiative aimed at arresting bluff erosion and preventing the Village of Port Jefferson-owned country club from sliding down the slope. 

This first phase of the project was completed in June 2023. By any official accounts of the time, Phase 1 was a success. But within months of completion a series of storms in late 2023 and early 2024 damaged the site, undoing costly work, setting back progress and hampering the goals of the project. 

According to the May 2024 Bluff Monitoring Report covering the period from September 2023 to February 2024, conducted by GEI Consultants of Huntington Station (the engineering firm that designed Phase 1), the village had not implemented recommended repairs, increasing the risk of more complicated and expensive upkeep and repair in the future. 

The report stated that “no maintenance or repairs to date were undertaken by the village following the storms,” further suggesting that the village implements “necessary repair to the project as soon as possible.” 

The report’s findings have raised questions among residents and officials about the long-term viability of the stabilization efforts and financial resources needed for continued upkeep and repairs. 

TBR News Media reviewed GEI’s 2024 Bluff Monitoring Report — required under the Department of Environmental Conservation permit for Phase 1 — and spoke to experts, village officials and residents, exploring the report’s recommendations and the obstacles confronting the village in completing its requirements. 

Costs of phases 1 and 2

At the completion of Phase 1, a 358-foot wall of steel and cement was constructed at the base of a steep bluff, about 100-feet-tall, situated on East Beach, facing north toward the Long Island Sound. 

As part of the project, the severely eroded bluff face — scoured and denuded by years of storms — underwent restoration. Native vegetation was planted and secured with eight rows of timber terraces, and coir logs (interwoven coconut fibers) at the lower section and, toward the crest, with burlap netting. 

The total cost of the Phase 1 project according to village treasurer, Stephen Gaffga, is “$6,024,443 million, of which $677,791 is related to design/engineering/permitting/ surveying, and $5,346,652 was spent on construction.”

At the crest of the bluff, approximately 30 feet beyond the precipice, sits the country club. Phase 2 involves the installation of a 545-foot long, 47-foot-deep steel barrier driven into the bluff’s crest, just a few feet seaward of the country club. The barrier is designed to stabilize the area landward of the bluff and prevent erosion, further reducing the risk of the building collapsing. 

The cost of Phase 2 will be partially funded by federal taxpayer dollars as a $3.75 million FEMA grant, the final approval recently completed this past week, allowing for the village to receive bids for the work in the coming months for the construction of the upper wall. Local taxpayer dollars will fund the remaining Phase 2 expenses. 

According to Gaffga, the Phase 2 “complete expenses are yet to be determined,” he explained in an email. The total cost will be better understood once the village receives bids for constructing the upper wall

The stabilization project, since its inception in 2017 has been presented by village officials as an urgent necessity. With this imperative in mind, the trustees approved a $10 million bond resolution, without a community referendum, in 2021 to fund the project’s two phases.

In a January 2023 statement by former Mayor Garant, after permitting and plans had been finalized, she warned, “If immediate measures to combat and stop the erosion are not implemented, the building foundation will get exposed, will lose structural support, and slowly but surely will fail — causing significant structural damage first, followed by complete collapse of the [country club] building.”

2024 GEI report findings

Heavy rainstorms swept across Long Island in the early fall of 2023, beginning with Hurricane Lee on Sept. 12 followed by another severe storm on Sept. 23.

According to the GEI report, these storms caused “post-storm stress” to the new vegetation leading to plant die off, shifting sands and forming a small ravine — also referred to as a gully — past the western edge of the wall at the base of the bluff. 

To prevent further damage, GEI recommended that the village “replant beachgrass in stressed areas of the bluff face and protect the western edge of the wall by adding a filter fabric and stone.” 

Photograph of East Beach Bluff Phase 1 taken as part of the GEI post-storm inspection after Hurricane Lee on Sept. 12, 2023. Courtesy of PJ Village website

However, two additional major storms in December 2023 and February 2024 brought strong winds and heavy rainfall expanding the damage started in September. A GEI post-storm inspection in the days following the storms found that a large ravine had formed on the eastern edge of the bluff face, further damaging the vegetation, matting and terracing within the ravine.

Photograph taken as part of the GEI inspection report Feb. 22, 2024 showing extensive damage to the bluff in the vicinity of stressed growth identified in September 2023. Courtesy of PJ Village website

In total, the May 2024 report outlined detailed recommendations involving improved drainage, repairs to terracing, laying down of erosion control fabric and replacement of beachgrass. The report’s recommendations concluded with concerns about utilizing honeycomb grids by Coastal Technologies Corp. under consideration by village officials, namely: “GEI has expressed concern that such an installation may not be effective at East Beach due to the types of soils present and the steepness of the East Beach Bluff.”

Despite these concerns, the Board of Trustees at the Oct. 23 public meeting approved a resolution to use American Rescue Plan Act funds at the total cost of $33,920 to pilot test Coastal Technologies stabilizing devices, pending a revised permit from the DEC. 

In response to GEI concerns, George Thatos, Coastal Technologies co-founder and head of design, said, “Our Cliff Stabilizer system stabilizes near-vertical slopes with vegetation, unlike terracing which requires major regrading and cliff-top land loss.” He added, “Our solution naturally reforests bluffs.”

According to DEC representative, Jeff Wernick, if a permit holder “cannot follow a report recommendations due to environmental conditions, DEC works with them to modify the permit to correct the issues. If the recommendations are not followed due to negligence, it could result in a violation of the permit and enforcement action.” 

Port Jeff Citizens Commission on Erosion

This reporter attended a recent meeting of the Port Jefferson Citizens Commission on Erosion. Their mission, in summary, is to act as a volunteer resident advisory group to the village on matters of erosion confronting the village. So far, much of the group’s focus, chaired by village resident David Knauf, has been on the East Beach Bluff Stabilization project.

On Jan. 20, the committee submitted detailed written questions to Mayor Lauren Sheprow expressing concerns about the overall status of the stabilization project. It questioned plans to proceed with Phase 2 before implementing drainage recommendations and before updating the land survey of the upper bluff that is about three years old. The commission urged these steps be completed before soliciting bids for the construction of Phase 2. 

”There was damage that occurred since the Phase 1 was completed that hasn’t been addressed, meaning that it keeps getting more pronounced. There were ongoing reports that were done during the past year,” Knauf said at the Jan. 23 commission meeting. 

He added that repairs “should have been done up to now so that whatever was occurring [with Phase 1] didn’t get worse.” 

The commission, to date, has not received a comprehensive update on maintenance done on the bluff/wall as recommended in the May 2024 report, according to Knauf. 

According to village trustee Robert Juliano, any maintenance and repair done during the time frame of the 2024 report “was minor, such as grooming the beach by village employees.” 

Other concerns brought up at the meeting included a request to review a retreat plan allegedly completed under former Mayor Garant and actively participating in vetting of contract bids. 

Sheprow, present at the meeting, told TBR News Media her responses to the written questions from the commission, reviewed at the Jan. 23 meeting, would be posted on the village website. 

“The village will look to enlist the Citizens Commission on Erosion to help facilitate an open forum where GEI will present the Phase 2 project design and a path forward for Phase 1 remediation and restoration,” the mayor said in an email to TBR News Media. 

The 2023 Annual Post-Construction Bluff Monitoring Report dated May 2024 and related items can be viewed at the Port Jefferson Village website at: www.portjeff.com/ 206/East-Beach-Bluff.  

For earlier reporting by TBR News Media, visit tbrnewsmedia.com and key in “East Beach Bluff Stabilization project.”