Smithtown, N.Y., revealed plans to install a retaining wall at the Kings Park Bluff to stop erosion and protect a popular boardwalk. The bluff suffered severe erosion following a series of 2018 storms that forced town officials to close a boardwalk.
The bluff at the end of Old Dock Road that overlooks the Nissequogue River faced severe erosion by recent storms that has threatened a parking lots and triggered the closure of a boardwalk. In response, council members voted to approve a roughly $126,000 contract to install a retaining wall, reported Newsday. Initially, officials worked to halt the erosion by laying $25,000 worth of clean fill on the bank but the fill also eroded.
Last year, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation issued a permit for a 135-ft structure of 1- to 1.5-ton boulders with vegetation on the bluff and packed in a wire frame with fill to combat the coastal erosion. The contract was won by PSL Ind.
According to Councilman Thomas Lohmann, the bluff is one of the town’s most popular recreational facilities and vital to restore.
“We really didn’t have any choice,” Lohrmann said in regards to building the retaining wall.
