Seawall Comes Down in Montauk

An illegally expanded seawall that caused a dust up between a Montauk trailer park condominium and a town supervisor, on one side, and concerned citizens, on the other, is on its way down. And it’s thanks to the state, which for a refreshing change, sided with the community.

A little more than a month after the New York State Department of Conservation announced that the Montauk Shores Condominiums would have to remove a seawall that some have blamed for the erosion of sand last year at Ditch Plains in Montauk, the work has begun.

A thoughtful reader sent East Hampton Patch the photo above, showing a front loader breaking down the much-reviled seawall—proof that the work is underway, and that Montauk Shores Condominiums are on track to being in compliance with the DEC agreement.

As an article by Montauk resident Jim Rutenberg in The New York Times pointed out last summer, Montauk Shores shares “a distinction with Bohemia Cove in Malibu” as “one of the most desirable trailer parks in the United States. Its stationary mobile homes have water views that are no less sweeping than those of Andy Warhol’s former estate, Eothen, just a few miles to the east.” 

The seawall, expanded past its legal dimensions post-Hurricane Sandy, was the cause of much contention between the former East Hampton Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson and Concerned Citizens of Montauk, an environmental advocacy group that believes the “scouring” of Ditch Plains sand last winter occurred as a result of the trailer park seawall located to its east.

According to an article in Dan’s Papers the seawall had grown in size until it measured 12 feet high and 24 feet wide—twice the size originally authorized. The DEC ordered that it be broken down within 45 days or risk paying fines of up to $120,000.