In timeĀ for Memorial Day weekend, Bellport Village Mayor Ray Fell has just gotten word that the pavilion at Ho-Hum Beach on Fire Island can reopen to residents.
“We just got the letter,” from Nelson & Pope Engineers, Fell told GreaterPatchogue Wednesday morning.
The letter references the engineers’ May 3 visit to the village’s pavilion, and indicates the inspection revealed “sufficient sand” of 10 feet above the structure’s pilings to reopen it, Fell said.
The mayor called the development great news for Bellporters.
The original pavilion at the village’s beach was washed out to sea in Sandy. The replacement pavilion, which opened in 2015, and a boardwalk cost $508,000 total, 90 percent of which was covered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Ho-Hum Beach, a stretch of barrier beach just west of the Fire Island Wilderness Breach that was ripped open by Sandy ā and the federal government has decided not to close ā has eroded tremendously since the storm, according to Fell and other village officials.
In April, the engineers informed the village the pavilion was not safe until further notice.
Bell previously said the dramatic shifting of sand from below the pavilion might go on for a while.
āWe donāt know when the erosion stops, when that new equilibrium is reached,ā he previously told GreaterPatchogue. āWe donāt know when the beach is going to be reestablished.ā
The above pavilion photo was taken by Mike Busch of fireislandandbeyond.com on April 16.
