News Releases

Army Corps announces availability of Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Draft Feasibility Report for proposed South Shore of Staten Island Coastal Storm Risk Management Project

Published June 16, 2015
This map shows the various elements of the coastal storm risk management plan being recommended in the Draft South Shore of Staten Island Coastal Storm Risk Management Feasibility Study publicly released for public feedback in June 2015. The Draft Report and Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Staten Island project and associated documents are available on New York District’s web site at www.nan.usace.army.mil/StatenIsland.

This map shows the various elements of the coastal storm risk management plan being recommended in the Draft South Shore of Staten Island Coastal Storm Risk Management Feasibility Study publicly released for public feedback in June 2015. The Draft Report and Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Staten Island project and associated documents are available on New York District’s web site at www.nan.usace.army.mil/StatenIsland.

Public comment period to continue into August

NEW YORK – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District announces the availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and Draft South Shore of Staten Island Coastal Storm Risk Management Feasibility Report (Draft Report) for South Shore of Staten Island Coastal Storm Risk Management Project and the opening of the window for the public to submit written comments regarding them.

With the passage of the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013, the Army Corps has been given the authority and funding to complete ongoing coastal storm damage risk management projects and studies in the Northeast, including the Staten Island study. New York District prepared a Draft Report, outlining coastal storm risk management elements recommended to be constructed for the Fort Wadsworth to Oakwood Beach Reach on Staten Island.

This DEIS is being prepared to evaluate the significance of potential environmental impacts of the proposed action.

The DEIS and Draft Report for the Staten Island project and associated documents are available on New York District’s web site at www.nan.usace.army.mil/StatenIsland.

Public comments on the DEIS and Draft Report regarding this proposed work should be submitted to:

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District
Planning Division-Environmental Branch (ATTN: Ms. Catherine Alcoba)
26 Federal Plaza, New York, New York 10278-0090

Public comments can also be submitted by e-mail to Catherine.J.Alcoba@usace.army.mil.

General questions, rather than formal comments being submitted for the record, regarding the South Shore of Staten Island Coastal Storm Risk Management Feasibility Study can be directed to Mr. Frank Verga, Project Manager, Frank.Verga@usace.army.mil.

The DEIS and Draft Report for the Staten Island project and associated documents are now available to the public online and additional formal instructions for submitting comments will also be posted in the Federal Register and on the District’s site in the coming days. Once notice is formally posted in the Federal Register, the public comment period is slated to continue for 45 days. Comments submitted regarding the DEIS will assist in the agency’s evaluation of the project changes and will be reflected in the project record.

The South Shore of Staten Island Coastal Storm Risk Management Project is a partnership between the Army Corps and the non-Federal Sponsor, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and in cooperation with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) and New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYCDPR). The Army Corps and the DEC are currently working with local partners to schedule public outreach in the near future.

The proposed South Shore of Staten Island project calls for the construction of a Line of Protection (LOP) consisting of a buried seawall/armored levee along a majority of the Fort Wadsworth – Oakwood Beach reach (approximately 80%) serving as the first line of defense against severe coastal surge flooding and wave forces. The remainder of the LOP would consist of a T-Type vertical floodwall, levee and in the Oakwood Beach area - a mosaic of habitats (tidal wetlands, maritime forest/scrub-shrub habitat, low marsh and high marsh acres of living shoreline). In addition, the project calls for works for interior drainage, which would include tide gates, sluice gates, stormwater outfall structures, road raisings, and excavated ponds.

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Contact
Chris Gardner
917-790-8007
christopher.p.gardner@usace.army.mil

Release no. 15-007