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Dredging Wickham Creek

This letter was received from David Allison 
Note that SoutholdVOICE has taken no position on the issue that he raises, nor does Trustee Dave Bergen speak on our behalf.  Our role is educational and in that spirit, Mr. Allison’s letter is published.

Ladies and Gentlemen

On Friday night I caught a brief portion of a recent
town board meeting on Channel 22 and heard Dave Bergen
give an update on the dredging of Southold creeks. I
don’t know who Mr. Bergen represents but I suspect he
may have something to do with your organization. An
organization of which I am also a member.

During his talk Mr. Bergen mentioned that he (and the
group he represents since he say “we”) were trying to
amend the permit to dredge Wickham Creek in Cutchogue
to have the dredged material placed “to the southwest
of Wickham Creek”.

I am a Commissioner of the Cutchogue/New Suffolk Parks
District and a resident of Fleet’s Neck. On behalf of
the Parks district and on behalf of every resident of
Fleets Neck I vigorously oppose such an amendment.

The Army Corps of Engineers specifically states that
dredged material should be deposited in the direction
of the litoral drift, which in the case of Wickham’s
Creek is to the East.

This is extremely important in this situation in order
to preserve one of the finest beaches in Cutchogue,
the Cutchogue/New Suffolk Parks District Beach at the
end of Pequash Ave.

Over the years dredged material from Wickham’s Creek
has been placed to the West. The result is the beach
at our park has deteriorated and in fact has lost
almost two feet in depth and at high tide the
available beach area has diminished to something less
than 20 feet. And this is a beach that is used by
hundreds of local residents all summer long.

To the west, the beach is protected by a 50 foot groin
on the western edge of the creek entrance and as a
result the beach area to the west has grown
proportionately. In addition there is a 30 foot high
mound of excavated dredged sand stretching a good 100
feet along the southern edge of the wetlands, all of
which is privately owned land. Ostensibly this was
done to protect the wetlands from severe storms, not
whithstanding the fact that the wetlands have survived
in their present state for hundreds of years.

Our playgrounds and beaches are just as important to
our lifestyle as is the preservation of the wetlands.
In this case the scale has tipped too far in favor of
“saving the wetlands”. There is no urgent need to
change the dredging permit but there is an urgent need
to protect our beach at Pequash Park.

If your organization has input to this we would
appreciate it if our message could be heard and this
message be passed on to Mr. Bergen.

Thank you

David Allison
631-902-2603

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