90,000 tons of sand pumped to restore shoreline at TOBAY Beach

Several Town of Oyster Bay officials, including Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino, Councilman Lou Imbroto, Councilwoman Vicki Walsh and Receiver of Taxes Jeffrey Pravato, recently met with representatives from state and federal government to oversee work currently underway at TOBAY Beach, where the United States Army Corps of Engineers has been replenishing the shoreline through a dredging project off the Fire Island inlet.

Contractors have worked around the clock to pump 90,000 tons of sand back to the beach, helping to safeguard the shoreline from storms and tidal surges while also protecting critical infrastructure, including the main pavilion and access roadway.

“We all know how much TOBAY Beach means to our residents, which is why we’ve worked diligently every summer to rebuild the shoreline by trucking in thousands of yards of clean sand to shore up the coastline,” said Saladino. “Simultaneously, we knew it was necessary to develop both short-term and long-term solutions, and asked our state and federal representatives for assistance.”

A critical public access point to the shoreline, TOBAY Beach is located in the middle of Jones Beach Island, a barrier island off the south shore of Long Island. The beach suffered a direct hit from Superstorm Sandy in 2012, and serves as a critical asset toward protecting the mainland, its property and population.

For the past several years, town officials have spent millions of dollars rebuilding the beach and stabilizing the dunes against erosion, and are working to develop plans for hardening the shoreline with additional sand, shielding the primary nesting areas of piping plovers, and preserving public access to Long Island’s shoreline.