Project plans for improvements to the Saugerties village beach at the bottom of Partition Street are moving forward. At an October 17 meeting, the village board voted to award a $269,000 contract to West Kill-based Evergreen Mountain Contracting, Inc.
Money for the project, which is set to begin this fall and be completed in time for the opening of the popular village swimming hole next spring, is coming from a $3-million Community Rising state grant. Governor Andrew Cuomo made money available in $3-million disbursements to communities affected by Hurricane Irene, superstorm Sandy and tropical storm Lee, which caused widespread damage. The money is to be used to restore areas hard-hit by the storms and to help mitigate potential future problems from large storms.
Work on the beach project, George Terpening, Parks, Buildings and Grounds supervisor said, work will includes dealing with water flow coming from Hill Street, and the parking lot adjacent to the beach. Berms and swales will be installed to help prevent beach erosion.
Terpening has only half-joked that after those three storms much of the sand from the village beach was swept down the Hudson River to help build up Kingston Point Beach.
The project also includes adding tons of new sand to the beach, something Terpening said won’t happen until next spring. “Winter storms would just erode the new sand, and add to Kingston,” he said.
In addition to anti-erosion measures, a new dock system will be installed for boat and kayak launches. It will create an area where, if officials want, a possible Saugerties swim team could compete.
Trustees said Evergreen’s bid came in lower than expected, which will allow the village to do other projects that will help improve storm management. The high bid for the project was $473,000, “so we did all right on this,” said mayor William Murphy.
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