Saugerties village mayor William Murphy is joined by Amanda Hansen, director of the state’s Community Rising Development Fund, to cut the ribbon at the opening of the rehabilitated village beach. Residents joined village and town officials in celebrating the opening. (photo by Robert Ford)
State and local officials recently opened the rehabilitated Saugerties Beach, which cost close to $300,000 to repair after it was damaged by storms Irene and Lee and superstorm Sandy.
Money for the work came from the state Community Rising Development Fund allocated to help communities hard hit by the three storms repair the damage and mitigate conditions that caused the storm damage.
Amanda Hansen, director of the state program, said the work on the village beach added tons, of new sand to replace that washed downstream by the rains from the three storms.
Other work included the addition of two docks, a ramp to launch boats and kayaks, curbing in the parking area, drains and swales to channel water coming off Hill Street during storms away from the beach, and a grassy area that it’s hoped will keep debris in Esopus Creek from eroding the beach.
Mayor William Murphy said the village would have never been able to do on its own the amount of work that was done using state money. “And what’s important, the state asked the communities what they needed rather then the decisions coming from the state down to the towns and villages,” Murphy said. “Who knows better in a community than the community?”
The time spent on the project had been worth it, he said. “The five years it took us to develop the plans, make the application, get the approval, and then get the work done, was well worth it. It’s built bigger and better.”