Uncertainty ruled the day as the Fire Island Association embarked on a recent change in administration. Big questions lingered about the status of competing short-term and long-term beach replenishment projects.

As is routine when divergent interests gather from far-flung sides of the barrier island, differences in opinion were on full display before the roughly 70 people in attendance at the FIA's summer meeting in Ocean Beach on July 30. While some positive beach updates were sprinkled throughout the gathering, the dominant issue remained the same: the long-awaited Fire Island to Montauk Point Reformulation Project, or FIMP, billed as the best hope to buttress the shore from the ocean's relentless waves.

"The communities of Fire Island came to realize the distinct possibility that FIMP could drag on for another decade...or two," said John Lund, president of the Davis Park Association, of the communities' efforts to once again replenish the sand in the latest stopgap project, mostly funded by the local homeowners. "We can't just hang out and wait for something to happen."

Planners of the next beach renourishment project are currently conducting a programmatic environmental impact statement, a more in-depth review of the off-shore sandbar dredging that supplies beach replenishment sand. A less-extensive environmental assessment was allowed for the last time during the 2008 project. And therein lays the debate.

"You could all be heading down a slippery slope if you don't do this right," said Joe Vietri, director of policy and planning for the North Atlantic Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who ushered the $25 million, four-decade-long FIMP study into draft form.

"You're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't," he said, noting that the stopgap measure is needed until FIMP can be implemented, but also that the duplication of effort could lead federal officials to decide against ever funding FIMP since measures are already underway.

There was good news. The U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees FINS, and the Army Corps has tentatively agreed to the FIMP draft, which the state of New York is reviewing.

Everyone was in agreement that although government at all levels does not have the money to fund the project, estimated at $1 billion to implement, the planning stages should still move forward.

"We need to get this document out to the public and have it debated," said Vietri.

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand stressed the same point in an interview with The News in the Fire Island Pines on Aug. 6. She urged all parties involved—including the state Department of Environmental Conservation and local communities—to move faster to implement the project. "I'm not happy with the progress," said Gillibrand, noting she toured local beaches when she visited Fire Island in Aug. 2010. "It's taking far too long and it's such an important initiative."

MIA from FIA

Missing from the conversation was Suzy Goldhirsch, the head of the Seaview Association who succeeded Gerald Stoddard as leader of the FIA in May. She was unable to attend due to a medical issue. Also missing from the was Chris Soller, superintendent of the Fire Island National Seashore, who was called away on other business.

Officials at the Aug. 5 Saltaire village board meeting noted that the removal of the Ocean Beach groins is on the table for the latest beach sand replenishment project as the planning stages unfold. Ocean Beach Mayor James Mallott said that removing the jetties "is not a question to be taken lightly."

Back at the FIA meeting, Islip Town Supervisor Phil Nolan offered some uncontroversial updates: more than 5,000 feet of sidewalks have been repaired on the Islip township side of the island to ensure homeowners' highway taxes are being put to good use; the 'Session Stand in Atlantique will undergo privately funded renovations thanks to a new contract that is more generous to the operator; tips on illegal rental violations are welcome.

But Nolan, having watched the debate, also commiserated with the FIA on the snail's pace of bureaucracy. "Sometimes you feel like pulling your hair out and saying, 'why does everything have to be so complicated?'"