Notes from Our Readers: The Beach Sand

Colonial Park Taxpayer posted the following today on another post; I figured I'd best post it here so that it doesn't get lost in the commentary. Congrats, by the way, on the new West Shore Follies blog.

Hello, I love this blog. There is great insight to all the exciting things happening in the City of West Haven. It would be great if there was a way to get the page some more visibilty among residents.

I'd just like to comment on the recent sand replenishment done by the DPW. Has anyone taken a walk down to Prospect Beach recently? Well apparently the majority of the sand that was placed on the beach was completely eroded away by all the rain we recieved the last few days. How will the city address this? Or will it be ignored until next summer since the beach season is close to an end? I'd be interested in knowing how much time and money was invested with replacing this sand that got washed away in a matter of 2 days.

I can't answer for the exact amount 0r time, but this previous blog post was about a WFSB news report that stated we spent $500,000 and it took 11,000 truckloads (I believe that the trucks came from the New Haven depot, and that it came by barge from Capecode to New Haven harbor).

More information was given in this blog post which tells us that our 5 year capital budget allots $600,000/year for beach replenishment, and that we seldom use it all. Additionally the State DEP and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers requires that we maintain our 3.5 mile public shoreline, with is 1/4 of all the public beach area available in Connecticut. Mayor Picard was seeking $200,000 from FEMA on this replenishment, and State Rep Steve Dargon is looking for $1M from the state for future replenishments.

Thanks also for the very kind words about this blog - the best way for the blog to be found is word of mouth... keep telling your neighbors!