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U.S. Senator Charles “Chuck” Schumer, who held a press conference at Webster’s Oklahoma Beach in April, talking about “the dozens of houses on the verge of falling into lake Ontario,” due to erosion, said today that a study is being done and repairs are expected to take place.
Schumer said in a statement that the Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has heeded his call “to get the ball rolling on the critical project that will prevent dozens of homes from collapsing into Lake Ontario, a possibility that is getting more real with each passing day.”
Schumer said the Army Corps will begin a study to determine the federal interest in moving forward with the project — a legally required first step before shovels can actually be put in the ground.
A spokesman at Schumer’s office said the study is beginning immediately, so residents may see engineers physically examining the damage.
The study is the beginning of a process that Schumer called for when he stood with homeowners at Oklahoma Beach in April.
Schumer said then that the situation at Oklahoma Beach, off Lake Road west of Bay Road in Webster, was precipitated by the construction of a pier and the Irondequoit Bay Outlet Bridge, which connects Lake Road in Webster with Culver Road in the Sea Breeze area of Irondequoit five months a year.
When the outlet bridge was built about 20 years ago, the possibility that it would put homes at Oklahoma Beach at risk, from accelerated erosion, was acknowledged by the Army Corps of Engineers, Schumer said, yet nothing was done to protect those homes.
That’s why he called on the Army Corps to forge ahead with the long-overdue repairs.
Schumer said the study will help determine what the most effective solution would be.
Schumer and Congressman Dan Maffei, D, Syracuse, who also worked on the situation, said that once the study is completed and a course of action settled on, the project should be done without requiring local or state governments to share in any of the costs.
"The homeowners at Oklahoma Beach have been waiting a long time for answers to how this erosion problem can be fixed,” Maffei said. “I am proud that the Senator and I were able to urge the Army Corps to action. I look forward to the next steps, and to make sure this study finds a resolution that will prevent any further damage to the homes at Oklahoma Beach."
U.S. Senator Charles “Chuck” Schumer, who held a press conference at Webster’s Oklahoma Beach in April, talking about “the dozens of houses on the verge of falling into lake Ontario,” due to erosion, said today that a study is being done and repairs are expected to take place.
Schumer said in a statement that the Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has heeded his call “to get the ball rolling on the critical project that will prevent dozens of homes from collapsing into Lake Ontario, a possibility that is getting more real with each passing day.”
Schumer said the Army Corps will begin a study to determine the federal interest in moving forward with the project — a legally required first step before shovels can actually be put in the ground.
A spokesman at Schumer’s office said the study is beginning immediately, so residents may see engineers physically examining the damage.
The study is the beginning of a process that Schumer called for when he stood with homeowners at Oklahoma Beach in April.
Schumer said then that the situation at Oklahoma Beach, off Lake Road west of Bay Road in Webster, was precipitated by the construction of a pier and the Irondequoit Bay Outlet Bridge, which connects Lake Road in Webster with Culver Road in the Sea Breeze area of Irondequoit five months a year.
When the outlet bridge was built about 20 years ago, the possibility that it would put homes at Oklahoma Beach at risk, from accelerated erosion, was acknowledged by the Army Corps of Engineers, Schumer said, yet nothing was done to protect those homes.
That’s why he called on the Army Corps to forge ahead with the long-overdue repairs.
Schumer said the study will help determine what the most effective solution would be.
Schumer and Congressman Dan Maffei, D, Syracuse, who also worked on the situation, said that once the study is completed and a course of action settled on, the project should be done without requiring local or state governments to share in any of the costs.
"The homeowners at Oklahoma Beach have been waiting a long time for answers to how this erosion problem can be fixed,” Maffei said. “I am proud that the Senator and I were able to urge the Army Corps to action. I look forward to the next steps, and to make sure this study finds a resolution that will prevent any further damage to the homes at Oklahoma Beach."
