Town manager favors sand over breakwaters

Town Manager Bruce St. Denis thinks the town needs to place as much sand as possible near the North Shore Road beach access and the surrounding area instead of breakwaters.

In an e-mail he sent Sunday to Robert Appel, president of the Longbeach Condominium association, St. Denis said his ideal situation is to get more sand in the area and manage the beach without having to place four breakwaters 220 feet off the shore.

“However, I would favor this only if we can get a significant supply of sand on the north end in the next nine to 12 months,” St. Denis wrote in his e-mail.

St. Denis, who blames the hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005 for eroding so much of the beach so quickly, said he is trying to get sand from a West Coast Inland Navigation District dredging project and will work to get a permit to recreate the beach that was lost before the town renourishes its beach island-wide in 2011.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].