The Long Island town of Brookhaven has plans to buy and demolish seven houses damaged by Superstorm Sandy. The shoreline houses are currently owned by the state of New York. After the December 2012 storm, the state determined they were at high risk of flooding and bought the homes from their owners.
The shoreline cottages sit on marshland in Mastic Beach, a village in Brookhaven. The Long Island Nature Conservancy plans to partner with Brookhaven to demolish the homes and return the area to its natural state as marshland.
Catherine Kobisiuk, President of the Mastic Beach Property Owners Association and a biologist, said the marshland can act as a buffer to protect other homes from the crushing force of storm waves.
“You might have flooding, but you won’t have that push, the force involved. Because I know areas around here the force was so strong that it actually punched holes through the walls of some of the homes.”
Kobisiuk said she hopes more municipalities will follow Brookhaven’s lead and demolish some of the damaged, vacant properties in their communities.
Brookhaven town supervisor Ed Romaine said the homes set for demolition were flooded with 6 feet of water and their septic tanks leaked into nearby Narrow Bay.
“These homes, many of them are old. They were allowed to be built almost right on the water. There’s no time between flushing your toilet and watching it bubble out into the bay,” he said.
Romaine said returning the homes to marshland will improve the environment in Mastic Beach. He said the Town of Brookhaven expects to buy the homes for $125,000 by the end of the month. Romaine said the Long Island Nature Conservancy will fund the demolition soon after, and Brookhaven intends to preserve the area as a marsh.
