Schumer, Gillibrand Announce Over $5 Million in FEMA Funding for Permanent Repairs to Asphalt of North Hempstead Beach Park's Parking Lot -- Funding Will Also Make Site More Resilient for Future Storms

Press Release

U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand today announced over $5 million in federal funding to the Town of North Hempstead for permanent repairs of the asphalt substructure of a parking lot that was used as a Temporary Debris Storage and Deduction Site at the North Hempstead Beach Park, as a result of Superstorm Sandy. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding is being provided through the Public Assistance program under authority of Section 406 of the Robert T. Stafford Act.

"North Hempstead Beach Park served as a much-needed debris storage site after Superstorm Sandy, and this funding will be used towards repairing the damage done to the pavement and related infrastructure," said Senator Schumer. "This federal funding will help make sure local residents are not entirely on the hook for permanent repairs made to the Town of North Hempstead's parks and infrastructure following Sandy."

"This investment in North Hempstead Beach Park will repair the pavement and surrounding infrastructure that was damaged while being used to hold debris caused by Superstorm Sandy," said Senator Gillibrand. "This FEMA funding will help ease the tax burden for local North Hempstead residents and will help ensure the park is repaired and accessible so that the community can enjoy it for years to come."

The Town of North Hempstead hired contractors to repair the asphalt parking lot including the cement curb and pavement markings at the Temporary Debris Storage and Deduction site at North Hempstead Beach Park. The Mitigation proposal states that the Town of North Hempstead will thicken the pavement layers, insert geo-synthetic pavement inter-layers between the pavement layers and reroute the electrical and water lines.

This site is an official alternate debris site for the Town, and with the resiliency upgrades made to this site, it will be stronger against future storms and flooding. The current parking lot is comprised of 3 layers: a 1.5 inch asphalt wearing course (Cement Concrete Pavement Type 1C), supported by 2.5 inches of asphalt concrete binder (Cement Concrete Pavement Type 1A) and 4 inches of dense graded aggregate. The new parking lot was approved to be built to withstand the debris management site, and after engineers complete a study, upgrades could include bulking up any of the existing layers, or even using concrete versus asphalt, which is inherently stronger. They will also relocate the utilities from under the pavement to under the parkland. There were approximately 14,649 tons of debris stored at this site during Sandy.

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