No Fun in the Sun: Putnam Valley Beach Remains Closed
Within hours of the Memorial Day weekend approaching, swimming at Spur Beach on Roaring Brook Lane in Putnam Valley was prohibited by the Putnam County Department of Health, leaving some residents bewildered and upset.
Since then, the Town of Putnam Valley has sparred with the health department over the closing, which came to a head during a July 8 Health, Social, Educational, and Environmental Committee meeting of the county Legislature. For nearly an hour, Putnam Valley Supervisor Bob Tendy and Health Commissioner Dr. Allen Beals bickered back and forth with no sign of the beach completely reopening in the near future.
While the meeting was a week ago, both Beals and Tendy said Monday afternoon no progress has been made in getting the beach fully open.
In an interview, Beals said there are two issues that resulted in the beach being shut down. One, Beals said, was Putnam Valley made major modifications over the winter and spring to the beach without getting the appropriate permits and observation by the health department. The second and larger hurdle is the beach slopes were not safe and did not match the code.
The slope going into the first four feat of water can’t be more than ten percent, Beals said, which it currently is at Spur Beach. Every measurement by department engineers indicates the slope is too steep, he added.
“We’re still left with the situation where Spur Beach is too steep and it presents a drowning risk for young children and toddlers,” Beals said.
Tendy refuted Beals’ assertion that the lake poses a drowning risk, claiming the beach is not dangerous. He added when major modifications were done to Spur Beach before summer hit, the slope was less than ten percent, which means it was within the health department code, but severe winter weather led to changes in the grade, he said, as well as the rising water level.
Overall, the renovations to the beach cost approximately $35,000, Tendy said, adding to the frustration that it is currently closed.
“If you’re going to close our beach because the grades are off, if it’s a safety reason and you’re really concerned about safety, than you should do this with any beach,” Tendy said. “Putnam Valley kids are wonderful and important kids, but so are the Carmel kids. If you’re going to close the Putnam Valley beach, you should be checking every beach.”
While Tendy and Beals squabbled back and forth, some Putnam Valley resident didn’t seem too worried whether the beach was deemed closed or not. Last Wednesday, The Putnam Examiner witnessed a few residents sun bathing on the sand and a family with two young girls was seen swimming in the lake with no lifeguard on duty.
Going forward, Tendy hopes once the town sends the health department the town engineering records that contain what the grade was before the lake was filled up, a waiver might be granted and the beach allowable to swim in. Tendy said he would hope to have that to Beals by late Monday.
But Beals said a waiver won’t be granted and the beach will remain closed until the slopes are fixed.
He even said the health department might have never closed the beach if it was deemed safe, even if the town never submitted the correct paperwork in a timely fashion.
“There’s no wiggle room in the code,” Beals said. “A beach with a major modification does not provide for any adjustment to the slopes so we got a real problem here.”
