Like many others living along Cosey Beach Avenue, the people who live in the Victoria Beach condos noticed a great change to their backyard after two powerful storms.
“Well Irene came and [took] it out totally, and caused a lot of erosion. We were in the process of redoing it, through our paperwork, and Sandy came,” said Pat Marchitto, President of the Victoria Beach Condo Association.
Marchitto says what it looks like now is an improvement. After Sandy, there were no bags shoring up the sand berm outside.
“We had to actually cut a stairway out from that first deck because it was hanging in mid-air and it was pulling against the building,” said Marchitto.
But now, Victoria Beach can start rebuilding the berm. The DEEP approved the project within 60 days after a fight by the East Haven delegation.
“We're creating what's known as a living shoreline, and I would suggest that this project at Victoria Beach is the first one of its kind in the State of Connecticut,” said State Sen. Len Fasano.
Now that the new berm has been approved, an engineer will be drawing up plans on how to rebuild it. Then the condo association will be putting the project out to bid. Residents here say they're so relieved that this project has been approved.
“It's totally, all work will be on our property. The toe of the wall, the berm, sand, the sea grass, everything is on our property,” said Marchitto.
The berm will be paid for by the Victoria Beach residents, but it's a necessary measure to take to protect their shoreline homes.
“If another one came through, one of these quote hundred-year storms, that we've been getting every year, it would have been devastation for Victoria Beach,” said East Haven Mayor Joe Maturo.