Our 19th Pines Party was a bang-up job.  The rain came and the rain went but a great time was had by all well into the daylight hours.  I don't have numbers yet but, while we were impacted by the weather, I still anticipate a very good result.  Congratulations to the Party Chairs Allan Baum and Ed Schulhafer and the Party Producer, Guy Smith for a job well done.  Also many thanks to the Pines Party Committee and the volunteers for all their hard work.  Thanks to Randy Wilson for all his work on the tents and to Jordan Cohen for heading up security with a big assist from Chris Lovito, who helped out on transport and the door as well.  I particularly want to mention Marc Cote and Jay Henry for honchoing ticket sales again.  Marc and Jay have moved in the last year to Austin Texas, but their move has not in any way diminished their love for the Pines Party and they were back on duty in the harbor this year.   I would also like to thank Jim Pepper for making his house available for the After Party on Sunday Afternoon.  It is a wonderful example of community spirit.  The Pines is indeed fortunate to have its Southern Gentleman. Thanks to Frank Liberto for his fantastic job on this year's community journal.  And particular thanks go to Dan Cochran and Albert Lepage for their unwavering support.

We can all be proud that the Pines puts on a party that has no peer!



Don't forget this is the last chance to purchase tickets for the Fiat Car Raffle. The drawing will be on July 29th.  And the silent auction closes at midnight on July 29th.



Two of the FIPPOA infrastructure projects are substantially completed.  The second phase of the harbor reconstruction, which will involve rebuilding the freight dock, will occur after the season.  And work on the last part of the contractor enclosures project, for the LaFountaine trucks, will be completed before the end of the summer.   

The third infrastructure, the FIMI beach replenishment project is now front and center stage.  It is proceeding on two tracks - engineering and real estate.  On the engineering track all town permitting requirements have been met.  Construction plans for decks, pools, and house relocations have been submitted to the Army Corps and final comments and permits are expected shortly.  On the real estate track, most appraisals in the Pines are completed.  Many of the voluntary easements have been signed off with the County.  For a few, eminent domain will be required and that process will be started shortly.  

A survey of the beach and the sand site was done in the spring.  At that time, it looked like 2 million cubic yards of sand would be required for the eastern communities.  The Army Corps has not calculated a final amount and they are doing that now, based on the spring survey. 

We are now in discussions with the state DEC planning the staging and use of our marina for contract 3B1 of the FIMIF project, this covers removal of the houses, decks and pools necessary to accommodate the new dune.  A large amount of material will be moved through the marina and will require extensive staging.  We do not know at this time how this work will impact the normal operations of the marina.

We are still expecting sand placement in the eastern communities in late winter/early spring.  The project in the eastern communities will take approximately 5 months.  In order to accomplish the full project - and the protections it confers - as soon as possible, it appears now that there is a possibility of continuing sand placement during the summer of 2018.  The Army Corps has developed a plan that would restrict access to smaller stretches of the beach where the project is actually occurring and leaving other areas of the beach open.

PSEG Long Island will be laying a new underground transmission cable this fall.  The new cable will run along the existing cable. This does not involve the telephone poles along the boulevard.

Jay