By Brian McCready
Milford Bureau Chief
MILFORD — About 50 Silver Sands residents attended a special forum Wednesday night at City Hall to share their concerns about beach erosion, parking and safety issues.
Last week, state House Speaker James Amann, D-Milford, state Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford, and Mayor James L. Richetelli Jr., along with five neighbors, announced the creation of a task force to address these concerns.
Task force members Tom Rea and Sandra Haley showed photos and a video detailing significant flooding and beach erosion. They said the loss of beachfront next to the inlet to Great Creek is threatening the stability of homes near the park.
Rea presented a video of "Storm Beth" from Dec. 11, 1992. The video illustrated rising floodwaters along with debris and large branches floating through the roadway and onto residents’ properties. A voice on the tape could be heard saying, "We’ve got devastation here."
Rea said "Storm Beth" removed 4 feet of sand from neighbors’ properties.
"It caused homes to sink and be unstable," he said.
One man interjected that he had 30 inches of water in his home as a result of the storm.
Haley, who has lived in Milford since 1961, showed family slides depicting a lengthy beachfront area in her backyard in 1970. By 1983, the beachfront was still significant, but "Storm Beth" accelerated the erosion process significantly. She said a wrong decision was made to dump sand left in front of homes onto the public beach instead of returning it to homeowners’ properties.
The beachfront elevation dropped by 5 feet, 10 inches, she said. "To have a drop of this intensity is not natural."
Danielle Blummer, of Chetwood Street, said she came to the forum to express her concerns about "safety and parking issues." Betty Cooper, also of Chetwood Street, said the lack of parking makes it impossible for residents to park near their homes.
People who use Silver Sands State Park are parking on local streets due to the lack of spaces at the park. Popularity of the park took off in the late 1990s after it was transformed from a landfill.
Amann said the task force will continue to meet in an effort to come up with ways of addressing the residents’ concerns. No future meeting date has been scheduled.
Brian McCready can be reached at 876-3001 or briannhregister@gmail.com.