Nov 6, 2012 3:04 PM

A Montauk oceanfront hotelier has dropped a row of concrete cesspool rings along the beach to protect the already-damaged site from further erosion in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, but a local environmental advocate claims that the structures aren’t specified in a town emergency permit.

Steve Kalimnios, one of the owners of Double K Management, the company that owns the Royal Atlantic Beach Resort Motel on the beach along South Emerson Avenue, said the concrete rings were recommended by his engineers as “temporary protection”— with a nor’easter expected to hit the South Shore of Long Island on Wednesday—while the compromised foundation of the building gets repaired.

“All we’re trying to do is protect the structural integrity of the building itself,” Mr. Kalimnios said.

But Jeremy Samuelson, the executive director of the environmental group the Concerned Citizens of Montauk, said town and state emergency permits for the work don’t specify any concrete rings to be placed on the shoreline, according to his knowledge. Because town officials haven’t signed off on the rings, it raises the question of what impacts the structures could have on neighboring properties. Mr. Samuelson also argued that the hardened structures are not permitted on the beach in that area.

The business should “shoot straight” with the public and the town, he said.

“What would have been wrong with that?” Mr. Samuelson said. “Because they didn’t do that we now don’t have the assurance that this structure isn’t actually going to cause or even run the risk of harming the adjacent properties during the repair process while they fix their building.”

Mr. Samuelson said that the emergency town permit calls only for placement of beach-compatible sand. But Mr. Kalimnios said that could be interpreted broadly, and that something had to be done to prevent the building from falling into the ocean.

“You receive an emergency permit and the emergency permit is to take care of what is an emergency,” he said. “Is every nail, hammer or board specified in a permit? That’s not the way it works.”

Mr. Kalimnios also emphasized that he and other oceanfront business owners have long been behind a “soft solution” to address what’s become annual, or biennial erosion to beaches. He said no local organizations have approached these businesses to get the ball seriously rolling on a beach restoration solution.

East Hampton Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson did not immediately return a call on Tuesday. Town Hall was closed for Election Day.