Joanne Catrone is proud of her pizzeria, Roccos of Roc beach, which is located right off of the beach and boardwalk in Rockaway Beach.

“We were voted best pizza, and that’s bringing a lot of people in,” she said. “And when they’re coming in on the weekend to taste the pizza on the weekend, a lot of people are trying the beaches here.”

What You Need To Know

  • Work as part of the ongoing U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Rockaway Resiliency Project will continue at Rockaway Beach when the beach opens Memorial Day weekend

  • The NYC Parks Department expects the work to take place between B116 and B143 this summer. It will impact approximately 10-15 blocks at a time

  • The construction means beach goers will only have access to parts of the beach

  • Business owners in the area say the beach closures have hurt their business

The restaurant opened during the pandemic and has had quite a bit of success thus far, including being voted best pizza by the Queens Chamber of Commerce earlier this year.

Still, Catrone has some concerns about her restaurant’s future.

“The beaches being closed and people coming off of the ferry and wanting to go to these beaches. They’re actually going down further and it’s effecting a lot of the businesses over here,” she said.

Her restaurant is located on Rockaway Beach Boulevard near Beach 116th Street, which is the beginning of a stretch of beach extending to Beach 143rd street, that will be closed in ten to fifteen block sections this summer due to a multi-million dollar effort to reinforce the peninsula’s coastline. It has taken a beating due to erosion from storms like Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

Officials said The Army Corps’ Atlantic Shorefront Resiliency Project will strengthen, stabilize, replenish and expand the beach.

This is the second summer in a row of closures could decrease foot traffic at the restaurant.

“And now with the beaches being closed because this is our season now…this is what we’re looking forward to,” Catrone said.

“We know how important this community is we known how important this beach is and we know how important these capital projects are,” NYC Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue, said, who was among local officials, lawmakers and community members who attended a press conference on the boardwalk at Beach 94th Street Friday to kick off beach season.

Local leaders said the sacrifice now will save the beach community’s future.

“Our beach is our greatest asset,” Assembly Member Stacey Pheffer Amato, said. “On the state legislative side, we do everything to make sure our beaches are protected.”

Although all city beaches are officially opening to the public Saturday, swimming will only be allowed in certain areas due to a lifeguard shortage.

Officials hope a pay raise will attract more people to apply to be lifeguards to supervise city pools and larger stretches of public beaches.

Business owners are counting on it.

“I do have faith that we will resume back to normalcy,” Catrone said. “It’s just the fact that we’ve got to get the beaches opened and we really are looking forward to that.”

Ferry service will not be impacted by the construction along the beach and concessions will be open at the discretion of the operators.

Rockaway beach along will all public city beaches will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. throughout the summer until Sept. 10. City pools open June 29.