BEAUFORT — The state Coastal Resources Commission is pushing ahead a proposed rule change to allow wheat straw bales to be placed on ocean shores as a means of protecting dunes.
The commission, which adopts rules and policies for coastal development in North Carolina, on Wednesday unanimously approved the fiscal impact analysis of the proposed rule during its quarterly meeting.
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The fiscal analysis, which measures how a rule may affect a government’s revenue and expenditures to help prepare for or prevent budget shortfalls, has also been approved by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and Office of State Budget and Management, or OSBM
The proposed rule change may save local governments, state and federal agencies and large, oceanfront homeowners associations, or HOAs, the headache of waiting for sand fencing to become available during times when it is in high demand, according to Heather Coats, Division of Coastal Management, or DCM, beach and inlet project coordinator.
But the division does not expect a significant uptick in the use of straw bales, she said, because they tend to cost more than traditional sand fencing, would need to be replaced more frequently than fencing, and the verdict is still out on how efficiently bales trap sand.
The cost for a 10-foot section of wheat straw bales ranges between an estimated $30 to $72, according to information gathered by DCM staff with input from the OSBM. A 10-foot section of traditional sand fencing costs an estimated $12 to $24.
Commissioners approved the proposed rule change at their April meeting.
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Only local governments, state and federal agencies and large, oceanfront HOAs are permitted to use straw bales under the proposed rule, which includes additional review requirements by wildlife agencies because little is known about their potential impact to nesting sea turtles.
Under the proposed rule, bales cannot be placed in sections more than 10 feet long, 2 feet wide and 3 feet high. A minimum of 7 feet must be between each section. Ties or binding have to be removed from the bales.
Ocean Isle Beach became the first in the state to test whether straw bales might be an effective alternative to sand fencing after the Coastal Resources Commission last year granted the town a variance allowing straw bales to be placed at six areas on the eastern end of the Brunswick County island.
Ocean Isle Beach Mayor Debbie Smith told Coastal Review in a telephone interview Wednesday afternoon that the bales have “worked well,” were cheaper than sand fencing and easily accessible during a time when the town could not get sand fencing because of high demand.
“Most of them covered up fairly quickly,” she said. “In my opinion, it’s more environmentally friendly.”
This fall the town will begin a dune construction project along the east end of the ocean shore from the area of High Point Street to the east of the East Fourth Street beach access, shortly beyond the terminal groin.
Smith said town officials have not decided whether to use straw bales or sand fencing once construction, which will include vegetating the dune, is complete.
“Today we have no project planned to do either one, but when we get through hurricane season that may change,” she said.
The proposed rule change will now go to a public hearing. If it receives final approval, Division of Coastal Management staff anticipate that the rule amendment would become effective April 1, 2025.
The coastal commission also tackled other rulemaking measures on Wednesday, one of which also pertains to Ocean Isle’s dune construction project.
That proposed rule will align with a law passed earlier this year by the North Carolina General Assembly that allows any beach towns that receives a permit to build a terminal groin to establish a measurement line for dune building projects.
The line would “represent the existing location of the first line of stable and natural vegetation” included in a dune building and beach planting project, according to the division.
The current rule establishes a line from where the ocean hazard setback is measured for a stretch of unvegetated beach.
Under the proposed rule, the line would have to be set in coordination with the division, be applicable for no less than two years after a project’s completion, and would apply in areas of a beach significant impacted by erosion and overwash from a storm.
The commission’s approval of this rule as “temporary” allows Ocean Isle Beach to move forward with its dune construction project. Division staff recommended the commission adopt the rule as permanent.
Commissioners also approved pushing ahead with making permanent a rule that deals with general permitting for bridge and culvert replacements in estuarine waters.
Cathy Brittingham, division transportation project coordinator, explained that a rule pertaining to the Coastal Area Management Act general permit for replacing bridges and culverts was mistakenly changed a couple of years ago.
As it stands, the permit has a 120-day expiration date, well below the time it takes to replace a bridge.
The proposed rule amendment would reinstate the expiration date of two years and would require an applicant, which in these cases are predominately the North Carolina Department of Transportation, to provide a project narrative and dates plats of existing and proposed developments in an application.
The commission also approved amending a rule to allow a property owner to rebuild docks and piers damaged or destroyed in storms, fire, or normal deterioration to its pre-damaged condition without having to obtain a CAMA permit.
The General Assembly earlier this summer passed a law setting forth this rule. The permit exemption does not apply to docks and piers wider than 6 feet, larger than 800 square feet, or those adjacent to a federal navigation channel.
Once rules are adopted by the coastal commission as permanent, those rules then go to the Rules Review Commission.
The Rules Review Commission last October objected to 30 of the coastal commission’s longstanding rules, a move that subsequently got the rules removed from the state Administrative Code.
In March, the coastal commission re-adopted more than a dozen of those rules coastal management officials said are crucial to day-to-day operations as temporary as a means to get them back into the code for one year or until they are reinstated as permanent.
The coastal commission and DEQ filed a lawsuit against the rules commission. That lawsuit is ongoing.
Note: Coastal Review will not publish Monday in observance of Labor Day.
