Notorious for its bloated and rigid regulatory structure, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Civil Works program is looking to slim down and speed up, all while redirecting resources and prioritizing programs.

As detailed in 12 memorandums released in March, the agency’s new initiative, “Building Infrastructure, Not Paperwork,” seeks “to deliver critical projects and programs for the nation more efficiently, sooner, and at less cost than the current ways of doing business,” Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Adam R. Telle stated in a February press release.

“This will eliminate bureaucratic delays and provide fast, clear decisions needed to save lives and empower our economy,” he added.

According to the release, the plan’s 27 initiatives are grouped under five categories: maximizing ability to deliver national infrastructure, cutting red tape, and focusing on efficiency, transparency and accountability and prioritization. The plan would not affect the Corps’ execution of its emergency response support to natural and human-made disasters.

Even by federal government standards, the Corps’ Civil Works is massive, managing about $259 billion in water resource assets and employing an estimated 37,000 full-time-equivalent employees, 98% of whom are civilians, according to a 2025 congressional report.

Through the initiatives, there are assurances that all projects are reviewed for the best path forward, said Eugene Pawlik with the Corps’ public affairs in an email, responding to questions from Coastal Review. “(The Corps) will be focused on strategically allocating available resources to prioritize the most pressing infrastructure needs across the country.”

The slow pace of the permit approval process will be addressed with new technology and geospatial tools that will expedite jurisdictional and permitting decision-making as well as reduce subjectivity in identification and elimination of Clean Water Act areas, Pawlik said.

Additional permitting goals, he wrote, include reissue and expand the existing Nationwide Permit program, eliminate barriers that prevent establishment of new mitigation banks, leverage private capital to modernize and expand generating capacity at Corps facilities, provide long-term leases with rights to additional revenues to entities willing to pay for capital improvements, and reform how the Corps conducts Section 408 reviews and engineering oversight.

The Section 408 program allows people or entities to make changes to a civil works project following reviews that are to verify that the changes do not have negative effects on the public interest or the project itself.

No additional funds nor dedicated budget item is being requested to implement the program.

“We believe the transformation initiatives will be a more effective use of annual appropriations,” Pawlik said.

But a closer look at just two interconnected and increasingly important tasks that the Corps is charged with in North Carolina and numerous other states — that is, dredging clogged inlets and nourishing eroding beaches by pumping in sand — may seem logical and sensible. But it’s not that simple.

With both activities being done more frequently, while sand supplies are becoming more sparse, the Corps is more often being asked to put the dredged sand from navigation channels on the beach. And more often, and to the enormous frustration of the permit applicant, it’s not permitted.

“In the Wilmington District, maintenance dredging often serves a dual purpose through the Beneficial Use of Dredged Material,” the Corps press release said, referring to a program created under the Water Resources Development Act of 2016. “The district uses beach-quality sand removed from navigation channels and inlets to provide for North Carolina’s coastal communities.”

On the Outer Banks, for instance, dredged material from Oregon Inlet in past years had been pumped onto an adjacent beach on the north end of Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge.

“Maintenance dredging is about more than just keeping the channels clear and ships moving; in North Carolina, it’s also a critical tool for coastal resiliency,” said Col. Brad A. Morgan, commander of the Corps’ Wilmington District. “By placing dredged sand back onto our beaches, we aren’t just maintaining a channel—we are protecting coastal infrastructure, supporting the local tourism economy, and restoring vital habitats.”

But the state Division of Environmental Quality has to permit sediment placed on state beaches, and it requires that sand to meet standards. On federal lands, such as the Pea Island refuge and Cape Hatteras National Seashore, the U.S. Department of Interior also must permit the sand placement. Even when sand is removed from a nearby location, it’s not necessarily transferable to the beach where it’s needed.  Dredged sand may be the wrong color or size, or testing has revealed pollutants or toxins. It might be mucky and unsuitable for bird habitat. It might be too fine for the targeted location, meaning it would soon blow away. Or as happened in 2015 at North Topsail Beach, it could be too rocky.

Still, the Corps would continue to ensure that dredged material used as beach fill meets required standards, Pawlik said.

“The Flood and Coastal Storm Risk Reduction programs reduce risk for millions of Americans and billions of dollars of infrastructure,” he wrote. “(The initiative) will ensure USACE pursues cost efficiency through better use and scheduling of dredging assets nationally and increased use of dredged materials for beneficial use.”

Pawlik said that the Corps’ district commanders would review all projects and be “key players” in forward motion of projects and allocation of resources “to prioritize the most pressing infrastructure needs across the country.”

Each of the 12 memorandums provides details of different aspects of implementation of the “Building Infrastructure, Not Paperwork” program, addressing what many people have frequently noted about the agency.

As one excerpt from the memo, “Prioritization of Efforts Within the Army Civil Works Program” reveals, there’s room for improvement: “In recent years, the Corps has prioritized every effort all at once, which of course means there are no priorities and that we can mask lack of delivery with progress on paper.”

Coastal Review will not publish Friday as our offices will be closed in observance of Good Friday.

Ocean Isle Beach hopes to pump tens of thousands of cubic yards of sand onto the beach at the easternmost tip of the island by this spring as an erosion stopgap.

The Brunswick County town has asked the Army Corps of Engineers Wilmington District for authorization to have up to 70,000 cubic yards of sand placed east of its terminal groin where erosion has been chipping away at the shoreline in front of a luxury neighborhood.

The Corps announced late last week that it is accepting public comments through March 8 on the town’s application to modify the federal permit it received in 2016 to build the terminal groin at Shallotte Inlet. 

As it stands, that permit does not allow sand to be placed east of the terminal groin.

A terminal groin is a wall-like structure built perpendicular to the shore at inlets to contain sand in areas with high rates of erosion.

Proposed modifications to the permit include placing sand along an 1,875-foot stretch of shoreline at The Pointe, a gated community whose oceanfront property owners have been desperately trying to hold back an encroaching sea.

Under the terms of the proposed permit changes, this would be a one-time beach nourishment project.

The town is also asking for its permitted sand borrow source in Shallotte Inlet to be expanded from about 83 acres to a little more than 117 acres, to add a new borrow area within the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway and be allowed to work outside of the environmental window for dredging from April 30 to June 15.

Ocean Isle Beach Town Manager Justin Whiteside said on Tuesday that the town wants to get the modified permit as quickly as possible in hopes that the sand placement project would coincide with a federal dredging project.

The Corps announced last September it had awarded a nearly $8.5 million contract to maintenance dredge several areas along the Intracoastal, including at the Shallotte Inlet crossing.

Whiteside explained that Ocean Isle Beach anticipates receiving 25,000 cubic yards of sand “that the town is paying for” from the Corps through the inlet crossing project.

“The hope is to get this permit modified within the timeframe that the Corps’ contractor is here on site and then we could contract with them possibly to dredge more in that federal channel or go into that inlet borrow area to put that additional sand there,” he said.

Whiteside said the town does not yet have an approximate cost of its proposal to nourish the beach east of the terminal groin.

Ocean Isle’s east end had for decades been losing ground to chronic erosion, the worst of which occurred along about a mile of ocean shoreline beginning near the inlet.

An encroaching ocean claimed homes, damaged and destroyed public utilities and prompted the North Carolina Department of Transportation to abandon state-maintained streets there.

To stave off further erosion, the town in 2005 was permitted to install a wall of sandbags to protect public roads and infrastructure from getting swallowed up by the sea.

In 2011, Ocean Isle Beach was, along with a handful of other beach communities, allowed to pursue the option of installing a terminal groin at an inlet area after the North Carolina General Assembly repealed a law that banned hardened erosion control structures on the state’s ocean shorelines.

Five years later, the town received state and federal approval to build a 750-foot terminal groin.

But before construction could begin, the Southern Environmental Law Center in August 2017 filed a lawsuit on behalf of the National Audubon Society challenging the Corps’ approval of the project.

More than three years passed before the lawsuit, which later included the town, concluded after an appellate court affirmed a lower court’s decision that the Corps fairly considered the alternatives included in an environmental impact statement examining the proposed project.

Construction of the $11 million project was completed in the spring of 2022, the same year the final plan for The Pointe, a 44-lot subdivision, was approved for development.

By fall 2025, The Pointe’s oceanfront properties were suffering significant erosion.

Last November, the North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission unanimously agreed to grant permission to the owners of eight lots in that neighborhood to install larger than typically allowed sandbag structures waterward of their land.

Whiteside said Tuesday that those sandbags had not been installed.

Sand in the area east of the terminal groin, he said, appears to be “recovering a little bit.”

“We think over the past month and a half or so that we’ve gained, just looking at aerial photographs, approximately 5,000 cubic yards of sand that’s deposited east of the groin, so some of the beach is building back up in that area,” Whiteside said.

He explained that in 2022 the town’s federal beach nourishment project took place in conjunction with the construction of the terminal groin.

“The dredger came through and we had a huge spit on the east end of the island and that contractor came through and just dredged right through that spit and took it down to a negative 15-foot elevation,” Whitesaid said. “It’s kind of filled back in now and we’re thinking that’s why we’re seeing the growth back east of the groin. We’re hoping this shows that that’s some of what contributed to it, that it was maybe our own nourishment project through the Corps.”

“But, in the meantime, we know this is a short-term solution that we’ve got to figure out some type of long-term solution to, so our engineer firm is going to be doing some modeling to see what kind of modifications, if any, need to take place to the existing groin,” he continued.

Comments on the proposed project should refer the permit application number (SAW-2011-01241) and may be submitted to the Corps electronically through the Regulatory Request System at https://rrs.usace.army.mil/rrs or by email to Tyler Crumbley at tyler.a.crumbley2@usace.army.mil. 

Written comments may be mailed to Commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Wilmington District, Attention: Tyler Crumbley, 69 Darlington Ave., Wilmington, NC  28403.

The Corps will consider written requests for a public hearing to be held to consider the proposed application modifications.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management has issued a permit to Dare County for a beach nourishment project planned for this summer at Buxton.

The division also announced Wednesday that it had issued a letter to the county affirming that the proposed work to rebuild one of three groins near the former site of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse qualifies as “repair” under the Coastal Area Management Act and Coastal Resources Commission rules and does not require a CAMA permit for the project to proceed.

“North Carolina’s ocean shoreline is a dynamic environment with challenges driven by extreme shoreline erosion, rising sea levels and more frequent and intense storms,” the division said in its announcement. “Communities along the Outer Banks have been particularly affected by recent weather events and extreme erosion. Along many parts of the state’s coastline, local governments may pursue projects such as beach renourishment to reduce vulnerability to storm damages and protect critical public infrastructure. DCM reviews these projects to ensure they are consistent with CAMA and the CRC’s rules.”

Related: Winter storm takes 4 Buxton houses, leaves inches of snow

The village’s beach, which is part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, has suffered severe erosion over the past few years that has led to houses collapsing into the ocean — 31 on the national seashore’s beaches since 2020 — and uncovered long-buried petroleum contamination at the site, which has been used in decades past as a naval facility and a Coast Guard station.

Beach renourishment is one of the primary erosion response strategies allowed under state law. Hard structures such as groins are subject to strict statutory limitations and case-by-case review. All permitted projects include conditions to minimize environmental impacts, maintain public access and safety and require ongoing monitoring.

The project documents are available online.

A beach nourishment project expected to begin this summer on Buxton’s ocean shoreline will be the topic of a public meeting scheduled for Feb. 11.

Officials with Dare County, which is hosting the meeting at 6 p.m. in Buxton, will be joined by several representatives from the National Park Service – Outer Banks Group to provide general information and answer questions from the community about the upcoming project.

The meeting will kick off with a brief discussion about the nourishment project, including its expected timeline and duration, after which time the public may ask questions.

The meeting will be held in person at the Fessenden Center, 46830 N.C. Highway 12 and will also be livestreamed on the Dare County YouTube channel.

Those who are unable to attend the meeting may submit comments or questions via email to DareCountyPR@DareNC.gov no later than Sunday.

Additional information about nourishment projects in the county is available at MoreBeachToLove.com.

BUXTON – Faced with devastating destruction across a significant segment of its beachfront, this small Outer Banks village is seeking help for coastal solutions, including measures that could require potentially controversial legislative action by the state and federal governments.

Since September, 15 houses have collapsed on a stretch of beach in Buxton just north of Cape Hatteras, the distinctive point of land midway along the East Coast that juts far into the Atlantic. Adaptation to storms and natural forces have fortified the community since its establishment in the late 1800s, but now stunningly rapid erosion is endangering its future.

“Today, small areas of our oceanfront have deteriorated to the point where we can no longer shoulder these challenges alone,” Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairman Bob Woodard wrote to members of the North Carolina General Assembly in November. “With your support, we can preserve our coastline, protect public infrastructure, and sustain the economic engine that benefits all of North Carolina.”

The county is one of the few “donor counties” in North Carolina, with more than 3 million people annually visiting Dare’s beaches and national parks and generating significant state tax revenue, he said. So far, he added, the county has spent about $275 million for beach nourishment as well as additional millions to maintain inlets, with little state or federal assistance.

In addition to a beach nourishment project in 2026 for Buxton, the county is planning to repair a purportedly half-intact groin, one of three installed in 1969 to protect the former Navy base constructed in 1956 near the original location of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.

Dare and Hyde counties also have asked the state Division of Coastal Management to lift the 1985 state ban against hardened structures so the remnants of the two deteriorated groins at the site can be replaced.

But beach stabilization of any sort on the Outer Banks, with its extraordinarily high-energy coastal conditions, is becoming more challenging in a changing climate with quickly evolving and often unpredictable consequences: Sea levels are increasing faster than projected, storms are intensifying, rainfall is heavier.

In recent years, Hatteras and Ocracoke islands on the barrier islands’ southern end have been suffering dramatically increased shoaling in its inlets and far worse erosion at numerous hot spots along N.C. 12, the island’s only highway. Over wash, loss of dunes and road damage is becoming more frequent and difficult to mitigate, sometimes resulting in loss of vehicular access for hours or days. 

People say things feel different. Residents — from old timers to long-time transplants — have noticed places flooding where they never did before, shoaling in waterways that had never clogged before, and erosion consuming an entire shoreline that had been wide and stable just a few years before. And this fall and winter, even seasonal nor’easters have switched to overdrive, with the storms coming in one after another and more often than some ole salts say they’ve ever seen. 

“When we really developed these islands in the ’70s and ’80s, it was a different system, and we need to recognize that, acknowledge it, and plan accordingly,” Reide Corbett, executive director of the Coastal Studies Institute and Dean of the Integrated Coastal Program at East Carolina University, said in a recent interview. “We can’t let self-interest lead the way. We need to understand what this looks like, and we need to get behind better policy. And it starts with how we develop.”

Responding to increasing numbers of house collapses in Buxton and Rodanthe, the Hatteras Island’s northernmost village, state leaders are urging Congress to pass legislation introduced by Rep. Greg Murphy, a Republican from North Carolina’s 3rd District, that would authorize proactive Federal Emergency Management Agency flood insurance payments to remove threatened oceanfront houses before they fall.

While the proposal has garnered bipartisan support, FEMA is currently understaffed and targeted for downsizing, reorganization or even elimination, and its flood insurance program is woefully underfunded.

A delegation representing local, state and federal officials toured the damaged area in Buxton on Nov. 24, where dozens of additional oceanfront houses are scattered willy-nilly, awaiting near-certain demise. Numerous members of the group expressed shock at the disarray and destruction at the scene.

Meanwhile, North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Reid Wilson has directed the Coastal Resources Commission’s Science Panel to analyze shoreline stabilization options, including the potential effectiveness or negative impacts of groins.

Erosion on Buxton’s oceanfront has been a persistent problem for many decades, at least to the infrastructure on the beach, such as the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.

“It was quite obvious to everybody that in the course of time the lighthouse would topple into the Atlantic Ocean and the thousand acres of park land, upon which no tree and scarcely any blade of grass grew, would be swallowed up by the warring ocean currents that swirl around the point of Cape Hatteras,” author Ben Dixon MacNeill wrote in an article published on July 30, 1948, in the Coastland Times. At that point, he noted, in just the lifetime of a middle-aged man, erosion had already whittled away 1,500 feet of beach. 

Despite the 1937 congressional directive to the National Park Service to preserve what would later become Cape Hatteras National Seashore as a “primitive wilderness,” until the early 1970s, according to park documents, the agency spent more than $20 million to stop the “natural process” of barrier island movement. Projects included installing in 1930 steel sheet pile groins along the beach by Cape Hatteras Lighthouse; installing in 1933 additional sheet pile groins at the lighthouse; nourishment of the beach in 1966 near the Buxton motel area with sand dredged from Pamlico Sound; and in 1967 placement of revetment of large nylon sandbags in front of the lighthouse.

In addition, the U.S. Navy built three reinforced concrete groins in 1969 to protect its facility near the lighthouse; the beach near the Buxton motels was nourished again in 1971 with material dredged from Cape Point; and the beach near the Navy operation was nourished in 1973 with Cape Point sand. 

Those actions were in addition to construction and repeated reconstruction of sand dunes, as well as beach fences and planting grasses, shrubs and trees to hold the dunes. 

Finally, in 1973, the National Park Service acknowledged the futility and unsustainable costs of stabilization, and abandoned its efforts. The agency, however, did continue various attempts to protect the lighthouse with riprap, offshore artificial grass, sandbags and a scour-mat apron. With the sea by then lapping at its base, the lighthouse in 1999 was relocated a half-mile inland.

In a letter dated Jan. 9, 1974, from the U.S. Department of Interior to a Buxton resident, the agency promised that all available data would be analyzed before determining future beach stabilization management decisions in the Seashore, including relative to the groins.

“The most reliable scientific data we have obtained thus far offer no evidence that the existing jetties or groins at Buxton provide acceptable protection from ocean forces,” the department added. “While some stabilizing effect may be gained in the immediate area, the jetties actually cause more erosion in adjacent locations.”

A report the year earlier published by University of Virginia coastal scientist Robert Dolan, et. al, to analyze the effects of beach nourishment in Buxton, in fact, said that the groins — short jetties extending from a shoreline — rapidly increased erosion by the motel area, causing dune destruction and ocean over wash into private property.

“The groins, somewhat unexpectedly, are trapping sediment at the expense of the beaches to either side and as a result of their success, the reach protected by the groins has become stable,” the report said, adding that the localized erosion problem at Buxton had followed construction of the groins.

Barely more than four years after they were built, the groins were damaged by storms and required repairs with new sheet piling. Patches and reinforcements continued until the Navy in 1982 abandoned the base, apparently leaving the groins to the elements.

By the time heated discussions kicked in about whether the lighthouse should be saved in place or moved, the community tried to persuade the federal government to not only maintain the by-then-deteriorating existing groins, but also to add a fourth groin. The petition was soundly rejected, and the Navy, the Park Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers appeared to want nothing to do with the groins.

Today, the county sees the sand trapping barriers — even a single groin — as a way to prolong the effectiveness of a $50 million beach nourishment project, and importantly, as a way to buy time while consultants determine a long-term strategy for Buxton.

Dare County Manager Bobby Outten reported in March that, according to Coastal Science & Engineering, the firm hired to do the beach nourishment and groin work, the southern-most groin would meet the state’s 50% rule that allows repair of an existing structure that has 50% or less in damages. The county is currently awaiting approval from the state, as well as acknowledgement that the application meets the exemption criteria for an exemption from the hardened structures statute, he said.

If the groin work is approved, contractors estimate the $2 to $4 million project would take up to two months to complete this summer and involve about 640 feet of repairs, using steel sheet pile and riprap scour protection within the original footprint.

As Outten summed up the current dilemma facing Dare and other North Carolina coastal communities: There are two extremes, either hold the coast in place as it is, and build sea walls. Or let nature take its course, let the houses fall and see the economy crumble.

“And neither one of those extremes is acceptable,” he told Coastal Review. “To anybody.”

A dredging and sand placement that began last week in Oak Island will continue with around-the-clock operations as part of the town’s 2025-26 beach nourishment project.

Hopper dredge RB Weeks began work Friday afternoon in the area of 37th Place East and Southeast 43rd Street, according to a town release.

Work on the project will be conducted 24 hours a day, conditions permitting. Residents and visitors in the Brunswick County town may notice loud noises and ground vibrations and see moving machinery and closed beach areas.

Equipment has been staged in the parking lots of the Kevin Bell Skatepark and the the adjacent Southeast 49th Street beach access, which remain closed to the public.

Town officials urge residents and visitors to steer clear of closed staging construction areas and asked not to attempt to speak to or ask questions of crews working on the project.

In all, Oak Island’s ocean shore will be plumped with more than 1.64 million cubic yards of sand through a combination of three projects, including the Lockwoods Folly Inlet, Wilmington Harbor and offshore Oak Island projects.

The offshore project that began Friday is scheduled to be complete in January, subject to conditions.

For up-to-date information, visit the town’s beach nourishment information webpage, which includes a new progress tracker.

Carolina Beach’s federally authorized beach nourishment project is scheduled to begin this weekend.

Sand placement is expected to begin Saturday, according to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers release.

The project, which calls for placing about 800,000 cubic yards of sand on the town’s ocean shore, is expected to continue for about four to five weeks, depending on weather conditions.

To see which sections of the beach are closed or open during the coastal storm risk management project construction, residents may check the sand placement tracker.

The project contractor has staged equipment near the Freeman Park vehicular beach access and the North Pier parking lot. A pipe is being placed from Carolina Beach Inlet to the beach adjacent to the North Pier, where sand placement will begin and progress southward as pumping continues.

After the contractor has pumped sand from Carolina Beach Inlet, the dredge pipe will be moved to the offshore landing area, where sand will be pumped from an oceanside borrow source and placed along the remaining sections of the beach.

Residents are reminded to keep out of fenced construction areas and off the pipeline, only cross the pipeline at designated sand ramp crossings, maintain a safe distance from heavy equipment and the pipe discharge area, and follow all posted signage and contractor instructions.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is seeking a permit to install a temporary groundwater well off Carolina Beach’s ocean shore for an upcoming beach nourishment project on Pleasure Island.

The request is available for public review and comment through Oct. 15. Related documents are online.

The water well would be installed by the project’s contractor and used to cool an inline booster pump to reduce the likelihood of a booster failure. The contractor is requesting to install the temporary well because there is not adequate water pressure from a local fire hydrant to cool the booster pumps.

The pump would be located along the pipeline route for the Carolina Beach and Kure Beach and vicinity coastal storm risk management project, according to a N.C. Division of Coastal Management release.

The pump would be used to move dredged material to southerly areas of the island.

The temporary well would be dug at a depth of 60 feet below existing grade and at a with of 8 inches in diameter, according to the Corps. The well would be installed behind the dune line at the Freeman Park public access behind the public restrooms.

The well would be removed from the point of entry on the beach once the project is complete.

Written comments on the proposed temporary well may be mailed to Federal Consistency Coordinator, 400 Commerce Ave., Morehead City, NC 28577, or emailed to DCMcomments@deq.nc.gov with “Federal Consistency: USACE Carolina & Kure Beach CSRM” in the subject line.

A notice of the decision for this request will be provided upon request.

OCEAN ISLE BEACH — When the Army Corps of Engineers issued its final decision on the terminal groin project here more than eight years ago, the document conveyed a prescient warning.

A terminal groin “may increase erosion along the easternmost point of Ocean Isle Beach, down-drift of the structure.”

Today, the shoreline east of terminal groin is being gnawed away, vanishing beach in front of a neighborhood of grand, multimillion-dollar homes built shortly after the $11 million erosion-control structure was completed in spring 2022.

A wall of sandbags fends off waves from reaching some of the waterfront homes on the ocean side of the gated community that’s advertised as “luxurious coastal living.”

Several lots remain vacant because the properties no longer have enough beachfront necessary to meet the state’s ocean setback requirements.

“I would have never developed the property if I had known this was going to happen,” said Doc Dunlap, a developer with Pointe OIB, LLC. “It’s just devastating to tell you the truth. I even had plans myself to build there, have a summer home.”

The caveat written in the federal record of decision all those years ago, one that was a central argument in a lawsuit to try and stop the terminal groin from being built, was not explicitly pointed out to the developers of The Pointe, they say.

In an email responding to Coastal Review’s questions, the Division of Coastal Management said it, “is not aware of any specific notification to those property owners other than the standard (area of environmental concern) hazard notice.”

“We were just under the impression that all of this was going to be extremely positive and help protect this part of the beach,” said Jimmy Bell, who contributed to the planning and implementation of the community. “And then, once we started experiencing this massive erosion, I started researching groins more. We had engineers and other people that were helping, and we were informed and under the impression that it was going to all be good, and now it’s turning out to not be quite as good.”

Ocean Isle Beach Mayor Debbie Smith pushed back on those claims.

“My heart breaks for them, but the developers knew that that groin was going in,” she said. “They knew it was not designed to protect that area. It was not designed to harm it, but they also know that adjacent 2,000 feet west of them was a line of sandbags and most of them had been there for years.”

The developers are now seeking legal representation as they continue to try to figure out how to protect the oceanfront properties within the 44-lot neighborhood.

“Mr. Dunlap is extremely disappointed in the decisions made that resulted in the placement and construction of the terminal groin and the erosion damages it has caused,” John Hilton III, corporate counsel to Pointe OIB, stated in an email. “He is committed to holding those who made these decisions legally accountable and also seeking a remedy to correct the ongoing erosion.  We are working to obtain local legal counsel to explore and pursue all available options.”

Erosion-battered shore

The east end of the island at Shallotte Inlet historically accreted and eroded naturally as the inlet wagged back and forth between Ocean Isle Beach and Holden Beach up until Hurricane Hazel hit in 1954.

When the powerful hurricane – likely a Category 4 storm using the Saffir-Simpson scale developed in 1971 – made landfall in October 1954 near the South Carolina border, it caused the inlet channel to move in a more easterly direction, accelerating erosion at the east end of the barrier island.

Erosion has remained persistent in that area since the 1970s, according to N.C. Division of Coastal Management records.

The worst of the erosion occurred along about a mile of oceanfront shore beginning near the inlet. An encroaching ocean claimed homes, damaged and destroyed public utilities, and prompted the N.C. Department of Transportation to abandon state-maintained streets.

In 2005, the town was permitted to install at the east a wall of sandbags to barricade private properties and infrastructure from ocean waves.

Sandbags revetments are, under state rules, to be used as a temporary measure to hold erosion at bay.

In 2011, the North Carolina General Assembly repealed a decades-old state law that prohibited permanent, hardened erosion-control structures from being built on North Carolina beaches.

Under the revised law, a handful of beach communities, including Ocean Isle Beach, get the option to pursue installing a terminal groin at an inlet area.

Terminal groins are wall-like structures built perpendicular to the shore at inlets to contain sand in areas of high erosion like the east end of Ocean Isle Beach.

These structures are controversial because they capture sand that travels down the beach near shore, depleting the sand supply to the beach immediately downdrift of the structure, stripping land that is natural habitat for, among others, sea turtles and shorebirds.

Ocean Isle Beach Sea Turtle Protection Organization Island Coordinator Deb Allen said that beach conditions east of the terminal groin have hindered turtles from nesting there this season. Escarpment, sandbags and debris that Allen believes is coming from the development have impeded turtles from accessing the sandy areas they seek to lay their eggs.

As of early September, the organization had recorded four false crawls, which is when a female turtle crawls onto a beach only to return to the ocean without laying eggs, and three nests east of the terminal groin, Allen said.

The potential for that type of impact to wildlife was argued in a lawsuit the Southern Environmental Law Center filed on behalf of the National Audubon Society in August 2017 challenging the Corps’ approval of Ocean Isle Beach’s project.

The lawsuit claimed that the Corps failed to objectively evaluate alternatives to the terminal groin, including those that would be less costly to Ocean Isle residents and less destructive to the coast, particularly to what was then the undeveloped area on the island’s east end.

The lawsuit, which later included the town, came to an end in March 2021 after a panel of appellate court judges affirmed a lower court’s decision that the Corps fairly considered the alternatives included in an environmental impact statement, or EIS, examining the proposed project.

“As we went through and talked about the impacts of terminal groins in the EIS, this was the central argument – will the land east of the groin erode at a more rapid pace? And, everything we could point to, all of the science, said yes,” said Geoff Gisler, program director of SELC’s Chapel Hill office. “There’s only so much sand and the way that these structures operate is they keep more of it in one place and necessarily take it from somewhere else. That’s why we have seen over and over again that when you build a groin towards the end of an island, what happens is the island erodes at the end. That there is less sand going to the east end is not an accident.”

‘Righting this wrong’

Gisler said the SELC will be following how the town and the Corps respond to the erosion that is occurring east of the terminal groin.

“The town committed and the Corps committed to righting this wrong if it occurred and that’s what we’ll be looking at,” he said.

Under conditions in the town’s federal permit, the town is required to monitor the sand spit east of The Pointe as well as the town’s shoreline and that of neighboring Holden Beach to the west.

Should those shorelines erode past boundaries identified in 1999, “consideration will be given to modifying the structure to allow more sediment to move from west to east past the structure,” according to final EIS.

The town also has the option to nourish an eroded shoreline.

“In the event the negative impacts of the terminal groin cannot be mitigated with beach nourishment or possible modifications to the design of the terminal groin, the terminal groin would be removed,” the EIS states.

The Corps and the Division of Coastal Management are reviewing the monitoring report submitted by the engineering firm hired by the town, Coastal Protection Engineering of North Carolina.

That report indicates that erosion “has exceeded the 1999 shoreline threshold for the area immediately east of the groin.”

“However, the applicant is working on a modification request to alter this threshold as the shoreline had eroded landward of part of that threshold prior to construction of the groin,” according to the division.

A beach maintenance project scheduled for fall 2026 to inject sand west of the terminal groin is anticipated to increase the rate of sand that bypasses the terminal groin and “would serve to ‘feed’ the shoreline immediately east of the groin with additional material,” according to the town’s engineer.

But The Pointe’s developers and property owners say they can’t wait another year.

“There’s got to be an exception to the standard application restrictions (i.e., sandbag placement and height) the (Coastal Area Management Act/Coastal Resources Commission) process has today to protect near term east of the groin due to emergency status and a path longer term that can get us to a point of evaluating what we can do for the groin from a redesign standpoint that would protect all both west and east of the groin,” property owner Brendan Flynn said. “What we’re dealing with now in my view is we need to have another review of what could be done to enhance the groin’s performance to benefit and protect the other part of this island.”

Smith said that the terminal groin is doing what it was designed to do.

“It is building up right adjacent to the groin,” she said. “It just has not built anything far enough down to protect this new development. I wish Mother Nature would reserve herself and build it up right now instead of taking it away. I wish I had some magic bullet for them too, but I don’t today. It’s really up to them to take some action.”

Kerri Allen, director of the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s southeast office in Wrightsville Beach, called the situation “heartbreaking,” but not surprising. The Coastal Federation publishes Coastal Review.

“When you alter the natural movement of sand with a hardened structure like the terminal groin, you might protect one stretch of beach, but you inevitably put other areas at greater risk,” she said. “And, unfortunately, the erosion we’re seeing east of the groin is exactly what experts warn could happen.  That being said, the purpose of this groin was to protect existing infrastructure that was already at risk. Instead, new homes were built in an area that’s incredibly vulnerable and these homeowners are now facing devastating losses. Moving forward, we need to focus on solutions that don’t just shift the problem from one place to another and ensure that public resources aren’t used to subsidize these risky, short-term development decisions.”

“I think this is a pivotal moment for Ocean Isle and for other coastal towns,” she continued. “We have an opportunity to step back, look at the science, and commit to managing our coast in a way that protects both our communities and the natural systems that sustain them. That means resisting the temptation to build our way out of these challenges because, ultimately, the ocean always wins.”

Millions of dollars in state funding are being awarded for beach renourishment and dune projects along the North Carolina coast.

Projects in Dare, Carteret and Currituck counties and in Oak Island have been selected by the North Carlina Division of Water Resources to receive more than $9.39 million from the Coastal Storm Damage Mitigation Fund.

Funding will go to the following projects:

• In Dare County, Buxton nourishment, $3.6 million and Avon Beach nourishment, $2 million.
• In Carteret County, Bogue Banks 2025-26 beach nourishment design, $663,537.
• Currituck County’s beach management plan, $120,568.
• Oak Island beach nourishment, $3 million.

The applicants are matching the state grants with more than $44 million in local government funds.

“The coastline is one of our state’s natural treasures and serves as the livelihood of many communities in eastern North Carolina,” Gov. Josh Stein said in a release. “These grants will help preserve our state’s beauty, protect people’s livelihoods, and keep communities safe.”

The North Carolina General Assembly funds the Coastal Storm Damage Mitigation Fund to help with local costs associated with beach nourishment, artificial dunes and other projects to mitigate or remediate coastal storm damage to the state’s ocean beaches and dune systems.

“This funding will help coastal communities protect natural resources that are essential to their quality of life and economies,” said state Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Reid Wilson in the release. “By restoring beaches and dunes, the projects will also make these communities more resilient to future storms.”

The division scores applications on several criteria, including environmental, social, and economic benefits, life of the project, financial resources, and project efficiency.

For additional information about the application process, contact Kevin Hart with the division at 919-707-3607 or kevin.hart@deq.nc.gov.

A beach survey contractor drove over the legs of a young woman who was lying on the beach Monday on the beach in Oak Island.

Town officials announced that Oak Island Public Safety units were dispatched to the public beach area between Keziah Street and Womble Street at 2:11 p.m. Monday in response to a pedestrian who had been struck by a vehicle driving on the beach.

The 15-year-old female was evaluated on scene for possible injuries that were not life-threatening and was later transported to Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center in Bolivia for further evaluation.

Town officials said that because of the victim’s age she would not be identified.

No criminal charges will be filed against the driver, the town’s police department told Coastal Review.

The vehicle was a 2020 model GMC pickup truck owned by TI Coastal Services, a private contractor conducting a beach survey for engineering firm Moffatt & Nichol in preparation for an upcoming beach nourishment project. Officials said the survey began July 7 and was expected to take two weeks.

Town officials noted that there were erroneous reports on social media and other platforms that the accident was caused by the town’s Beach Safety Unit during its regular patrols.

“Claims such as this can quickly cause the spread of misinformation, and lead to a dangerous lack of trust in first responders,” stated town officials in the announcement.

OAK ISLAND – When Gigi Donovan looks at the dune fronting a row of largely undeveloped oceanfront lots across the street from her home, she sees a false sense of security.

“We’ve seen this dune go away three times in 12 years,” she said.

The sandy mound that separates the public beach from private lots along a stretch of East Beach Drive wasn’t here just a few years ago. It has been built up and planted with dune-stabilizing sea oats through the town of Oak Island’s efforts to restore its oceanfront shore. 

Now there is enough of it to render at least one of the thin slices of long-vacant beachfront lots suitable for building.

That has Donovan and several of her neighbors worried.

Amber and Dean Russell live a few doors down from the Donovans. When the Russells bought their bungalow in 2022, they went ahead and purchased the beachfront lot directly across the street.

“We bought that just to keep our view,” Amber Russell said. “It’s not safe to build on.”

That’s a sentiment a group of homeowners and residents who live in the area of SE 58^th Street and East Beach Drive have expressed to town officials in the days and months since they received notice that a developer had applied for a Coastal Area Management Act, or CAMA, permit to build a house on one of the oceanfront lots.

They’ve made countless telephone calls and sent emails to North Carolina Division of Coastal Management and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers staff.

They’ve posted handmade signs that read “SAVE OUR BEACHFRONT — No Building on Narrow, At-risk Lots!” along their block of East Beach Drive.

They started an online petition that, as of June 13, had more than 600 signatures.

They’ve dug in their heels and pushed back, calling “for the return to responsible, sustainable environmental development on fragile oceanfront properties” in a plea to Oak Island’s mayor.

But even they acknowledge this fight is an uphill battle, one that is likely to rage on as low-lying coastal areas deal with the effects of sea level rise, more frequent, intense coastal storms and shoreline erosion.

Regulatory flexibility

Last month, a CAMA minor permit was issued for 5515 East Beach Drive. Proposed building plans on the 0.17-acre lot include a 2,856 square-foot house.

Town officials in an email responding to questions said they do not have on file when a home last stood on that lot. Aerial satellite images from Brunswick County show that this particular block of East Beach Drive had more homes along the oceanfront in 1989 than today.

The homes captured by satellite imagery in 1989 were gone in 2003, destroyed by nature or demolition.

Today, houses stand on only two of the oceanfront lots along this block of East Beach Drive.

Oak Island officials said the town does not have an overarching designation determining whether a lot is buildable based on oceanfront construction setbacks.

“For building on an oceanfront lot, the developer would submit information to show compliance with CAMA regulations and receive a permit if they meet said requirements,” an official said in an email.

Back in 2023, the North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission rubber-stamped Oak Island’s beach management plan, which gives beachfront builders more regulatory flexibility regarding how far back they must build from the sea.

The year before, the commission repealed regulations that allowed coastal communities to use the less restrictive setback measurement line for oceanfront construction, instead requiring builders to measure back from what is referred to as the preproject vegetation line.

The preproject vegetation line is the first line of stable, natural vegetation that is on an oceanfront before a large-scale beach nourishment project begins, one where more than 300,000 cubic yards of sand is placed on the beach.

But coastal communities that create and follow beach management plans approved by the commission may measure setbacks from the vegetation line rather than the preproject line as long as they meet the obligations detailed in their plans. Setbacks are 60 feet from the measurement line.

Coastal Resources Commission approved beach management plans for five coastal towns: Carolina Beach, Kure Beach and Wrightsville Beach in New Hanover County, and Oak Island and Ocean Isle Beach in Brunswick County. Once approved, plans must be reauthorized every five years.

Oak Island’s authorized plan calls for placing a total estimated 16.2 million cubic yards of sand on the beach over the next three decades. Under the plan, the beach will be nourished every six years.

Oak Island’s most recent sand nourishment projects were carried out in 2021 and 2022.

A nourishment project originally planned for winter 2024-25 was postponed after the town was informed contractor bids for the project “had far exceeded the amounts expected or budgeted,” according to the town’s website.

The project is again out for bids, and town officials anticipate a contract will be awarded and work will begin later this year.

Risky building

“They’re looking to the renourishment as the permanent solution,” Donovan said.

Dr. Gavin Smith, a North Carolina State University professor who researches hazard mitigation, disaster recovery and climate change adaptation, is not a big fan of beach nourishment.

“I think that overrelying on beach nourishment as a way to protect coastal development is fraught with problems,” he said in a telephone interview earlier this month. “It’s extremely expensive. It can take several seasons or it can take one bad storm and it’s gone.”

Smith pointed out that coastal zones, in particular barrier island, are highly dynamic and subject to significant change.

“Thinking about the construction of a house in a highly dynamic area, I think we need to be really careful,” he said. “Builders and homebuyers need to think about the life of that structure. The conditions that that site might face in 40 or 50 years is worthy of consideration. Individuals need to think about and actually ask a question: While you might be able to legally build in a given place, should you build there? I think that’s something that we all need to perhaps be more aware of.”

It’s time governments at all levels, local, state and federal, “do better,” he said.

“How can we recognize or applaud local governments that have the political will to adopt more stringent standards than the minimums? That’s what many governments adhere to is the minimum standards” Smith said. “Our codes are inadequate in the state, yet that’s what we adhere to in many cases. The National Flood Insurance Program should be viewed as a minimum, not the maximum. In an era of climate change we’re moving toward this idea of nonstationary, which we don’t know what the future holds. So, therefore our codes and standards ought to be that much more rigorous to account for the uncertainty. But instead, we’re relying on old data. We’re relying on old codes and that’s a significant problem.”

Sitting at the kitchen table in her home on a late May afternoon, Donovan mulled the many concerns she, her husband Mark, and their neighbors have raised to government officials.

They worry about whether more lights from new construction will hinder sea turtles from nesting on the shore. They worry about how stormwater runoff from new rooftops, driveways and other impervious surfaces may exacerbate flooding on their second-row lots.

They worry what one unwelcome coastal storm, be it a hurricane of any category or a potential tropical cyclone that packs a punch like the unnamed storm that pummeled Brunswick County last year, might do to the dune and any homes standing on the small land plots just behind it.

“We don’t know. That’s the thing. We don’t know what’s going to happen,” Gigi Donovan said.

In a statement to the town’s mayor last month, the Donovans and their neighbors wrote: “While we cannot control the weather, we can mitigate the damage it causes by responsibly managing the development of oceanfront properties.”

Oceanfront lot development “should be based on comprehensive land-use plans that take into consideration beach erosion, turtle nesting habitat, climate change, protection of private and town property, and preserving the legacy of (Oak Island) as a quaint, family-focused beach community.”

They are appealing to Coastal Resources Commission Chair Renee Cahoon, who determines whether or not property owners can make their case in a hearing before the full commission.

“We are very motivated and stubborn,” Gigi Donovan said in a text message. “If we allow them to plow ahead, steam-rolling any local opposition, our entire island beachfront will be irreparably destroyed.”

Guest commentary

To stimulate discussion and debate, Coastal Review welcomes differing viewpoints on topical coastal issues. 

Each winter, as lights and decorations are packed away, holiday trees are typically discarded or sent to landfills in most areas. But in the Wilmington region of North Carolina, the Cape Fear Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation has been doing something different.

For the past 11 years and this past Saturday, this chapter has led the community in repurposing Christmas trees to rebuild dunes in critically eroded stretches of the coastline. These efforts not only help restore the natural landscape, but also educate the community about one of North Carolina’s most pressing challenges: protecting our coastline in the face of sea-level rise and intensifying storms.

The threats facing Cape Fear’s beaches are not unique. Across North Carolina, rising seas and worsening coastal erosion jeopardize the Tar Heel State’s ecosystems, communities, infrastructure, and economies. Climate change has led to higher tides, more frequent flooding, and even homes collapsing into the ocean due to severe erosion and storm damage.

North Carolina’s coastal property owners and communities have typically addressed chronic erosion and storm damage through beach renourishment or replenishment. This short-sighted “solution” disrupts natural sand movement and processes, frequently smother adjacent ecosystems and wildlife, and can cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, or more, to maintain in the long term. One storm event can easily wipe out a multimillion dollar project in a matter of a few hours, leaving North Carolina’s coastal habitats at risk of permanent loss due to sea level rise and flooding.

This is where nature-based solutions come in.

Nature-based solutions restore and conserve ecosystems by leveraging natural processes and resources to enhance biodiversity, protect habitats, and promote resilient communities. They also help mitigate disaster risk, including the effects of sea level rise, flooding, and storm surge.

In the case of the Cape Fear Chapter’s annual dune restoration event, volunteers place Christmas trees collected by the city along coastal areas in need of protection and rebuilding. Working closely with local government, community members, and wildlife advocacy groups, Surfrider ensures the trees are positioned to maximize sand capture while avoiding harm to wildlife. Once staked in place, the trees act as natural dune infrastructure, capturing sand and fostering the regrowth of critical dune plants and ecosystems.

In 2024, the Surfrider Foundation launched its Climate Action Program to focus on implementing nature-based solutions for climate impacts in coastal areas from Cape Fear to Hawaii, and everywhere in between. While the official program is new, volunteers across the country have long been leading efforts to address these challenges in their communities through the Surfrider Foundation. The Cape Fear Chapter exemplifies this approach, demonstrating how grassroots action can drive meaningful coastal change.

Across Surfrider’s network, volunteers are championing local initiatives to combat the impacts of climate change. From advocating for living shorelines and marsh restoration to promoting managed retreat, Surfrider’s activists are showing how nature-based solutions can address erosion and flooding sustainably.

The annual Christmas tree dune restoration event in Cape Fear serves as an entry point to educate the community on how nature-based solutions can mitigate climate-driven impacts. Through hands-on volunteer opportunities, Surfrider emphasizes the need for widespread adoption of sustainable practices along our coasts. These efforts empower community members to advocate for long-term, science-based policies, calling on decision-makers to prioritize the resilience of their communities.

As we welcome 2025, let’s make this the year we reimagine our relationship with North Carolina’s coast. By embracing nature-based solutions and working together to protect what we love, we can create a thriving, resilient coastline for generations to come.

To get involved with the Cape Fear Chapter’s dune restoration event next year — or to find volunteer opportunities with other Surfrider chapters along the coast — visit surfrider.org/volunteer.

Let’s make the health of our coasts a shared New Year’s resolution.

Surfrider Southeast Regional Manager Kayla Huff contributed to this piece.

Opinions expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of Coastal Review or our publisher, the North Carolina Coastal Federation. See our guidelines for submitting guest columns.

The acclaimed coastal scientist Orrin Pilkey, who died at the age of 90 on Sunday, had more stories than an old wet dog.

A few years back, we were sitting around the kitchen table in the retirement community in Durham, North Carolina, where he lived in later years. It was a comfortable apartment, messy with books and papers and walls filled with Orrin’s impressive collection of Indian arrowheads. Importantly, it was close to Orrin’s beloved Duke University, where he taught coastal science for a half-century and still had a coveted parking space in the faculty lot.

Orrin was telling me how he grew up in Richland, Washington, near the Hanford Reservation Reactor.

“We used to play in the puddles after it rained,” he said. “It drove my mother crazy. When the whistle went off, she would rush to the door and call us kids inside because they were about to release a radioactive cloud. We liked to say the dogs in Richland all glowed at night. It was great fun growing up there.”

In a 2019 book, “The Geography of Risk, Epic Storms, Rising Seas, And The Cost of America’s Coasts,” I described Orrin this way: “Pilkey is a short, square hobbit of a man, with an unruly gray beard and a disarming sense of humor. Depending on your point of view, he is either a prophet or the antichrist of the coast.”

I worried a little that Orrin might be offended, but when an acquaintance brought up the description, he roared and said, no, he loved it. It was exactly right.

Orrin was maybe 5 feet, 4 inches tall, and had an impressive belly. He swore to me that he used to run marathons and had broken three hours at the Boston Marathon. I was a decent enough runner back in the day and had struggled to break three hours, which is considered the standard separating real runners from hobby runners.

Like many of his stories, it verged on the unbelievable. But Orrin was like that, always surprising, a prolific and important writer of books on North Carolina and other coasts, a provocative critic, a generous, dedicated teacher, and as Rob Young, one of Orrin’s former students and the head of a coastal science program at Western Carolina University, wrote in a LinkedIn post, “He was funny as hell.”

You had to work hard to not like Orrin. Over a quarter-century, I watched developers and engineers scream invective at him for challenging the way they stacked fragile beaches and sand dunes with ever-larger investment properties. But I also reveled in how Orrin could disarm even his most hostile critics with an impish grin and a joke.

Once, back in the winter of 1998, I was showing Orrin around some of the new development in Corolla, on the northern Outer Banks. We had just finished emptying our over-caffeinated bladders behind some wax myrtle, when one of the developers roared onto the gravel lot in his Caddy and began screaming at us for violating private property. This lasted roughly a minute when suddenly he stopped, stared at Orrin, and exclaimed, “Hey, I know you. You’re that Pilkey guy.” Orrin smiled and marched over to the car. By the time it was done, the developer had Orrin’s email and was his next best friend.

Some of the engineers at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers bitterly criticized Orrin’s science and complained that he was training a cadre of young “Pilkeyites,” who would ruin the coast. By ruin, I think they meant put a halt to the development and the Corps’ costly beach replenishment projects, in which they pump millions of cubic yards of sand onto eroding beaches to save the property lining the shoreline. Pilkey correctly pointed out that those projects were mere Band-Aids, lasting a few years before the next storm came along and washed the sand out to sea. “It’s madness,” he told me many times. “Absolute madness.”  

A Florida engineer complained that Pilkey “got all of the students who got 1600 on their SATs,” and then indoctrinated them in his ways. I loved that. They just didn’t know what to do with Pilkey.

“My approach to coastal science and management is very different from his,” Young wrote. “But, my approach to life is not. My dad died when I was 21. Orrin was the closest thing to a father I had for the last 40 years. He gave me my current position. I owe him so much.”

Orrin got his Bachelor of Science in geology at Washington State University and his master’s in Montana and figured he would become an expert on mountains and shale. During summers, he worked as a smoke jumper and manned a fire tower deep in the forest. Instead of staying out West, he picked up his PhD in coastal science at Florida State and became an expert in sedimentology.

He lived for a time on Sapelo Island, off the coast of Georgia, where he attended church in a ramshackle chapel with the Gullah Geechee. “Hey, I really like the singing, Pal,” he told me. He called everyone pal. Later, he researched the abyssal plain, a gaping mud hole in the ocean so deep sunlight does not reach the sea floor.

In the mid-1960s, Duke took a chance and hired Orrin to start a marine geology program. “It was a big leap,” he said. “They were taking a big chance.”

Over the years, he helped to train thousands of students now scattered across the land. Early on, he was approached by Paul Godfrey, a marine biologist working for the National Park Service on Cape Lookout, and asked to sign a petition protesting a reckless development along the coast. “I was new and didn’t sign,” he told me, with a frown. “It was a big mistake, one of the biggest mistakes I ever made.”

In time, he would become one of the loudest critics of what we were doing to our coasts, penning scores of opinion articles and essays, often appearing on radio and television. Duke was his local podium, but he traveled the nation and the world, spreading the gospel of Pilkey, which might be summed up this way: Preserve as much as possible of what we have left at the coast, stop hardening eroding shorelines with groins and sea walls and, above all, allow the barrier islands to keep moving, the way Mother Nature always meant.

Orrin wasn’t impressed with many of the incremental policies being implemented to protect the coast. He believed they were too little, too late. In time, he became a national advocate for retreating from the coast as the seas rose and storms became larger and more destructive. His position felt impractical to some coastal geologists, who knew that developers, politicians and property owners would fight efforts to remove them. Far too much money was at stake.

When I asked him if he was becoming out of step, he shrugged and told me “I’ve always been out of step.” And then he laughed.

SURF CITY – If everything goes accordingly, Surf City’s ocean shore may begin getting massive sand injections by the end of next year.

The town’s federal coastal storm risk management project — more than 20 years in the making — will put a total of 21.8 million cubic yards of sand on the beach over the course of a half-century.

“That’s a lot of sand,” said Kent Tranter, project manager with the Army Corps of Engineers Wilmington district.

Tranter kicked off a public meeting in the town Tuesday night in a presentation of the Corps’ draft general reevaluation report and environmental assessment released last month on the project.

“I will caution you, this is the draft report. Things will change,” he said in front of an audience of more than 40 people.

The draft report is an update on a proposed project that originally included a portion of neighboring North Topsail Beach’s shore.

At the time, the two Topsail Island towns agreed to team up and commit to a cost-share agreement with the Corps to see the project through.

Under the original partnership agreement, Surf City, North Topsail and the state were to split 35% of the cost of the project’s initial construction. The Corps would pay 65%.

But the Corps would not get the funding to cover its portion until 2019, nine years after Wilmington district officials completed its feasibility study of the project.

During that time, the project’s cost more than doubled.

North Topsail Beach would have had to finance more than $26 million to pay its share of the project, which would have covered nearly 4 miles of beachfront. The remaining more than 7 miles of oceanfront is within a federally designated zone that omits it from receiving federal funding.

In July 2021, North Topsail Beach notified the Corps that the town would not be able to meet its deadline to commit to signing a project partnership agreement with the agency and Surf City.

North Topsail’s withdrawal meant the Corps had to reexamine the project and determine whether it remained economically justified, technically feasible and environmentally acceptable, Tranter said.

The updated project includes all 6 miles of oceanfront beach and will extend about 1,000 linear feet into the northernmost portion of North Topsail Beach. That extension across town lines will round out the project footprint for all of Surf City’s shore, Corps officials explained.

A whopping 8 million cubic yards of material will be pumped from several Corps-designated offshore borrow sites and onto the beach during initial construction.

The beach would be renourished about every six years, depending on sand erosion rates and coastal storms.

The price tag for initial construction, which is expected to begin in December 2025 if approved, is $187 million.

Construction is expected to take 16 months, during which time property owners may expect round-the-clock work.

Construction zones between 1,000-1,500 feet wide will be cordoned off, leaving a small portion of the beach closed at one time.

The public will be able to access a map on the Corps’ website that will include information about when and where construction zones will be located.

Wilmington District Commander Col. Brad Morgan thanked the town Tuesday night for sticking with the Corps through the long wait.

“I know this has been somewhat of a journey to get to this point,” he said. “We’re committed to delivering this project. We’ve got a lot of hoops to jump through, most of which are dictated by law. This is kind of the last hurdle. The team if fully committed to working with the town of Surf City to deliver this.”

Under the current schedule, construction would end in 2027. That would be the year the 50-year project begins. If that is the case, the project would end in 2076.

Corps officials will release further details about the project, including which area of the beach will be the first to receive sand, after the agency receives the contractor’s work plan.

The Corps is accepting public comments on the draft report through Oct. 4. All comments submitted will be address in the final report, which is expected to be presented in January 2025.

Questions and comments may be emailed to surfcitygrr@usace.army.mil or eric.k.gasch@usace.army.mil.

The Corps of Engineers is hosting a public information meeting next week on Surf City’s long-awaited federal beach nourishment project.

Corps officials will discuss findings of the draft General Reevaluation Report and Environmental Assessment for the town’s coastal storm risk management project, one that entails significantly injecting the amount on the town’s ocean shoreline by constructing a new wider and taller dune.

The project will be the largest beach nourishment project to have been accomplished on the East Coast, according to the town’s website. Initial construction is expected to take 16 months, during which time an estimated 7.9 million cubic yards of sand is anticipated to be injected onto the town’s nearly 6-mile beach.

The draft report was released about two years after North Topsail Beach, the town just north of Surf City on Topsail Island, withdrew from what had been a dune and beach nourishment partnership in July 2021.

North Topsail Beach officials at the time said they pulled out of the partnership because of rising project costs.

The public meeting is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 24, in the Surf City Municipal Complex, 214 W. Florence Way, Hampstead.

Corps personnel will be available to answer questions and receive comments at the meeting.

The report and assessment are available online. A 30-day public comment period on those documents closes Oct. 4.

Once the comment period ends, the Corps will include the public comments into a final report. The goal of the Corps is to complete the study process with a Chief of Engineers Report being signed off in May 2025, according to a release.

If North Carolina beaches are going to keep up their tug-of-war with the sea to maintain robust ocean shores, they’re going to need sand and a lot of it.

But, in an era when mining sand and pumping it onto beaches has become a go-to means of fortifying shores against erosion and storms, finding that just-right type of sand and enough of it for the foreseeable future might prove to be quite the challenge for many of the state’s coastal communities.

The dilemma is that beneath the surface of the vast Atlantic Ocean stretching from our shores, the amount of prized “beach-quality” sand needed to replenish them is finite.

There are, “critical sand shortages” across regions off North Carolina’s coast, according to a 2020 study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in partnership with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM.

Federal agencies are being asked to look elsewhere and explore potential untapped sand sources beyond the boundaries of state waters, miles and miles out to the outer continental shelf.

In return, those agencies are relaying a message to coastal communities throughout the country – it’s time to stop thinking about individual project needs and focus on a more regional approach if you want to keep putting sand on your beaches.

“We’re seeing this challenge through the South Atlantic region, call it ‘sand wars’ or ‘competing uses of the same resource,’” said Doug Piatkowski, a physical scientist with BOEM’s Office of Strategic Resources. “There’s a real need to start thinking about what we do know about offshore resource availability and then how we maximize use in a more holistic way, systems’ say, so that we can optimize what little resource we have.”

A century of coastal engineering

Little more than a century has passed since the first U.S. beach got sand from offshore to replump its eroded shoreline.

Since 1923, when Coney Island, New York, officially became the birthplace of the engineered beach, more than 1.5 billion cubic yards of sand has been dredged and injected onto the shores of some 475 communities in the country.

More than 3,200 sand projects have been completed on beaches from California to Florida to New York over the course of the last 100 years. Many of the communities that account for that number have renourished their beaches multiple times, according to the South Atlantic Coastal Study.

North Carolina is one of six coastal states that has placed a large portion of that total sand volume — more than 80% — on its shores, according to a beach nourishment study published in January 2021.

Carolina Beach has the distinction of being the first to have a federal beach erosion-control project completed in 1964.

Since then, the Army Corps has authorized dozens of federal projects, which entail routine sand nourishment throughout a period of 50 years.

Between 2010 and 2020, a total of 37 million cubic yards of sand was placed on U.S. beaches each year, according to the South Atlantic Coastal Study.

In the South Atlantic region, more than 1.3 billion cubic yards of sand is required to support the region’s 50-year sand needs. More than 1.56 million cubic yards of sand resources have been identified to fill those needs.

An evolving theme ‘many aren’t talking about’

That sand surplus isn’t expected to last.

“While regional sand resources are greater than documented sand needs as of today, economically viable long-term sources are limited in many areas across the region,” according to the study.

The South Atlantic study, also referred to as Sand Availability and Needs Determination, or SAND, was the first in which the Corps was given funding to do a regional assessment of sand needs.

It found that sand shortages were documented in every state within the Corps’ South Atlantic Division and identified “critical sand shortages” in regions of North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi.

“If we were to continue at the rate that we’re going … we have a lot of work to do to figure out kind of this supply-and-demand assessment, realizing with climate change and increased storm frequency and this continued demand for sand that we’ve got to do a better job at assessing where this resource availability is, what conflicts may exist in their use and then, over this next 50-year horizon, really have a more realistic understanding of availability and what we can do in terms of meeting the resilience plans to address the need,” Piatkowski said.

Now, more than ever, it is important to recognize these regions are all within one system, he said.

It’s an “evolving theme that many aren’t talking about,” Piatkowski said.

But that isn’t to say that all beach communities are behind the regional-thinking curve.

Carteret County, for example, is considered a leader in its long-term management of available sand options to meet the needs for all of Bogue Banks. The 25-mile-long barrier island is home to Atlantic Beach, Indian Beach, Pine Knoll Shores, Salter Path and Emerald Isle.

And Dare County is starting to think longer-term and look more broadly at its potential sediment availability options, Piatkowski said.

“This is something that BOEM’s trying to kind of message to the coastal stakeholder communities that, ‘Look, it’s beginning to be a scenario where you’ve got multiple interests and multiple needs all within one system and we need to be smarter about figuring out the dynamics of what is the underlying geology for the sediment that we do have. Why is it there? What are the transport processes in the location that we’re dredging it from?’ And then, where we’re placing it because, at the end of the day, if two beaches are connected, that sediment is ultimately moving in that system,” Piatkowski said.

Sand-challenged Long Bay

To understand the complexities faced by beach communities that face critical shortages in sand nourishment sources look no further than Brunswick County.

According to the South Atlantic study, Brunswick County has a sand deficit of nearly 30 million cubic yards.

That’s because Long Bay is essentially a sand-starved area, one where there are vulnerable coastlines in need of hardy sand borrow sources.

“Due to the nature and location of the beaches, it’s more likely to find rock or clay material rather than beach-quality sand,” said Jed Cayton, public affairs specialist with the Corps’ Wilmington District, in an email response to Coastal Review.

Frying Pan Shoals, an area off the seaward southeastern side of Bald Head Island with millions and millions of yards of sediment sand, is federally recognized as essential fish habitat. That designation has kept it from being tapped as a sand borrow source.

That has made Jay Bird Shoals, which is near the mouth of the Cape Fear River, a dredging hotspot for Brunswick beaches and, in recent years, the subject of growing contention between towns vying for sand security.

The town of Oak Island earlier this year received pushback from neighboring beach towns for including the inner ocean bar at the mouth of the river as a secondary sand source in its application for a beach nourishment project. The Brunswick beach town hopes to kick off the project this winter.

Oak Island is requesting to place up to 3 million cubic yards of sand along its 9-mile-long beach from a primary source some 18 miles offshore.

Oak Island’s project is estimated to cost $40 million. The town is awaiting a decision on the permit application.

The secondary source identified in Oak Island’s initial application is between Caswell Beach and Bald Head Island, which each argue that sand is crucial to their nourishment efforts.

In a board of commissioners meeting earlier this year, Caswell Beach Town Manager Joseph Pierce told board members, “If they pull that much sand from that area, our concern is that erosion is going to affect our east end, as well as Bald Head Island. There is a huge hole down there now where sand will continue to fall in, and it will affect both beaches,” The State Port Pilot reported.

Oak Island amended its Coastal Area Management Act, or CAMA, major permit last month and removed its request to use the inner ocean bar as a secondary source.

The Corps and BOEM are currently studying a longer-term coastal storm risk management project for Oak Island. That study is projected to be completed in the fall of 2027.

The first North Carolina beach community to build a terminal groin after state lawmakers lifted a 30-year ban is looking at the possibility of constructing more hardened erosion-control structures.

The Village of Bald Head Island recently asked its legislative delegates to bump the number of permits the state can issue for terminal groins from six to seven, giving the Brunswick County island government the option of building a groin at the east end of south beach to curb erosion. This is an area where chronic erosion threatens The Shoals Club, a private club that has a state-permitted sandbag revetment installed on the property to help protect it from the encroaching ocean.

The village is also considering replacing a series of fabric sand tubes installed along the west end of south beach with a rock structures.

Proposed changes to the 2011 law were recently handed over to Rep. Charles Miller, Sen. Bill Rabon, both Republicans, and N.C. Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Elizabeth Biser.

Biser and Miller visited the island May 17 after touring the Brunswick County water treatment plant’s reverse osmosis project, according to Sharon Martin, DEQ’s deputy secretary of public affairs.

“Secretary Biser appreciated the opportunity to meet with the local leaders and hear their concerns,” Martin said in an email responding to questions. “The visit to BHI was part of the Brunswick County visits arranged by Representative Miller for that afternoon.”

Language the village has drafted to amend the current law specifies that the number of rock structures that would replace fiber, sand-filled tubes would not exceed the existing number of permitted tubes or surpass the length of the longest existing tube.

“The structure(s) or field of structures may consist of groins,” the draft language states.

It is unclear if and when the drafted language might be introduced in the General Assembly.

Miller’s office did not respond to a phone call and email for comment. Rabon’s office also did not respond to a request for comment.

The existing soft tube groin field rests on the opposite end of south beach from the 1,300-foot-long terminal groin built nearly 10 years ago. The groin, a wall-like structure built perpendicular to the ocean shoreline, is designed to stop the movement of sand.

Bald Head Island Public Information Officer and Deputy Clerk Carin Faulkner explained that the village is being proactive in exploring long-term, more cost-effective shoreline stabilization alternatives at the west end of south beach.

Fiber tubes must be replaced every four or five years, she said.

Bald Head is among a small number of Brunswick beaches that get sand injections from periodic dredging that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers does to maintain the Wilmington Harbor navigation channel.

The sand the village receives is typically not enough to stretch along the entirety of south beach, leaving the east end sand starved.

“We have successfully proven that an engineered beach solution works to stabilize our shoreline,” Bald Head Island Mayor Pro Tem Scott Gardner said in a statement to Coastal Review. “The combination of soft groins, a terminal groin, and a sand management plan have demonstrated that by slowing the movement of sand from our beaches, we can protect our infrastructure and property, and improve habitat for wildlife. Our 2025 plan maintains the quality of shoreline stabilization on the west end of south beach and allow us to begin investigating the possibility of a similar stabilization plan on the east end of south beach.”

The 2025 locally funded coastal storm damage reduction project will place more than 1 million cubic yards of sand onto shore at the terminal groin fillet, the east end of south beach and used to fill new fiber tubes that will replace existing ones in the tube groin field on the west end.

The village has obtained the necessary permits for the project, which is ready to go out for bids, Faulkner said.

Sand for the 2025 project is being tapped from Jay Bird Shoals, a borrow source that is not projected to have enough sand to provide for the future needs of Bald Head’s ocean beach.

The village has thus far unsuccessfully convinced the federal government to allow it to use a portion of Frying Pan Shoals as a sand borrow source.

In 2017, the village applied for a federal permit to mine with a 460-acre area on the western portion of Frying Pan Shoals about a mile off the island’s southeast shoreline.

Frying Pan Shoals is a line of shallow sandbars trailing from the southeastern tip of Bald Head island some 30 miles into the Atlantic Ocean and is an area that has no record of ever being dredged.

This is an area that includes essential fish habitat, a federal designation that describes waters and substrate necessary for fish for spawning, breeding, feeding or growth to maturity.

Bald Head Island is one of only two beach towns authorized to build terminal groins since the General Assembly in 2011 repealed the longstanding ban on the use of hardened erosion-control structures on the state’s beaches. Ocean Isle Beach in Brunswick County built its terminal groin in the winter of 2021-22.

Figure Eight Island in New Hanover County, Holden Beach in Brunswick County and Carteret County ultimately decided against building terminal groins on their shores.

North Topsail Beach in Onslow County is developing a draft environmental impact statement examining potential options, including a hardened structure, for stabilizing its shore at the New River Inlet.

Coastal Review Assistant Editor Jennifer Allen contributed to this report.

Boaters should have an easier time navigating the often challenging waters at Cape Lookout National Seashore, and visitors will have more beach to enjoy in front of its iconic lighthouse now that the Louisiana-based Next Generation Logistics has completed a monthslong dredging project.

The National Park Service, Army Corps of Engineers and Carteret County government with support from the state, collaborated on the $6.9 million project to improve access to Barden Inlet and the Cape Lookout Bight.

“I am very happy that we can support safe and accessible waterways at Cape Lookout National Seashore,” Superintendent Jeff West said about the dredge work. “This project has greatly improved access to the park for ferry services, local businesses, and public boaters. The use of dredge sands to expand and protect the lighthouse beach will be greatly beneficial for years to come.”

The channel between Harkers Island and Cape Lookout Lighthouse has been widened to 100 feet with depths ranging from 7 to 9 feet. The dredge spoil was then used to renourish the area of Barden Inlet beach directly in front of the lighthouse, the park service announced Wednesday.

About 30,000 cubic yards of dredge sand was placed there, creating a wide and deep beachfront, and additional dredge sand was placed on Sandbag Island, also called “Bird Island,” just southeast of Harkers Island, officials said.

“We’re proud to be the local partner in this collaborative effort with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and National Park Service to complete the Back Sound to Lookout Bight dredging project,” Chairman of the Carteret County Board of Commissioners Chairman Jimmy Farrington said in a release. “This project is a significant win for Carteret County, improving access to Barden Inlet and the Cape Lookout Bight by providing safer, more reliable waterways for navigation. This channel is critical for many private and commercial users, and its improvement has a direct economic impact on our community.”

The Coast Guard is expected to place navigational aids marking the channel once final surveys are completed, according to the park service.

While the dredging is complete, the process of demobilization continues. Officials said that over the coming weeks, Next Generation Logistics plans to continue removing dredge equipment, supporting vehicles and other supplies from the area.

The areas of Harkers Island that had been used for staging during dredge operations are to slowly be returned to their previous uses.

“Working closely with NC Wildlife Resources Commission (who manages Sandbag Island) and the other resource agencies, the Corps is proud to have helped reestablish a nearly lost nesting and foraging island for our states’ shorebirds” said Bret Walters, USACE Wilmington District Planning and Environmental Branch Chief in a statement. He added that the Corps is looking forward to continued working together “to beneficially use dredged material in the enhancement of coastal habitats for coastline protection, public recreation, and the conservation of our shared natural resources into the future.”

New Hanover County beaches could again mine sand from nearby inlets to nourish their oceanfront shores under a proposed law recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.

The bill would exempt a handful of federal coastal storm risk management projects on the East Coast from a rule that prohibits local governments from tapping sand sources they have historically used within the Coastal Barrier Resources System.

The proposed law would apply only to projects that have been pumping sand from borrow sources within the federally protected system for more than 15 years. Those include Masonboro Island at Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach Inlet at Carolina Beach, an inlet in South Carolina and one in New Jersey.

H.R. 524, introduced by Rep. David Rouzer, R-N.C., in January 2023, would also return the use of federal funds for projects that use sand within a Coastal Barrier Resources Act, or CBRA, unit to nourish adjacent beaches outside of the system.

“This legislation allows these beaches to continue to use their historic borrow sites for protection from storm damage, maintain their natural ecosystems, and protect our local economy,” Rouzer stated in a press release following the House’s April 11 passage of the bill.

The bill is now with the Senate environment and public works committee.

Proponents of the bill argue that allowing projects that had for years used sand within the system to nourish nearby beaches reduces costs and ecological impacts.

“It’s an opportunity to recycle sand. It’s an opportunity to reduce potential environmental impacts. And, it’s an opportunity to reduce federal and local expenditures,” said New Hanover County Shore Protection Coordinator Layton Bedsole. “I think Wilmington had been in compliance 20 years before CBRA was written and we haven’t encouraged development in sensitive coastal locations like inlet shoulders. That’s a major tenant in CBRA.”

Congress passed CBRA, pronounced “cobra,” in 1982 to discourage building on relatively undeveloped, storm-prone barrier islands by cutting off federal funding and financial assistance, including federal flood insurance. The act was also established to minimize damage to fish, wildlife and other resources associated with coastal barrier islands.

Last May, Matthew Strickler, deputy assistant secretary for the Interior Department’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife and Parks, expressed the current administration’s objections to H.R. 524 in his testimony before the House natural resources committee.

Using federal funds to move sand dredged within the system to an area outside of it “is considered counter to CBRA’s purposes,” he said referring to the Coastal Barrier Resource System, or CBRS.

“While some of the sand taken from CBRS units for beach renourishment activities may return to the unit over time, the overall impacts of dredging in these areas protected by CBRA are detrimental to coastal species and their habitats,” Strickler said.

But proponents of the bill argue that years of monitoring these inlets prove otherwise.

“We’re in a situation where Mother Nature brings sand down our beach into an engineered borrow site and then we recycle it back up on the beach in the next three or four years. That’s ideal. We’re recycling rather than mining. We’ve got consistency that works for us that we can work with,” Bedsole said.

December 2023: Sand nourishment to begin in Wrightsville Beach

Wrightsville Beach was using the rich, beach-quality sand routinely pumped from Banks Channel and placing that material on its ocean shore for roughly two decades before CBRA was enacted.

In the mid-1990s, the Army Corps of Engineers permanently allowed the town to use Masonboro Inlet as a sand borrow source, shielding the town from ongoing debates over the interpretation of the law as it pertains to whether sand within a CBRS unit may be dredged and placed onto a beach outside of a CBRA zone.

By 2019, then-Interior Secretary David Bernhardt determined that federal funds could be used to pay for dredging sand with CBRS units and placing that sand on beaches outside of those zones for shoreline-stabilization projects.

A year later, the National Audubon Society challenged Bernhardt’s interpretation in a lawsuit filed against the former secretary, the interior department and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The organization argued the interpretation “vastly expands potential sand mining projects” within areas protected in the system.

The Biden administration overturned the rule in 2021 and Audubon agreed to drop its lawsuit.

The new interpretation forced beach towns that had historically used sand from CBRA zones to look offshore.

Facing exponentially higher costs and an offshore borrow site scattered with old tires broken free from an artificial reef, the town was given an emergency exception by the Corps to get sand from the inlet. That project, which pumped roughly 1.04 million cubic yards of sand onto Wrightsville’s beach, wrapped in mid-March.

The cost to use sand dredged from the inlets is substantially lower than pumping sand from an offshore borrow site.

The last time Carolina Beach tapped the inlet borrow site for sand to place on its ocean shoreline the bid tab was $5 a yard.

“The current project came from the offshore borrow area, as it has, was $11 and some change a yard,” Bedsole said. “It just costs more to go offshore.”

Bids are expected to go out this spring for Carolina and Kure beaches’ nourishment projects, which as of now will use sand from an offshore borrow site.

How that sand might affect the channel Carolina Beach used for years as a sand source has raised concerns among beach town officials.

“We have pulled sand out of that inlet for pretty much my entire life,” said Carolina Beach Mayor Lynn Barbee. “We know what the environmental impacts are. They’re very minimal. We haven’t seen any sort of erosion because of taking that out of there. We haven’t seen any impacts to wildlife, ever, so it’s hard to see what the harm is. What we’ve been doing in the inlet is the borrow pit fills up and we pump that sand out every three years onto the beach and then it drifts back in and fills up and we pump it back out. That seems intuitively better than going out offshore and basically running a sand mine underwater and disturbing what was natural out there.”

Another issue, he said, is how sand pumped onto the beach from the offshore site may affect the inlet, one heavily used by boaters and offers the fastest route for first responders to get into the water.

Barbee said the town has seen “unprecedented” shoaling in Carolina Beach Inlet since it began using the offshore borrow site.

“We have really struggled to keep that open,” he said. “We’ve seen the cost to keep the inlet open go up. If in fact our theory is correct, where else would that sand have come from if it wasn’t introduced from the offshore borrow pit. You’re introducing a new sand source into the traditional system. Certainly, anecdotally, we didn’t have this problem, we do something different, now we do have the problem. It doesn’t seem like it’s a huge leap.”

Barbee said the hope is that the bill will become law before the next project begins.

“If not, we have three more years of these elevated costs, and then we’re just putting more and more sand in the system, and the worry is that when does it become too much?” he said.

Bald Head Island property owners earlier this week approved at the polls two multi-million-dollar bond referendums to back a beachfront erosion control project.

More than 60% of villagers who cast ballots passed the $13.5 million and $4.5 million referendums, according to the unofficial results of Tuesday’s elections.

The bonds will be used to cover the village’s proposed 2025 Coastal Storm Damage Reduction Project, one that includes pumping material from Jay Bird Shoals onto the west end of the terminal groin down through a series of groin tubes, with fill being placed east of Muscadine Wynd and to the east end of the Shoals Club.

After the west end of South Beach is freshly renourished, the village will remove and replace groin tubes in the soft-tube groin field.

The project is being designed to offset chronic and episodic sand losses along South Beach’s western and eastern reaches and maintain the terminal groin fillet, according to a village release.

Bald Head’s village council has scheduled a special meeting March 28 to certify officials results of the March 5 votes.

The village has received a Coastal Area Management Act major permit from the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management and village officials say the next step is to obtain a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers. The village is expected to solicit bids for a dredging contractor by this spring or early summer.

Village officials are also waiting word on whether the Brunswick County island will receive a $4.5 million federal earmark requested for the project.

Additional information about the project may be found here. 

Cape Lookout National Seashore Superintendent Jeff West has been watching for weeks as a Louisiana-based company gets ready at the seashore’s visitor center on Harkers Island to begin maintenance dredging in the nearby waterways.

Next Generation Logistics, the company contracted for the work, will not only make the channels to the federally protected barrier islands safter and more accessible, but the suitable sand that’s dredged during the project will be used for beach nourishment to protect Cape Lookout Lighthouse and nearby historic structures from continual, soundside erosion.

Army Corps of Engineers Public Affairs Specialist Emily Winget said Wednesday that the company, which was awarded the contract in November for $6.9 million, plans to mobilize two cutter-suction pipeline dredges to work on this contract and had planned to begin work by the end of January.

But because of issues, like weather impacts to mobilization, the contract has not started dredging, she said. “We anticipate that dredging will start next week,” referring to the week of Feb. 5.

The Department of Defense Operation and Maintenance Funds, National Park Service, state and Carteret County are “all project stakeholders helping to cover the cost of this project. In addition to providing navigation access through Lookout Bight this maintenance dredging will help ensure access to Cape Lookout National Seashore. Dredging the channel is critical for safe and consistent access to frequently visited areas at Cape Lookout National Seashore. Once dredging is complete, the channel will be open to commercial boats and deep draft vessels,” Winget wrote in an email response.

The suitable material dredged during the course of the project will be placed on the interior beach next to National Park Service structures, including the lighthouse. The remaining material will be added to an open water placement island, being called Sandbag Island, to contain the dredge material and provide habitat for nesting shore birds.

“The preservation of our coast is of paramount importance to us in Carteret County,” County Board of Commissioners Chairman Jimmy Farrington said in November when the contract was announced. “This project not only ensures the safety and accessibility of our waterways but also reaffirms our commitment to the environment. We are proud to partner with the National Park Service and the State of North Carolina to undertake this project, ensuring that the Cape Lookout National Seashore remains a natural treasure for generations to come.”

Winget said the estimated cost to dredge 165,000 cubic yards in the federal fixed channel in Back Sound is around $3.2 million and another 30,000 cubic yards will be dredged through the inlet for $585,00.

To dredge the 8,000 cubic yards in the channel used to approach the passenger ferry dock where the lighthouse is located is expected to come in at $156,000. Sandbag Island is expected to cost about $910,000 to create.

Other costs include the $1.8 million to set up for the project and then demobilize after.

The route used by the passenger ferry between Harkers Island visitor center and the lighthouse has the most amount of sand, West explained in a recent interview, and that will be pumped over the Bird Island. They’ll use geotextile tubes, much like elongated sandbags, to hold the sand in place.

Getting the project off the ground has taken six or seven years, West said, with the COVID-19 pandemic being one of the delays.

He said that the National Park Service worked with the Army Corps of Engineers, state and county to work together to manage the funds for the property.

Once the funding was in place, the first thing they had to do was get through the environmental assessment process, which took about a year. The environmental assessment was put out for public comment in April 2023 to give state and federal agencies, organizations and the public a chance to weigh in and address those comments. The finding of no significant impact was then released September 2023, and the contract announced in November.

He said the sense of urgency comes from the fact that the channels are filling in, and it’s been getting worse over the years. That’s a main public access to Cape Lookout from the Park Service visitor center on Harkers Island. It’s also an important channel for a lot of private and commercial users.

He expounded that the sand dredged will be placed at the beach by the lighthouse complex, which is where the passenger ferry docks. Between the lighthouse and the shoreline are the Keepers Quarters and the summer kitchen. The summer kitchen right now is right at the high-tide line and the Keepers Quarters is about 30 to 35 feet from the high-tide line.

“It will take “roughly 34,000 to 38,000 cubic yards” and will stretch from 150 to 200 yards north of the lighthouse complex to 200 yards 250 yards south, West said. “Depends on how much sand is compatible with the beach there and then it will be graded out to match the current profile.”

The next phase, if the funds are available sometime in the near future, will be to put in a living shoreline or another type of device to try to hold that sand in place this time. “As opposed to how we did in 2006,” he said, referring to a beach nourishment project, “people really weren’t thinking about using living shorelines at the time.”

Right now, the deadline to finish the work is April 1, because of marine wildlife protections, but they could apply for an extension. Once they start dredging operations are supposed to run 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  

West added that they’re allowing the contractors to stage at the visitor center to help with logistics and the company has secured housing on Harkers Island.

The company anticipates having about 5,000 feet of pipe out at any given time, he said. They have a 10-inch pipe and 18-inch pipe and depending on the volume, they’re moving, they’ll use whatever is appropriate.

When it’s completed and opened back up the channel it will be a 7- to 9-foot-deep channel and will be 100 feet wide. “I mean, it’ll be the cat’s meow as far as getting back and forth,” between Harkers Island and the lighthouse, West said.

Local governments have until 5 p.m. March 8 to submit an application to fund coastal storm recovery projects such as ocean beach renourishment or artificial dunes.

The state budget included $10 million for the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Division of Water Resources Coastal Storm Damage Mitigation Fund.

Funding through the program can only be used for costs associated with beach nourishment, artificial dunes and other projects designed to mitigate or remediate coastal storm damage to ocean beaches and dune systems of the state. Projects must be cost-shared on a one-to-one basis.

All applications will be evaluated to determine if the proposed beach nourishment or dune project meets the minimum requirements. They will be ranked according to six criteria: environmental benefits; social benefits; economic benefits; life of the project; financial resources and project efficiency, officials said.

To read more about the criteria used to select the recipients, go to the guidelines on the department’s website.

For more information regarding the application process, please contact Kevin Hart, senior environmental specialist with the Division of Water Resources, at 919-707-3607, or Kevin.Hart@deq.nc.gov.

A much-anticipated sand renourishment project is starting up this week in Wrightsville Beach.

Commercial vessels and marine equipment are being moved into Banks Channel, toward the south end of the beach, and into Masonboro Inlet, according to the Army Corps of Engineers Wilmington District.

A pipe in which sand will be pumped from the inlet onto the shore will extend from the water to an area just south of the Blockade Runner Hotel.

Residents and visitors are urged to used caution in the inlet where dredging will occur and on land where the sand will be initially be placed.

Sand is expected to be pumped onto the shore beginning the week of Dec. 17.

Wrightsville Beach has waited more than two years for this project, which hit a road block in 2021 when the Biden administration overturned a decision that allowed the town to tap the inlet as a sand borrow source.

Up to that point, the town for decades had been injecting fresh sand pumped from the inlet, which is within a federally-designated Coastal Barrier Resources Act, or CBRA, zone.

CBRA was enacted in the early 1980s as a means of prohibiting federal dollars from being spent on projects in what are considered the most hazardous of coastal areas.

But Wrightsville Beach was using the inlet as a sand borrow source years before that law was enacted and, in the mid-1990s, the Corps made permanent a rule allowing the town to continue to pump from the inlet.

The Corps has created a sand placement tracker that will notify residents and guests to the island which part of the beach will be closed for construction. Users of the tracker should view it in google chrome.

For those who cannot use the hyperlink, visit https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/e98f4748f5564a9a85f90eae66b94ef0/

RODANTHE — Dare County commissioners voted last month to provide about $1.5 million to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to study the feasibility of a beach nourishment project in Rodanthe, where five oceanfront houses since 2020 have succumbed to the sea, with more still at risk.  

North Carolina 3^rd District Republican Rep. Greg Murphy told the county that the three-year study is required to obtain any congressional funds for a beach nourishment project, and the county must pick up half the tab.   

“I am delighted to work with Dare County to provide the funding necessary to advance beach nourishment for Rodanthe,” Murphy said in a prepared statement dated July 27. “Preservation of the Outer Banks and its vibrant communities is one of my top priorities in Congress, and I’m grateful to work on delivering the resources necessary to do so.”  

Although commissioners expressed uncertainty about how the study would proceed, Murphy said through a spokesman that the study has been authorized since 1990 and the Corps has assured that it is committed to conduct the study if it is funded.    

The Corps would be able to begin work once the first increments of the study are funded, Murphy’s spokesman Alexander Crane said in a July 29 email response to Coastal Review. The county’s share would be expected after the Corps has the federal funds in hand, he explained. 

“Yes, the study is a precursor to requesting federal funding for beach nourishment,” Crane wrote. “The amount of federal funding for beach nourishment will be determined later on by Congress and the results of the feasibility study.” 

Crane said that the next step in the process would be an appropriations request by Murphy in the February-March time frame of next year, to be included in the fiscal 2025 budget. Those dollars would fund the federal portion of the feasibility study. 

Property owners along the severely eroded shoreline on the north end of Hatteras Island started asking for the project years ago and with dramatically increased urgency as erosion worsened, especially at Mirlo Beach, the village’s northernmost subdivision. Even before the $145 million “jug-handle” bridge opened last summer, bypassing Mirlo and the section of N.C. Highway 12 that was frequently damaged by ocean and sound storm tide, the houses located farther south near the Rodanthe pier started collapsing into the ocean.  

For months, federal, state and local officials have struggled to address a multitude of issues exposed by the tenuous and ongoing situation — property insurance, private property rights and liabilities, public safety and health, governments’ roles and responsibilities to protect public shorelines and accelerating climate change hazards — with few answers.  

For numerous reasons, nourishment has not been considered a viable option for Rodanthe. Some coastal geologists have long argued that with Rodanthe’s extraordinary erosion rates on both ocean and sound sides, the village had no business being developed in the first place. 

 “An aerial view shows that Rodanthe is actually on a small, deteriorating cape extending out to sea,” according to a description in “The North Carolina Shore and Its Barrier Islands, Restless Ribbons of Sand.” “Rodanthe is an extremely high-risk community.” 

The book’s six authors, coastal scientists who included Orrin Pilkey from Duke University and Stan Riggs from East Carolina University, now both semi-retired, warned that Rodanthe was rapidly narrowing, with an average annual erosion rate of 5 to 22 feet, and was at risk of becoming an inlet.   

“THIS AREA IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND SHOULD BE AVOIDED!” the authors wrote, emphasizing the statement with an unusual use of bold, uppercase letters.  

And that was the assessment of coastal scientists 25 years ago, when the book was published in 1998. Since then, the average annual erosion rate in Rodanthe has not only increased, it seems as if it has worsened faster in some areas, such as where the houses are falling.  

In May, Columbia, South Carolina-based Coastal Science and Engineering released an updated report requested by Dare County on a sand analysis it had done in 2014 for the county at Rodanthe. According to the report, a 5.7-mile-long critically eroded area between the south end of Pea Island and the north end of the village of Waves, has a baseline deficit of 2.3 million cubic yards of sand, and it’s losing about 300,000 cubic yards a year. At that rate, it would require about 3.8 million cubic yards of sand at today’s cost of about $40 million to offset five years of erosion.  

Patrick Barrineau, coastal scientist and project manager for Coastal Science and Engineering, said the report, which compared the condition and the location of the beach in 2023 to that of 2014, was intended as an initial step toward a more comprehensive analysis.  

For instance, he said, if the Corps does its study, it will likely include an economic cost-benefit analysis, a sea level and climate analysis and analysis of more physical surveys. Also, the report looked qualitatively at what to expect with different sea levels.  

“A more complete modeling analysis would put quantitative measure on those predictions,” he told Coastal Review.    

In looking at the changes in volume of sand, which is measured from the beach out into surf, there was still some sand remaining — “Probably not very much,” he added — from an emergency nourishment project the Corps had done in 2014 to protect N.C. 12 until the new Rodanthe bridge was built.   

The volumetric changes were measured out into 40 to 50 feet of water, which details “sort of a three-dimensional change in the beach surface,” he said. Horizontal changes are just looking at the high-water line. Most people would describe the erosion rate with the horizontal measurement. Today, the annual erosion rate in the critical area ranges from 14 feet to about 20 feet.   

According to the report, the variations in volume can be attributed to the coastal dynamics: Overwash at Pea Island draws sand from the beach system and stores it, reducing it in Rodanthe; and the most eroded shorelines are situated near closed breaches, such as at Mirlo, making them vulnerable to again becoming inlets. 

Bottom line, it would take a lot of sand and frequent nourishment to keep a wide beach in Rodanthe, Barrineau agreed.

“Yes, definitely,” he said. “I mean it’s going to take on the order of millions of yards of sand to maintain the shoreline in a place where it’s naturally eroding at the rate that we see at Mirlo Beach just to accommodate for that and year-to-year change in the sand volume on the beach.”  

Adding the impacts of sea level rise, especially where there is minimal dune, could exacerbate the issue with storm-cut channels and overwash, he said. But unlike for some beaches along the southern North Carolina coast, Barrineau said he doesn’t think there’d be a problem finding sand borrow areas to keep up with the nourishment demand.  

“There’s a lot of sand out there,” he said.   

If a groin — a wall that traps sand — were to be added to the project, it would cost about $15 million and could prolong the length of time the beach would stay put. Over a 30-year period, the report said, a nourishment-only management strategy would cost about $40 million more than a strategy using groins as well as nourishment. 

“We’ve seen that in other sites where the groins can slow erosion along a project site and in doing so, they can extend the project lifetime,” Barrineau said. “And so, while it’s more expensive up front, it may be cheaper over a 30-year time horizon to have those in place.” 

Hardened structures like groins and jetties, however, are not permitted in North Carolina. They were included in the analysis to “have in the tool box,” he said.   

But barring a change in state law, groins aren’t going to be an option if a beach nourishment project ever does get approved and funded for Rodanthe. Barrineau said that the best chance for such geologically vulnerable locations to keep its beach is more substantial dunes that are taller and wider to be able to withstand pounding waves.  

“It’s pretty unlikely that an entire project would be removed from a site in one storm,” he said. “Now, that being said, major Category 5-type storms do strange things. And it can be difficult to predict.” 

Corps projects are not eligible for emergency federal funds for renourishment after storms, he added.  

Dare County Manager Bobby Outten said that the county has about $8 to $10 million available for a new project from money set aside for beach nourishment done in the county and its oceanfront towns.  

The county’s beach nourishment fund is restricted by state law to use a 2% share of Dare County’s occupancy tax, which totals 6%, for the placement of sand and planting of vegetation to widen the beach. In addition to the county fund, beach nourishment projects may also be funded by property and municipal service district taxes, and state and federal public assistance program funds.  

“In our preliminary modeling, if we had a $40 million project, then in three to five years, we would have enough money to build the project and maintain it,” he said, calculating on the fund’s current rate of growth.  

Outten said the county did not specifically ask consultant Coastal Science and Engineering to include data about the potential impact of sand-trapping groins on a beach nourishment project. 

“They know we can’t do groins,” he said, referring to the fact that “hardened structures” on shorelines are not permitted in North Carolina. But he doesn’t rule out asking in the future.  

If the feasibility study or a federally funded beach nourishment project do not move forward, then Outten said that the county would continue to look for other funding sources.  

Along with other coastal counties in North Carolina, he said, Dare County has asked the state to update the Beach Inlet Management Plan to help pay for shoreline-widening projects.  

“The idea is, we need a state fund for beach nourishment,” Outten said.  

Sand to renourish Wrightsville Beach’s ocean shoreline later this year will be pumped from within the same inlet it has for decades.

Making what it calls an emergency exception, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Wilmington District has determined the beach will get sand from Masonboro Inlet, sparing the town what was forecast to be a hefty price increase for a renourishment project that was already behind schedule.

Jed Cayton, a public affairs specialist with the Corps’ Wilmington District, said in an email responding to Coastal Review’s questions that the agency had exercised a Coastal Barrier Resources Act, or CBRA, exception for the town’s upcoming emergency nourishment project.

“Since Masonboro Inlet has been the historic borrow source for the project, the necessary environmental clearances are currently in place,” Cayton said in the email. “This exception was made on a case-by-case analysis, meaning it is for this particular situation only. However, the inlet could be used in the future if the situation fits the criteria of a federal emergency.”

The Corps no longer plans to finalize an environmental assessment of the town’s storm risk management project, the draft of which was released in January, examining alternative sand borrow areas for the town.

Masonboro Inlet has been the town’s go-to sand source since the 1960s.

The rich, beach-quality sand routinely pumped from Banks Channel onto the ocean shoreline lies within federally-designated Coastal Barrier Resources System Unit L09.

CBRA, pronounced “cobra,” was passed by Congress in 1982 to discourage building on relatively undeveloped, storm-prone barrier islands by cutting off federal funding and financial assistance, including federal flood insurance.

The act was also established to minimize damage to fish, wildlife and other resources associated with coastal barrier islands.

The interpretation of the law as it pertains to whether sand that is within a CBRA unit may be dredged and placed onto a beach outside of a CBRA zone has been kicked back-and-forth between federal regulatory agencies for years.

Wrightsville Beach had been shielded from the debate because the town was given an exception since it had been using the inlet as a borrow source years before CBRA was enacted. In the mid-1990s, the Corps made the exception a permanent rule, one that continued to be upheld through 2019 when then-Interior Secretary David Bernhardt determined that federal funds could be used to pay for dredging sand within CBRA units and for placing that sand on beaches outside of those zones for shoreline-stabilization projects.

Looking back: Tiresome issue won’t stop Wrightsville Beach sand project

Last year, the Biden administration overturned the rule, a move that forced Wrightsville Beach to look offshore for a sand borrow source.

Aside from anticipating a higher price tag to move sand from the ocean floor, the town ran into an unexpected problem with its offshore site – tires.

During surveys of the offshore borrow site, the Corps discovered some 300,000 tires had broken free from an old artificial reef and scattered along an area of seafloor within the site. A Corps official last year said the agency would have a mitigation plan to try and prevent a dredge from sucking up tires and pumping them onto the beach.

The Corps did not indicate whether the presence of tires within the offshore borrow site played a part in its decision to grant the emergency exemption.

Wrightsville Beach was initially on track to receive sand last year, New Hanover County Shoreline Protection Coordinator Layton Bedsole said Monday.

“I think it’s a positive step,” he said of the emergency exemption.

Wrightsville Beach Town Manager Tim Owens did not return a call Monday seeking comment.

Congressman David Rouzer, R-N.C., in January introduced a bill to amend CBRA to allow federal funds to be used for coastal storm risk management projects that have been pumping sand from borrow sources within a CBRA zone for more than 15 years.

Earlier this month, Rouzer and Wrightsville Beach Mayor Darryl Mills testified in favor of the bill before the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries.

During his May 10 address to the subcommittee, Rouzer said that the inlet borrow site has “served as a reliable, ecologically friendly” source for more than 50 years. He expressed urgency for renourishment of the town’s beachfront.

“Seasonal storms have caused flooding to occur quickly and more easily than in the past. In fact, if Wrightsville Beach experiences one more major storm, the destruction to property could be catastrophic, costing taxpayers as well as the National Flood Insurance Program significantly more,” he said.

Cayton said the Corps will continue to work with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to identify suitable borrow sources “within and beyond 3 nautical miles” for the town.

“An environmental assessment will be completed on any source considered,” he said.

Work to move tens of thousands of cubic yards of sand from the inlet borrow source to the town’s ocean shoreline is expected to begin in mid-November and wrap by the close of the environmental window March 31, 2024.

Heavy shoaling has created a challenging water course for ferries that carry tens of thousands of visitors to Cape Lookout National Seashore where iconic structures, including the lighthouse, are being threatened by erosion. 

Now, for the first time in more than a decade, the National Park Service hopes to unclog two channels — Lighthouse Channel and U.S. Coast Guard Channel — that passenger ferries and private boaters use to access the park and place the material that is dredged onto the soundside beach in front of the lighthouse compound. The public has until June 8 to comment on the plan.

“The shoaling is not anything new,” Cape Lookout Superintendent Jeff West said. “It’s just part of life out here.”

But not since March 2006 have sand borrow areas within Barden Inlet been dredged and that sand placed on the beach at the historic lighthouse. Erosion has stripped that sand away, leaving the iconic structures vulnerable. 

The federally maintained channel from Back Sound to Lookout Bight has not been dredged since 1997. 

Boat strandings have become commonplace as a result of the heavy shoaling. 

Many fishing and trawling boats cannot pass through Barden Inlet, which runs into Lookout Bight to the Atlantic Ocean, leaving the sole alternative of traveling nearly 9 miles west to Beaufort Inlet according to a draft environmental impact statement, or EIS, of the proposed project. 

There is no record of when the two park service channels, which access the dock to the lighthouse compound and a dock to the old Cape Lookout U.S. Coast Guard Station, were last dredged, according to the permit application. 

The Coast Guard pulled navigation buoys from Barden Inlet back in 2017. 

West said a number of local boaters have gone out and marked the channels, but constantly shifting sand moved at the will of currents, storms and extreme lunar tides makes those efforts fruitless.

“Low tide out there is terribly difficult to navigate,” he said in a recent telephone interview. “If you’re not running it all the time, it’s even more difficult. Even our ferry service, and those guys make multiple trips every day, have had some problems. They are able to make most of the runs most of the time. It’s just that they may have to be a little bit more careful when they run what we call locally the ‘S’ turns.” 

Each year some 110,000 passengers use passenger ferry service from Harkers Island to Cape Lookout, where a 200-foot docking facility leads to the 1859 lighthouse, lighthouse keeper’s quarters, a series of smaller structures and picnic areas. 

Cape Lookout also can be accessed by passenger ferry service from Beaufort.

The park is home to the old Coast Guard station and a former residential village. The NPS plans in the future to use the now-dilapidated station dock for maintenance operations. 

Erosion now threatens the 1873 lighthouse keeper’s quarters and summer kitchen. 

“There’s a critical issue there,” West said. 

The 2006 nourishment project injected 74,000 cubic yards of material over a three-quarter-mile stretch of the soundside beach in front of the lighthouse compound. 

An estimated 38,000 cubic yards of sand is anticipated to be placed on about 450 feet of beach if this next round of nourishment is approved, West said. 

“Ultimately what we’re trying to do is keep direct ocean impact from striking those buildings and taking those out,” he said. “Anything there man-made over there on the banks is subject to be destroyed.” 

The hope is to kick off the project – $6.5 million by rough estimates – on Nov. 1. 

“We’ve still got to answer concerns that were raised during the environmental assessment process,” West said. “I don’t foresee anything major coming out of that.” 

More than 150,000 cubic yards of material is anticipated to be dredged from the federal channel in Back Sound and placed onto Sandbag Island. 

According to the draft EIS, which assessed three project alternatives, neither essential fish habitat nor related species in the proposed project area is expected to be adversely affected under the park service’s preferred alternative. 

The preferred dredging locations are not likely to adversely affect sea turtles, sturgeon or manta rays, according to the study, but placement of dredged material may affect and will likely adversely affect sea turtles, piping plover, red knot and seabeach amaranth. 

The National Park Service is seeking a 10-year permit to cover maintenance dredging and material placement two or three times within that time frame. 

West said that, ultimately, the service’s goal is to install a living shoreline along the soundside beach to curb erosion. 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is accepting written public comments on the park service’s May 1 permit application until 5 p.m. June 8. Comments may be submitted to Emily Hughes, Wilmington Regulatory Field Office, 69 Darlington Ave. Wilmington, NC 28403, or by email at emily.b.hughes@usace.army.mil. 

Guest commentary

The oceanfront shoreline of Rodanthe has one of the highest erosion rates on the U.S. East Coast (recently upwards of 20 feet per year). Many homes that were initially constructed well back from the beach are now at risk of constant flooding and imminent collapse. A typical response to this erosion in Dare County (and most coastal communities) would be the implementation of a beach nourishment project. It is unclear whether this is practical for Rodanthe, as the geologic setting is problematic.

With such high erosion rates, episodes of renourishment would be frequent, driving up costs significantly. A recently released report entitled: Rodanthe Sand Needs Assessment Dare County, North Carolina (Coastal Science and Engineering, 2023), recommends an initial project at a cost of approximately $40 million. Costs for long-term beach maintenance bring the total to about $120 million over the next 15 years. This assumes that the sand from each nourishment placement will last around five years, which may be a bit of a stretch along this shoreline.

The CSE study indicates there could be modest cost savings from the construction of groins along this shoreline. We did not consider this analysis since groins are not permitted by law on the North Carolina oceanfront due to the inevitable downdrift harm caused by the interruption of longshore sediment transport. Even with beach nourishment, there will be periods of time between sand placement episodes when the beach will narrow, and the most exposed homes will be in the waves.

On the other hand, doing nothing has resulted in numerous high-profile incidents of homes collapsing into the sea, while septic tanks are exhumed and broken open. These events cause both environmental harm and a risk to public safety and health (the intertidal beach in this area is a part of Cape Hatteras National Seashore). Clearly, doing nothing is the worst option.

One alternative solution to nourishment is to implement a buyout plan for highly exposed properties.

Buyouts are rarely a first choice within coastal communities for a variety of reasons, both practical and emotional. Property owners must be interested in selling, and it can be difficult to negotiate a price.

Unlike nourishment, buyouts provide a longer-term solution to erosion, allow for a continuous beach over many years, and eliminate the environmental and public safety hazards associated with collapsing homes. In some areas, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has carried out buyouts in conjunction with beach nourishment to allow for the construction of protective dunes.

To compare the costs of a possible buyout to the costs of beach nourishment in Rodanthe, we at the Western Carolina University Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines conducted a simple analysis to identify and estimate the value of highly exposed oceanfront properties.

The criteria we used identified 80 oceanfront parcels with a structure within 300 feet of the high-tide shoreline, over an alongshore area that is roughly the same footprint as the potential nourishment project. Assessed tax value was used to represent the current value for these properties. Detailed methods for property selection and fiscal analysis are described below.

Results from this analysis estimate that it will cost nearly $43 million to buy out all selected properties (at currently assessed value), and by removing these properties Rodanthe will likely have a viable beach for 15-25 years. Only one of the properties appears to be a primary residence. A number of parcels have lots that are deep enough to move the structure back (outside our buffer), at lower cost than buying the property and removing it.

The loss of tax revenue is a common concern expressed about buyouts. The 80 selected properties generated $171,068 of county property tax revenue in fiscal year 2023, which is only 0.25% of the Dare County tax base. The total lost revenue over 30 years could be $7-$10 million based on the very conservative scenarios outlined in the table below.

For example, we assume all 80 properties will still be around in 30 years. This is unlikely. Some of this loss will likely be offset by the additional tax revenue resulting from the increase in value of the remaining properties (e.g., certain second-row homes become oceanfront).

In this simple analysis the beach nourishment costs are significantly higher (roughly 3 times higher) over the next 15 years than buying the properties at current tax value. Of course, predicting the costs for shoreline protection and/or property acquisition over the next couple of decades is not an exact science.

The ultimate costs depend on factors such as sea-level rise, storms, and market forces for high-risk properties. An advantage of buyouts is that the process could be piecemealed. A buyout plan could happen gradually, targeting the highest exposure properties and willing sellers first (likely the most practical approach). The initial costs would be significantly smaller than beach nourishment, which will require substantial expenditure up front. In addition, buyouts could be initiated immediately, whereas beach nourishment will require substantial planning and permitting.

A more gradual buyout process may cost less than the estimated $43 million, as the market value of properties will likely decrease as erosion begins to threaten homes. While this study does not prioritize the order of acquisition, further analysis could certainly provide the data to do so.

The primary advantage of beach nourishment is that it may preserve the existing oceanfront properties for the next decade or so, along with their tax revenues. In addition, Dare County has experience implementing beach nourishment projects in a professional way. A disadvantage is that there will be multiple episodes of nourishment required over this interval, separated by periods of time when the beach is narrow, and homes are once again highly exposed. Buyouts would allow for a continuous, wide beach for a longer period of time.

We understand that there are obstacles to both buyouts and beach nourishment. This study is not intended to recommend either approach, but provides additional data that could inform the discussion of possible solutions. Looking at this narrowly, from a cost perspective, it is clear that buyouts are not a crazy idea.

A main reason that we conduct an analysis like this is because no one else does. We feel very strongly that, whatever is ultimately decided, projects funded with public funds must examine the costs/benefits of managed retreat through buyouts as one viable option.

This is abundantly clear: the status quo (taking no action) is the least favorable and most environmentally damaging option.

To stimulate discussion and debate, Coastal Review welcomes differing viewpoints on topical coastal issues. See our guidelines for submitting guest columns. Opinions expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of Coastal Review or our publisher, the North Carolina Coastal Federation.

Carteret County Beach Commission members were presented Monday afternoon with potential offshore borrow locations from where the county may pump sand onto Bogue Banks ocean shorelines.

The commission is looking for offshore sand resources to support the county’s 50-year beach preservation plan, the first of its kind in North Carolina.

The county received a permit in 2018 to take sand from a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers offshore dredge material disposal site, or ODMDS, to renourish beachfronts along the barrier island, which includes Atlantic Beach, Emerald Isle, Pine Knoll Shores and Indian Beach.

Shortly after the permit was issued, Hurricane Florence dumped record-breaking rainfall and produced a storm surge of up to 13 feet across eastern North Carolina, leaving behind sand-stripped beaches.

For the next three years after the storm, the county pumped 6 million cubic yards of sand onto the beaches to make up for the sand lost. The projects further depleted material available in the offshore dredge material disposal site now estimated to have about 16 million cubic yards of beach compatible sand.

Doug Huggett, an environmental permit specialist and project manager with the coastal engineering firm Moffatt & Nichol, explained to members of the commission that there is likely enough sand available in the offshore dredge material disposal site for two more nourishment events. How many years that the amount of material available would cover depends on the frequency of coastal storms.

“It’s becoming less and less effective as a borrow source,” Huggett said.

Moffatt & Nichol has identified potential offshore borrow areas the county may investigate, the top two of which include a nearshore berm off the Atlantic Beach coast and Cape Lookout shoals.

Huggett suggested that the nearshore site be a top priority to investigate because of its proximity to the beachfront and the quality of material anticipated to be in the area.

“Closer is always more preferable,” because it is more cost-effective, he said.

The area, referred to as nearshore berm west, contains about 11 million cubic yards of material.

Cape Lookout shoals has a whopping 63 million cubic yards of material, but Huggett warned that the county may be faced with permitting issues to use the site because of environmental concerns. One member of the commission suggested the area may be deemed essential fish habitat.

Moffatt & Nichol will provide a final analysis and summary report to the commission later this year.

Reprinted from the Outer Banks Voice

With the release in February of a three-year study of the shoreline in Currituck County, the only coastal county in North Carolina that has not nourished its beaches is looking at findings that place 158 homes at risk as the beach retreats.

The study by Coastal Protection Engineering was requested by the county commissioners in 2020 and examined the 22.6 miles of shoreline from the Virginia state line to the county line at Duck.

“In total, 158 houses were shown to be impacted over the 30-year horizon throughout the Corolla Section. These houses are all located between the Horse Gate and Wave Arch in the Ocean Lake community,” the report noted. Wave Arch is approximately a half-mile south of the Food Lion shopping center.

For Currituck County Chairman Bob White, the report was a call to action, and he indicated that beach nourishment is a real option.

“We’re going have to do something, is the bottom line. We can’t get to the point where Kitty Hawk did … where we have stuff dropping in the ocean and lose that tax base and people’s investment in Currituck,” he said. “We have to do something now.”

The report explained that that not all homes are in the most urgent need of protection. Using 10-year intervals as a measurement, it concluded that 11 homes will be impacted in the next 10 years, 66 homes will be impacted in the next 20 years and the remainder will be affected in the next 30 years.

Although the study concluded that the retreat in the four-wheel-drive area of Carova was minimal and that beach was accreting in some areas, a cautionary note was included.

“While the number of houses impacted in this section may not be significant, the retreat of the shoreline may create pinch points for traffic transiting north and south through these areas,” it stated.

The study’s authors also cautioned that its projections assume no major storm events, and that a major hurricane would place a substantial number of homes in immediate danger.

“In total, 43 oceanfront homes were determined to be vulnerable from a storm similar in characteristics to Hurricane Isabel,” the study observes.

For Corolla resident Ed Cornet, the study is welcome, if overdue.

“The key is … being happy that they (Currituck County) finally have gotten to this point,” he said. Cornet has been part of a lawsuit filed in 2019, Gerald Costanzo, Corolla Civic Association et al. v. Currituck County. The suit contends that Currituck County used occupancy tax funds that were supposed to be allocated for beach nourishment and shoreline maintenance for expenses typically covered through the general fund. The plaintiffs contend that is contrary to the intent of a 2004 law allowing the county to increase its occupancy tax to 6%.

The case was dismissed in superior court in January 2022 but is currently before the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Oral arguments in the case were held Feb. 13.

Cornet, who has a doctorate in physics, said the study was well done. “It’s a very thorough job,” he said, adding that it confirms what residents can see every day. “We could just say that science backs up our onsite observations.”

White agreed, saying, “You can walk out there and see where the problems are. You don’t have to have that report to tell you.”

The report outlines what the next steps might look like, making three suggestions: Continue to monitor the beach using the three-year study as a baseline, develop a beach management plan, and coordinate with Dare County on a regional sand resource investigation.

The beach management plan in particular is already moving forward.

“We’re getting staff to come back and put together a plan for us going forward so we can sink our teeth into it to figure out a beach management plan,” White said.

Asked about working with Dare County, though, White quickly dismissed the idea.

“The problem there is after they finish up these next couple projects … they’re out of sand,” he said. “For them, they need to come into our reserve areas, and I don’t see us going, ‘sure take the same sand we need to put on our beaches.’”

The management plan suggested by the study would include beach nourishment, but that would be one of a number of components. Nonetheless, White made it clear that nourishment is on the table.

Nourishment is expensive, and White, first noting that occupancy tax revenues will help to offset the costs, added that the municipal tax districts used by other towns to help pay for nourishment is a real possibility, noting that “we definitely have to bring in some local tax district to handle that.”

Cornet, who would be affected by such a Corolla tax district, agreed that combining the occupancy tax with a special tax district would be manageable.

“If they did a couple of miles every year, this (municipal tax districts) would pay for it,” he said.

If the county does decide to move forward with nourishment, the permitting and bidding process is at least a three-year process and more likely to take four to five years, which White acknowledged. He also sees an opportunity for Currituck County and other communities along the state’s shoreline to develop new ways to manage their beaches.

“We hired a lobbying firm. They have several coastal counties they represent getting the state to look at this,” he said. “And the state’s putting together a coastal caucus. I think we have better representation at state level to help us and other coastal communities out. We all share the same problem. Erosion is a real thing and sea level rises as well. We need the state to help out at some point and recognize the impact of tourism on the state and its tax base.”

This story is provided courtesy of the Outer Banks Voice, a digital newspaper covering the Outer Banks. Coastal Review partners with the Voice to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest about our coast.

RODANTHE — A new bridge has bypassed a dangerous and persistent ocean overwash problem on the roadway on the north end of Hatteras Island. Now residents of this tiny village are looking for beach nourishment to protect their homes from washing into the ocean.

The reason that Rodanthe is at risk is the same reason that a shoreline protection project would be very difficult: the unmanageable forces of geology, erosion and sea level rise.

“Look at the shape of the coast from Rodanthe down to Waves and Salvo, a broad convex to the shoreline,” Tim Kana, owner of Columbia, South Carolina-based Coastal Science & Engineering and a professional geologist, explained to Coastal Review. “You’re eroding at Rodanthe and accreting at Waves and Salvo. This crescent moon is just shifting down the coast.”

Averaging 14 feet per year and as much as 20 feet at times in some sections of beach, Rodanthe has one of the highest erosion rates on the East Coast, and in recent years it’s been accelerating. Homes that had many yards of beach out front when purchased are now sitting at the edge of the surf. Last year, three of them collapsed into the sea, and others now must be relocated back from the shoreline to prevent the same fate.

Special Report: Houses on the Edge

Without an infusion of lots of state or federal money, or enormous amounts of local tax revenue, the prospect of a new shoreline protection project for privately owned properties would be impossible.

At a standing-room-only community meeting held by Dare County Jan. 18 in Rodanthe, county manager Bobby Outten told residents that the first step in looking at beach nourishment is getting an update on the erosion rate provided in a 2013 study done by Kana’s firm that estimated a $20 million cost to widen Rodanthe’s beaches.

“We know that’s not going to be enough,” he said.

In a slide presentation, Outten gave an overview of beach nourishment projects in the county, starting with Nags Head in 2011. After the federal government declined to fund a planned project, the county stepped in and paid half the costs out of a special fund it created with 2% of its annual occupancy tax revenue. Since then, the county has continued sharing costs with numerous other town projects in the county, as well as its own in the unincorporated villages of Avon and Buxton.

Today, there is about $6 million available in the fund, he said, and to fund just the prior $20 million estimate for Rodanthe nourishment, the county would need $30 million.

“The question is, ‘how are we going to pay for this?’” he said. “That fund is not going to grow fast enough.”

The tax value generated from the combined 81 or so properties in Rodanthe would also fall woefully short.

Outten added that Dare County and other coastal communities in North Carolina have been asking the state to establish a recurring fund to help pay for nourishment projects.

“I’ll tell you, it’s not just us,” he said. “We’re all working all angles we can.”

In Dare County alone, two other areas — the “canal zone” on N.C. Highway 12 south of the Basnight Bridge and the Isabel Inlet area on N.C. 12 in Buxton — are subject to severe erosion. But those areas are part of a critical public transportation route. Rodanthe’s oceanfront area, on the other hand, is unlikely to be eligible for public funds because, although the beaches are part of Cape Hatteras National Seashore, the affected property is mostly vacation homes that are privately owned.

During the public comment period, Jett Ferebee, who owns a campground in Rodanthe, said that because the National Park Service owns the public beach, the situation is different than the other areas of the county.

“If we lose the entire beach in Rodanthe, I would declare that’s an impairment of the our National Park system,” he said. “Rodanthe, we’re sitting here, an unincorporated village, we really don’t have much representation. We need some federal help.”

Dave Hallac, superintendent of Cape Hatteras National Seashore, said that National Park Service policy does not permit spending public funds to protect private property. Not only are hundreds of parks competing for slim funds, there are numerous park needs and projects on the Outer Banks, including severe erosion on Ocracoke Island, that is threatening the National Seashore and N.C. 12.

Dare County, one of the most popular tourist destinations in the state, is not a poor or underserved county, so it does not qualify for government funds that are intended to help less wealthy populations and communities. That was part of the reason that Rodanthe was largely unsuited for a recent state grant program to buy out at-risk homes, Outten said.

Outten said he is trying to see what the options are, and the first step is finding out what the current erosion rate is and how much cubic yardage of sand would be required to do a nourishment project. The $35,000 update, which would provide a “rough estimate” of the extent of the project, would likely take 90-120 days to complete.

Kana, who said that work had not yet begun, explained that Rodanthe is not only challenging because of the high erosion rate, but also because it doesn’t have much naturally deposited sand available near shore, so it would have to be found farther offshore.

But it’s hard to know what to expect before doing the updated engineering work.

“Rodanthe is more exposed with the curvature of the shoreline right there,” Kana said. “The only way you can address that is with sand-retaining structures.”

But those structures are not permitted on ocean shorelines in North Carolina.

With so much erosion and storm damage happening nationwide, finding enough public money is at best extremely competitive.

“What I heard from that meeting is that new beach nourishment in Dare County is basically dead,” said Rob Young, director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Western Carolina University. “It was a very straightforward presentation.”

Young said he appreciated Outten’s frankness with Rodanthe residents about the situation. “That’s certainly not what they wanted to hear,” Young said.

Young, who attended the meeting, said he was disappointed to not hear a discussion of future buyouts. “What threatens the beach is development,” he said. “It’s not the park service’s job to hold the beach because there’s development there.”

Young said that with enough money, beach nourishment could buy time in Rodanthe to establish a buyout program, he said.

“It’s the best long-term solution,” he said of buyouts.

Town officials announced Tuesday that the planned $7.4 million beach nourishment project expected to begin here this month is delayed until possibly mid-March 2023.

According to the announcement on the town’s website, contractor Weeks Marine had informed the town it would not be able to meet the schedule. The town said officials were working on contract modifications to ensure the work commences next spring.

“Due to equipment issues, minor weather-related delays, and commitment to another time-sensitive job, Weeks Marine has fallen behind the original schedule,” according to the announcement.

Earlier this month, poor weather conditions prompted Weeks Marine to shut down operations, saying its dredges would return to Norfolk for safe harbor. Pumping operations in Duck were expected to begin around Nov. 14 and take about 32 days, once the company’s heavy equipment was transported up the beach from Southern Shores.

Weeks Marine is under contract with Dare County to pump sand onto about 1.6 miles of shoreline in Duck, along with beaches in three other towns: Southern Shores, where the $11.5 million project on 3.8 miles of shoreline is ongoing; Kitty Hawk, where the $9.6 million, 3.97-mile project was completed Oct. 17; and Kill Devil Hills, where the $6.4 million, 2.58-mile project was completed July 22.

Duck officials said the contract modifications would include assurances that any beach or dune losses between now and when the project is completed are properly replaced and that Weeks Marine will be responsible for all costs associated with additional sand and delays.

“This change in schedule, while unfortunate, will have beach nourishment completed before the busier time of year and after the typically heavier part of the winter storm season. We remain confident that the job will be completed according to the new schedule by no later than mid-May,” the town said.

WILMINGTON – Sand and other material from dredging projects funded by marinas, local governments and private property owners will remain forbidden from placement at federally managed disposal sites.

Five years have passed since the Army Corps of Engineers stopped allowing dredged material from nonfederal projects to be placed on the disposal sites it maintains, a policy that will remain effective “for the foreseeable future,” according to Jed Cayton, a public affairs specialist with the Corps’ Wilmington District.

“Federal placement sites will not be available to non-federal projects based on need,” Cayton said in an email responding to questions. “Currently, (the Corps) is unable to dredge several locations within the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway as a direct result of the federal placement sites being full and unable to hold additional dredged material.”

The move, which is nationwide, has had local and state government officials scrambling to find alternative disposal sites, which has largely equated to higher project costs because those sites are farther from the areas where dredging occurs.

Thus is the case at Wrightsville Beach Marina, where an average of about 7,500 cubic yards of sand is dredged every three years to maintain a suitable water depth for boats and yachts.

For years, the marina placed material pumped from the area around the property to privately owned spoil islands whose owners granted easements to the Corps.

“We were able to find an area just outside of the easement we’ve been able to use, which is at incredible financial hardship,” said Wrightsville Beach Marina General Manager Sam Clary.

The marina had to build dikes and a spillway to make the land suitable to hold disposed material, which cost a hefty $100,000.

“In addition to that it’s almost a mile away from us so it costs about 50% more to dredge and pump so far away,” Clary said.

The extra expense falls on the backs of the marina’s customers.

“It’s still in high demand here just because it’s limited space, but it’s coming at a premium and I don’t know how sustainable it is,” Clary said. “We hope that over time that the regulations will be eased. We’re moving beach quality sand. It’s not much. I just think it should be on a case-by-case basis instead of a national mandate.”

Wilmington District officials recently submitted to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality a final report identifying and assessing existing nonfederal dredged material disposal placement sites along the Intracoastal Waterway within the state.

The report wraps up the first of two studies co-funded by the state to determine how many nonfederal disposal sites exist, where those sites are, which of those will accept material, generate a 20-year forecast of how much space will be needed in each of the 13 counties along the waterway, and identify the counties with the greatest need and greatest shortfalls.

DEQ Coastal Infrastructure Grant Coordinator Kevin Hart explained to the state Coastal Resources Commission last month that the Corps had identified 26 nonfederal placement sites in seven of the 13 counties. Those counties include Brunswick, Carteret, New Hanover, Onslow, Pamlico, Pender and Tyrell.

Twelve of the sites are state-owned, 13 are privately owned and one is a federally owned facility.

Of the 26, 20 are restricted-use sites, generally meaning that either the property owners of those areas said they will not accept material from other dredge projects or only beach-compatible sand is allowed.

There are 227 different waterfront facilities along the waterway, Hart said.

Carteret and New Hanover counties account for 62% of those marinas.

The Corps identified four nonfederal disposal sites, including two owned by the State Ports Authority in Carteret County. Three of those are restricted-use sites.

Nine sites have been identified in New Hanover County. Two of those are restricted-use sites.

In all, 206 marinas have agreed to provide to the Corps details on how often they dredge and their anticipated needs over the next 20 years.

“At this time, it is unknown whether the current sites can meet the demand,” Hart said in an email a few weeks after the Coastal Resources Commission’s Sept. 15 meeting.

The state is finalizing a cost-share agreement with the Corps for the second phase of the study, which is to examine the dredging needs of marinas that have more than 10 boat slips. The agreement will have to be signed off by the DEQ Secretary Elizabeth Biser before the Corps initiates the study.

“Approximately 70 to 75 non-active placement sites adjacent to the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway will be identified, which may also be available for placement of dredged material by local communities, marinas, or other waterfront facilities,” Cayton said. “Lastly, the report will outline general environmental requirements or concerns associated with constructing new, or redeveloping existing, dredged material placement sites.”

This phase of the study may take up to a year after a cost-share agreement has been signed, Hart said.

Time may only drive up costs of nonfederal projects forced to truck material to inland disposal sites.

“There’s always a way, it’s just how much money you can afford to spend on it,” Clary said. “You can always put it bucket-to-barge. It may cost a million dollars, we just don’t know. We hope that over time that the regulation will be eased.”

Eight coastal communities have been awarded a total of nearly $20.1 million for beach nourishment, artificial dunes, and other projects to mitigate or remediate coastal storm damage to the ocean beaches and dune systems of the state.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources announced Tuesday the awards from the Coastal Storm Damage Mitigation Fund.

“Coastal communities are facing more severe impacts from storms and flooding that require a greater investment in a resilient coastline,” said Gov. Roy Cooper in a statement. “Working with local governments to invest in smart storm damage repairs will help combat the effects of climate change and ensure that North Carolina’s coast remains a beautiful place to live, work and visit.”

The state budget approved in 2021 allocated $18 million to the Coastal Storm Damage Mitigation Fund. Division of Water Resources added unexpended grant funds that were returned to the state to fund this round of projects.

“Our coastal communities are on the frontlines of climate change and this funding will help provide solutions to protect their environmental resources and support a healthy coastal economy,” DEQ Secretary Elizabeth S. Biser said.

The following project proposals are approved for funding:

• Pine Knoll Shores sand fencing $90,400.
• Topsail Beach dune planting project $109,100.
• Nags Head dune planting $300,000.
• Oak Island beach management plan $965,000.
• North Dare County multi-town beach nourishment $1 million.
• Beach nourishment to Protect N.C. 12, Buxton, Dare County $1.56 million.
• Avon Village beach nourishment, Dare County $5.58 million.
• North Topsail Phase 4 and 5 nourishment $10.5 million.

Local governments are to supply matching funds of a total $38,931,398 for the awarded projects.

Division of Water Resources awarded all eight project applications that were received.   Applications were scored on six criteria, including environmental benefits, social benefits, economic benefits, life of the project, financial resources and project efficiency.

To learn more about the criteria used to select the recipients, visit the fund guidelines.

The Coastal Studies Institute is reviving its monthly Science on the Sound lecture series that had been on hold because of COVID-19 guidelines and precautions.

Dr. Reide Corbett, dean of East Carolina University Integrated Coastal Programs and executive director of the Coastal Studies Institute in Wanchese, is to kick off the revamped series with his presentation, “Beach Nourishment on the OBX:  Addressing the what, why, and potential impacts.”

The presentation is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at the Coastal Studies Institute, ECU Outer Banks Campus, in Wanchese. Each lecture is free of charge, and all are welcome to attend. The program will also be livestreamed and a recorded version is to be available on YouTube.
 
Since the initial Nags Head beach nourishment project in 2011, the Outer Banks community has seen a growing number of projects across the beaches. Corbett’s presentation is to provide background on the use of beach nourishment as a “soft engineering” approach to shoreline erosion and possible ecological impacts to the beach associated with these projects.

Corbett is a coastal oceanographer and geochemist with an overall scientific interest in the geochemical and geomorphic dynamics of coastal and open ocean environments. Much of his research during the last two decades has focused on the delivery of constituents by submarine groundwater discharge and sediment dynamics across the continental margin. Corbett’s research has broadened through the years to include coastal change and geomorphic evolution across telescoping timescales.

Science on the Sound is part of East Carolina University’s Family and Community Programs.

Surf City may get to go it alone on a federal beach nourishment project the town has been trying to secure for more than two decades.

Town officials recently announced that the Army Corps of Engineers is in the process of reevaluating a 50-year project for Surf City after neighboring North Topsail Beach backed out what was originally proposed to be a joint venture among both towns and the Corps.

The Corps is now working on a general reevaluation report, which must be authorized before the Surf City and the Corps can sign a project partnership agreement, obtain easements and ultimately begin construction.

The project is estimated to be complete in 2024, according to a town news release.

Looking back: North Topsail to Join Sand Project Agreement

Surf City Mayor Doug Medlin in a statement thanked Corps officials as well as Senate and congressional representatives for their work and support of the project for the town.

“After a hard-fought battle, we are finally one step closer to seeing our project begin,” Medlin said. “We are also thankful to North Topsail Beach for working along with us as they were seeking deauthorization which allows us to move forward. Since they declined the project, we can now move on with our part.”

North Topsail Beach’s notified the Corps in July 2021 that the town would not meet the deadline to commit to signing a partnership agreement.

Mayor Joann McDermon explained then that North Topsail Beach aldermen had made the decision for a few reasons, including that the estimated cost of the project had more than doubled since its initial proposal.

North Topsail Beach would have to finance more than $26 million, she said.

The hefty price tag would put too much of a pinch on the town as it was also in the process of funding a Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, project along the same stretch of beach last fall.

A joint project would also limit funding needed to replace a fire station and pay for beach nourishment along North Topsail’s remaining 7 miles of beachfront, which is within a federally designated area omitted from receiving federal funding.

Surf City is looking at paying an estimated $24 million over the course of the 50-year project. That estimate may change once the reevaluation is complete.

“We are pleased that we have identified a clear path to move forward together on this project,” Col. Benjamin Bennett, the Corps’ Wilmington District commander, said in a release. “Construction of this beach is one of our top priorities and we look forward to seeing it through to protect lives and property in the area from coastal storms.”

Some 300,000 tires that have broken free from a decades-old artificial reef are scattered along an area of seafloor tapped as the new sand borrow source for Wrightsville Beach.

The tire debris field is not halting plans to pump material from the offshore site next spring onto the town’s ocean shoreline, which is already behind schedule in receiving a sand injection.

“The good news is that now that we know they’re there we can plan and mitigate for them,” said Dave Connolly, Army Corps of Engineers public affairs chief for the Wilmington district. “We’re going to be able to work and plan with the contractor to have more robust plans, which are being developed now for screening, and everything we can to mitigate the fact that we know there’s some potential to have tires out there.”

Whether its shipwrecks or other foreign debris, rocks or fine soil that’s not suitable to be pumped onto a beach, there’s always a risk of running across material along the seabed that dredges need to avoid.

Coming across the occasional scrap tire on the ocean floor is not uncommon, Connolly said, but it is “unusual that there are so many.”

Scrap tire reefs

The tires are suspected to have drifted from Artificial Reef 370, also referred to as Meares Harriss Reef, one of 43 man-made ocean reefs managed by the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries.

Over time, coastal storms have caused the tires to break free from where they were once tethered together, resting on the ocean floor among sunken tugboats, barges and concrete pipes used to create the reef off Wrightsville Beach.

It is unclear just how many scrap tires were placed in the reef.

“The problem is we don’t know the exact number of tires that were deployed,” said Patricia Smith, public information officer for the Division of Marine Fisheries.

Documents that state fisheries officials have on file vary: An estimated 56,500 tires were placed in 1973 and another 318,708 tires were added to the reef between 1973 and 1984. There’s documentation that 167,500 tires were placed at 370 and Artificial Reef 378, which is off the coast of Carolina Beach.

“We really cannot verify any of those numbers,” Smith said. “We can say we believe it exceeds 600,000 statewide.”

State fisheries began taking over artificial reefs off the state’s coast in the early 1970s.

Prior to that, offshore artificial reefs were built by different fishing clubs to produce fish habitat and bolster attractive fishing grounds.

The practice of using scrap vehicle tires to build up ocean artificial reefs began back in the late 1950s or early 1960s, according to the “2020 Guidelines for Marine Artificial Reef Materials,” a publication of the Atlantic and Gulf State Marine Fisheries Commissions.

Using old tires to build artificial reefs was an acceptable low-cost alternative disposal option for millions of stockpiled tires through to the early 1980s. North Carolina stopped using scrap tires to build ocean artificial reefs around that time.

Today, most states have banned the use of scrap tires for artificial reefs.

The emergence of new markets for scrap tires in the early 1990s have provided alternatives for reducing, reusing, recycling old tires.

But millions of tires remain in artificial reefs along the nation’s coasts.

In Mississippi, scrap tires were fastened together with cables and placed in the hulls of ships being deployed as artificial reefs.

An estimated 1 million to 2 million tires were deployed as an artificial reef near Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Off the coast of Virginia Beach, Tower Reef, Virginia’s primary tire reef, was built in the 1970s using 400,000 scrap tires.

From ocean floor to shore

In 1994, tires from that reef began washing up on Corolla’s ocean shoreline after storm events.

About 100,000 tires have been removed from North Carolina beaches since 1989 at a cost of more than $1 million, according to the commission’s 2020 report.

The state does not plan to retrieve tires from the ocean because it’s not cost-effective, Smith said.

In 2001, volunteer divers retrieved 1,600 tires from the reef off the Coast of Fort Lauderdale. The tires were removed and recycled at a cost of $20 per tire.

At that rate, removing all tires from the reef “may run into tens of millions of dollars,” according to the 2020 Guidelines for Marine Artificial Reef Materials.

“We do have a plan in place to get these tires off the beach when they wash up,” Smith said. “Sometimes we go and collect them. Sometimes, if it’s just a few, the town will go and pick it up.”

The state has occasionally used prison labor to pick up tires that have washed ashore on Bogue Banks in Carteret County.

“Those are usually for when there are really large amounts that come ashore,” Smith said.

New Hanover County Shoreline Protection Coordinator Layton Bedsole said he can’t recall officials in the county’s beach towns “being unusually upset about tires on the beach.”

“I know they’re out there,” he said.

New site, new headaches?

The cutter dredge used to pump sand onto the ocean shorelines of Carolina Beach and Kure Beach earlier this year sucked up a handful of tires during operation.

“They had to stop production, get it unclogged, and get it back to work,” Bedsole said. “It slowed down production.”

The Meares Harriss Reef is a little more than 2.5 miles from Masonboro Inlet, an area of which was Wrightsville Beach’s sand borrow source for decades before a legal interpretation forced the Corps to find an offshore site.

Wrightsville Beach had for years been getting beach quality sand from an area of the inlet that lies within Coastal Barrier Resources System Unit L09.

This is an area designated as part of the Coastal Barrier Resources Act, or CBRA, a law Congress passed in 1982 to discourage building on relatively undeveloped, storm-prone barrier islands by cutting off federal funding and financial assistance, including federal flood insurance.

CBRA, pronounced “cobra,” was also established to minimize damage to fish, wildlife and other resources associated with coastal barrier islands.

The interpretation of the law as it pertains to whether sand that is within a CBRA zone may be dredged and pumped onto a beach outside of a CBRA zone has been kicked back-and-forth between federal regulatory agencies for years.

Last year, the Biden administration overturned a 2019 decision by then-Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, who determined that federal funds could be used to pay for dredging sand within CBRA units and for placing that sand on beaches outside of those units for shoreline-stabilization projects.

The new interpretation of the law ultimately pushed Wrightsville Beach’s project off track to get sand this year. Meanwhile Costal Storm Risk Management, or CSRM, projects moved ahead this year at Carolina Beach and Kure Beach because the Corps already had offshore sand borrow sites for those towns.

New Hanover County’s beach towns are some of the Corp’s earliest CSRM projects.

When asked what his biggest concern is about the pending project in Wrightsville Beach, Bedsole said, “That we’re not using the inlet borrow site that we’ve used for 50 years and we’re taking a site that’s documented to have a tire debris field associated with it. We should be using the inlet borrow site.”

Once the Corps develops a plan for the project the agency will publish a public notice to allow for public comment, Connolly said.

It is unclear whether the project’s cost will increase.

“That’s all being determined with the project delivery team,” Connolly said. “Obviously it’s going to be factored in for sure.”

He said the goal is start pumping sand on the beach around March of next year.

Dare County beach nourishment projects are expected to take place this year, with Kill Devil Hills being the first of seven.

Beach nourishment began in the town Monday and the project is expected to take 25-35 days to complete, according to county officials. Last week, the town announced plans to begin on Monday the $6.37 million project to nourish about 2.6 miles of shoreline from the Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills town line to just north of Prospect Avenue.

The Fifth Street Beach Access in Kill Devil Hills will be be closed until further notice during the construction of the southern portion of the project. There will be limited pedestrian access depending on when equipment is being mobilized in the access.

To prevent accidents, injuries, and interruptions, the public is asked to avoid active construction sites, which will be marked and secured with fencing and ribbon, and to be careful near construction fencing and staging areas.

An online project map of the project is to be updated daily during construction.

According to www.MoreBeachToLove.com, a collaboration between Dare County and its municipalities that serves as a guide to beach nourishment projects, future nourishment projects include the following:

• Avon: 2.5 miles of shoreline from 3,000 feet north of Avon Pier at Due East Road to the National Park Service Station/Avon boundary. Estimated start date is late June for the $11.73 million project
• Buxton: 2.9 miles of shoreline from the Haulover Day Use Area to the oceanfront groin at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Estimated start is July for the $18.1 million project.
• Duck: 1.6 miles of shoreline from the Army Corps Pier north to Skimmer Way. Estimated start is mid-September for the $7.4 million project.
• Southern Shores: 3.8 miles of shoreline from the Duck/Southern Shores town line to the Southern Shores/Kitty Hawk town line. Estimated start is early August for the $11.46 million project.
• Kitty Hawk: 3.97 miles of shoreline from the Southern Shores/Kitty Hawk town line to the Kitty Hawk/Kill Devil Hills line at a construction cost of $9,638,244. Estimated start is early July for the $9.64 million project.
• Nags Head: Approximately 4.45 miles of shoreline from 8031 South Oregon Inlet Road, near Milepost 16, to 10435 South Oregon Inlet Road. Estimated start is early August for the $13.95 million project.

Local governments may now apply for state funds to help cover the costs of oceanfront projects designed to reduce damage caused during coastal storms.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality is accepting applications for the state Division of Water Resources’ Coastal Storm Damage Mitigation Fund.

The North Carolina General Assembly allocated $18 million to the fund last year and must be used only to cover costs associated with beach nourishment, artificial dunes and other projects designed to protect ocean beaches and dune systems.

Funds must be matched dollar-for-dollar with nonstate monies.

Proposed projects are to be ranked according to the following:

• Environmental benefits. 
• Social benefits.
• Economic benefits.
• Life of the project.
• Financial resources and project efficiency.

For more details visit the DEQ website.

DEQ is accepting applications through July 8.

Contact Kevin Hart at 919-707-3607, or Kevin.Hart@ncdenr.gov for more information about the application process.

From an Island Free Press report

Dare County officials and representatives from contractors Coastal Science and Engineering and Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co. last week reviewed for the public plans for the beach nourishment projects in Avon and Buxton.

The review took place Thursday during a meeting at the Fessenden Center in Buxton.

The two projects, which have been in the works for years, are expected to begin this summer and each take about 40-60 days to complete.

Officials have said the projects are to protect N.C. 12 from being destroyed by hurricanes and nor’easters, restore erosional hot spots, provide wider recreational beaches and restore sand eroded in Buxton since a 2017 beach nourishment project. The projects would also allow Avon and Buxton to be eligible for future Federal Emergency Management Agency community assistance funds, only granted to engineered beaches.

Dredging here takes place in the summer because of weather and wave heights. The maximum wave height to conduct safe dredging is 5 feet, and the average wave height during summer is typically well below the maximum.

During both projects, sand is to be dredged from two borrow pits about 2 miles offshore and deposited on the beach via five pipelines before being leveled. The process is expected to make the beaches at least 100 feet wide and flat throughout, but the beach profile will likely change as storms and natural weather patterns occur.

Dr. Haiqing Liu Kaczkowski, senior coastal engineer for Coastal Science & Engineering, said the beach nourishment maintenance project in Buxton will add about 1.2 million cubic yards of sand to the northern Buxton beaches.

Officials said the main reason for the project is that nourishment is not a one-time endeavor, and projects have to be conducted every five years or so in order to maintain a wide beach and a safe and protected N.C. 12.

A hopper dredge is to be used to excavate sand from the offshore borrow pit. The primary staging area is planned to be a half-acre site at the end of Old Lighthouse Road in Buxton.

Two dredges are to work in Buxton. The Ellis Island dredge, which is expected to arrive in July, is to immediately begin working in Buxton, and the Liberty Island dredge is expected to arrive in June and pump sand to both Avon and Buxton.

Once the project is complete, the county plans to have a contractor install sand fencing and vegetation sometime after Nov. 15, the end of the sea turtle nesting season.

The Avon Beach Nourishment project is a new endeavor expected to deposit 1 million cubic yards of sand on around 2.2 miles of Avon shoreline, from Due East Road to the southern village limits.

In 2021, the Dare County Board of Commissioners voted to create a new service tax district in Avon to help fund the project.

The Avon project is planned to begin before the Buxton project, with dredging by the Liberty Island expected to start in June, although construction activities may begin as early as May as Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co. mobilizes.

Dunes are to be built up south of the Avon Pier, but not north of the pier where officials said a healthy dune line already exists.

The staging area for the Avon beach nourishment project is to be at off-road vehicle ramp 38, which will likely be closed for the duration of the project due to equipment and safety concerns.

Easements have been requested by Dare County from some homeowners in the project area so that sand may be added to sections of the shoreline beyond the National Park Service boundary.

One of the biggest concerns, primarily for Avon, is beach access during the summertime project.

Dare County Public Information Officer Dorothy Hester said the county would provide regular updates on the project’s progress and current closures via the county’s website, morebeachtolove.com, including a map for Avon and a map for Buxton.

Another concern was how construction would affect wildlife, particularly endangered sea turtles that nest and lay their eggs during summer.

Officials said wildlife monitoring would take place 24 hours a day and nests relocated as needed. If the subcontractor biologists conducting the monitoring work spot American oystercatchers, least terns or other nesting endangered or threatened bird species in the project area, a 1,000-foot closure is to be installed so that the contractor and equipment won’t encroach on the area.

A recording of the meeting is available on Dare County’s YouTube page at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXnzYOaotwQ.

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. 

New Jersey-based Weeks Marine Inc. anticipates beginning in June the about $6.4 million beach nourishment project for Kill Devil Hills.

Town officials said the construction company expects the 2.6-mile beach nourishment project to take 25 to 35 days and wrap up in Mid-July, the town announced Friday.

The project area will be from the northern town line south to Windsong Way, tapering from Windsong Way south about 1,000 feet to Prospect Avenue. The town has a detailed project map that officials say will be updated daily when construction begins.

The estimated start date from the company is tentative and remains subject to change due to a variety of factors, including weather conditions, mechanical equipment issues and other variables, officials said.

Before work begins, the company will stage equipment. Contractors will place the distribution pipeline along the beach and put heavy equipment such as bulldozers, loaders and excavators into place. 

While small sections of the beach will be closed to the public for short periods for safety reasons during construction operations, beachgoers will be able to access the ocean north or south of the project zone.

Pipelines will be placed along the beach parallel to the shoreline outside of the construction area to allow sand to be pumped from the offshore borrow source onto the active construction site. This pipeline will be visible on the beach but sand ramps will be built over the pipeline in order to provide residents and visitors with safe and easy access to the shoreline of the Atlantic Ocean,.

The contractor usually works around the clock until the project is complete, depending on weather conditions.

Updates will be posted on MoreBeachToLove.com and the Town’s website. To sign up for beach nourishment project email updates from the Town of Kill Devil Hills, visit the website. 

NORTH TOPSAIL BEACH – A group of property owners here hoping to salvage a proposed 50-year federal beachfront project North Topsail officials turned down last year because of funding issues wants out of the town’s limits.

But when it boils down to details of how and what it would take for those with properties in the southern section of the town to de-annex from North Topsail Beach and become part of neighboring Surf City, the likelihood of it actually happening doesn’t appear favorable to those pushing to get out.

Emotions ran high at a Friday, March 11, special meeting called by the North Topsail Beach Board of Aldermen on behalf of Rep. Phil Shepard, R-Onslow, who had asked to hold a meeting about the queries he’d been getting from the property owners.

Shepard told the standing-room-only crowd packed in the board’s chambers Friday that he was not taking a side but rather was there to explain the legal process of de-annexation and annexation.

Property owner George Fieser was first up at the podium to explain why he supports the annexation of the “Phase 5” area, a reference to the breakdown of North Topsail Beach’s beachfront for nourishment and dune projects.

Phase 5 is the southernmost 4½ miles of town and is not included in Coastal Barrier Resources System, or CBRS, a federal designation that prohibits government funding such as Federal Emergency Management Agency money for properties within the system.

“We’re just a different community in that phase than other parts of the town,” Fieser said. “We have the opportunity for the next 50 years and we didn’t take that. It’s not just me, but it’s the state of North Carolina that benefits.”

North Topsail’s elected officials last year backed away from a proposed joint project with Surf City and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that would secure routine nourishment of phase 5’s beachfront for 50 years.

After months of meetings, the town board concluded that, while they supported the project, the town simply could not fund its more than $33 million of the project’s cost.

The town still has another $14 million or so to pay off the U.S. Department of Agriculture loan it took out to cover the cost of a beach project in phase 5. The N.C. Local Government Commission would not permit the town to go into further debt.

Aldermen could not legally raise property taxes by the amount it would take to cover the joint project, the projected cost of which had grown exponentially from when it was first placed on the table by the Corps years ago.

North Topsail Beach aldermen last year discussed asking the North Carolina General Assembly to vote to approve the town raising the occupancy tax to generate additional revenue, a proposition that didn’t go far because of the powerful tourism lobby.

“There was not one board member that was against the project,” North Topsail Mayor Joann McDermon said. “It was, when it got down to the money and how it would affect all of the taxpayers town-wide,” not something the town could afford.

According to town officials, pro-annexation supporters are primarily property owners within one particular neighborhood, Village of Stump Sound, an area that consists largely of vacation rental homes along the beach and sound.

Shepard and a representative for North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore explained Friday that 100% of registered voters — meaning those who claim their homes in North Topsail Beach as their primary residence — in Phase 5 would have to vote in favor of annexation into Surf City.

“That’s an onerous thing to get 100 percent of the people,” to vote in favor of annexation, said Village of Stump Sound property owner Reed Abernathy.

And, Surf City’s town board would have to vote to approve annexing the nearly 5-mile stretch of Topsail Island.

If Surf City annexed that town would incur the USDA loan, extending town services to the additional properties, and have to come up with the more than $33 million portion of the joint project.

Surf City Mayor Doug Medlin said in a telephone interview Monday that town officials there would have to examine all potential costs associated with annexing Phase 5, if the property owners can get the land de-annexed.

“We’ll be glad to talk to them if they do de-annex,” he said. “We can’t say anything as far as what we can do until they’re de-annexed.”

That includes going to the Corps to find out whether Phase 5 could be put back into the plans.

The General Assembly is the only governing body that may approve de-annexation.

“That vote can go either way in the General Assembly,” Shepard said. “If you’re de-annexed and North Topsail cuts the water and sewer and everything off, there’s a lot to look at.”

Property owner Burgess Allison expressed his support for annexation and suggested the state has a “huge” interest in seeing to it that the project moves forward.

“The Outer Banks has seen this success first hand,” he said. “Here on Topsail Island, sadly, we are really stuck with old town boundary lines that stand in the way of moving this progress forward. Frankly, I think that the state legislature, especially if the law is you have to get 100 percent of every single voter to sign up for something, the state legislature can see the benefit of the Corps’ project.”

Several people in the audience applauded his comments.

Robert Box said that though he’s not a full-time resident, he as a property owner wants to see the project go forward in North Topsail Beach.

“I’m not thrilled that I’m hearing that our interests don’t count even through we’ve paid 100 percent of our property taxes,” he said. “This is game changing. This will preserve the legacy of the beaches for us. This is home. We will never sell. If we miss this window, it will not come again.”

Some suggested whether the best course of action is to ask Pender County, not Surf City, to annex.

The occupancy tax rate in North Topsail Beach is 6% and the revenues generated are split equally between the town and Onslow County.

The northernmost stretch of Surf City is in Onslow County.

But in Pender County, Surf City collects the full 6%. The town allocates revenues generated through its portion of the 3% for tourism-related activities and the money collected from the county tax goes toward beach nourishment projects, according to the town’s website.

Sandy Cofier, a full-time resident who lives in the Ocean City area of Phase 5 in North Topsail Beach, said she supports the joint federal project, but does not want to be de-annexed.

She urged the audience to think about how long the area might go without town services if Phase 5 were to be de-annexed.

“How long does it take to be annexed?” she asked. “That’s a question everybody should ask. We need to do something to fix the beaches.”

“We are working on that,” McDermon replied.

Phase 5 is currently getting sand injections through a project that entails trucking sand to the island. About 1,000 feet of beachfront will be renourished by April 30, when sand placement activities must halt for sea turtle nesting season.

Sand hauls are to resume for the remainder of Phase 5 in November. The FEMA project includes placing 636,000 cubic yards of sand along more than 12,000 feet of the shoreline.

A public meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. March 24 in Buxton to discuss Hatteras Island beach nourishment projects planned for this year.

Dare County is hosting the public informational meeting at the Fessenden Center to review the two beach nourishment projects, which will be about 2.5 miles of shoreline in Avon and approximately 2.9 miles of shoreline in Buxton. 

The meeting, which is to be livestreamed on Dare County’s YouTube channel, is to include presentations from the engineers and contractors for the project. An opportunity will be provided for attendees to ask questions.  

The Avon project is to be 2.5 miles of shoreline from 3,000 feet north of Avon Pier at Due East Road to the National Park Service Station/Avon Boundary at a construction cost of $11,730,962. The Buxton project is about 2.9 miles of shoreline from the Haulover Day Use Area to the oceanfront groin at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse at a construction cost of $18,106,674, according to Dare County.

Avon work is expected to start in early June and take 40 to 60 days. The Buxton project is estimated to being in July and take the same amount of time.

Those who cannot attend the meeting but would like to submit comments or questions about the projects can send those by email before or during the meeting to DareCountyPR@DareNC.com. 

For those who are unable to attend the meeting in person or tune into the livestream, the video will also be available for viewing on the county’s YouTube channel and on www.MoreBeachToLove.com following the meeting. 

Sand placement is expected to begin Friday at Carolina Beach near the Halmet Street beach access, the Army Corps of Engineers announced Thursday.

This work is part of the coastal storm risk management project that officials said would provide protection from erosion and other effects from coastal storms.

Sand placement in the Carolina Beach portion of the project is anticipated to take four to five weeks to complete but could change due to weather, mechanical issues or other unforeseen complications. Progress can be followed using the Corps’ online sand placement tracker, which shows the section of beach closed for construction.

As of Thursday, the contractor for the beach fill has staged equipment beachside on and around the beach access at Hamlet Street. Multiple trucks are expected to bring large sections of pipe and heavy equipment onto Pleasure Island to the Hamlet Street beach access area.

The contractor is to place pipe from the ocean to the beach adjacent to Sandpiper Street beach access, Corps officials said. The process is to end just north of the Carolina Beach Fishing Pier.

Following this step, the contractor is to move the pipe back to the offshore pipe landing and repeat the process in the southern direction, eventually into the Kure Beach section of the project.

Officials ask the public not to enter construction areas, which will be fenced-in with orange fencing and signs, keep a safe distance from all heavy equipment and from the discharging end of the pipe, and read and follow signs and instructions given by contractor personnel. Only cross over a pipe where the sand has been piled up over pipe to create a safe crossing ramp. Do not stand or sit on the pipe.

The Corps awarded on Jan. 18 the $20 million Coastal Storm Risk Management at Carolina Beach and Kure Beach contract to Texas-based Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co. LLC. The Corps shifted available funds in fall 2021 to Carolina and Kure Beach projects after expected federal funding did not come through.

Related: Scramble On For New Hanover Sand Money

Related: Nourishment funds now secured for 2 New Hanover towns

Reprinted from the Carteret County News-Times

The Carteret County Beach Commission voted unanimously Monday to elect Atlantic Beach Councilman Danny Navey as its chairperson and learned of the resignation of newly appointed member Ronnie Watson of Emerald Isle.

The meeting was in the Emerald Isle town commission board room and online via Zoom. The commission advises the county shore protection office, which plans and oversees beach nourishment and dredging projects, among other things.

The shore protection office manager is Ryan Davenport. This was his first meeting since the county hired him to replace longtime manager Greg Rudolph, who resigned late last year.

Watson, a resort business owner and former mayor of Emerald Isle, was appointed to one of the two Emerald Isle seats on the board in January by county commissioners, although the town had nominated Jim Normile, a former town commissioner, for reappointment. Normile was chairperson of the beach commission when his term expired.

Tuesday, Watson said he didn’t realize when he sent in an application for the beach commission – because he wanted to get involved in public service again – that he would knock out Normile if appointed.

He also said after reflection since his appointment, he’d realized resignation was the best thing to do considering comments he has heard.

“I hope I’m respected in Emerald Isle,” he said “There were 10 people living here when my family moved here. I love Emerald Isle and I love the county.”

But, he said, since his appointment to the commission, he’s heard “some people have some issues with it. I don’t need any controversy. I don’t want any.”

In the end, Watson said, he realized it was “better for the town” to pick its beach commission representatives rather than the county.

“I love the county commissioners,” he concluded. “This isn’t about them. I just thought it (resigning) was the right thing to do.”

He said he’d called Normile but hadn’t heard back from him.

Watson was the third beach commission member to resign in recent weeks. Longtime member Larry Baldwin, who held a county at-large seat, resigned Jan. 7, and Mike Fiorini of Salter Path, appointed by the county commission at the same time as Watson, resigned as well, citing other obligations.

Monday, the beach commission also reelected John Brodman, mayor of Pine Knoll Shores, to remain its vice chairperson and discussed the vacancies. Brodman told the newspaper he did not want to chair the commission.

The Emerald Isle commission, at its January meeting, nominated the town’s mayor, Jason Holland, to fill Fiorini’s Bogue Banks at-large seat.

But beach commission member Jimmy Farrington, who is a county commissioner, said during the meeting Monday he had talked to Darryl Marshall of Salter Path about taking that seat and Marshall had applied.

Farrington said he spoke to him because that seat has traditionally gone to someone from Salter Path.

“He was born and raised there,” Farrington said of Marshall.

If county commissioners make that appointment, the move would leave Holland to possibly fill the now vacant Emerald Isle seat. Tom Rule holds the other Emerald Isle seat.

The commission is made up of two representatives from Emerald Isle, two from Pine Knoll Shores, two from Atlantic Beach, one from Indian Beach, one from Bogue Banks at-large, one from the county at-large, one from the county commission and one from the Carteret County Tourism Development Authority, or TDA.

That TDA seat is also vacant. It had been held by Woody Warren, an Emerald Isle realtor.

The beach commission agreed during the meeting to think about who to nominate to replace Baldwin, who in his resignation letter said, “The last few months have made it apparent that my participation and majority commission votes are of little to no value.”

Tuesday, Baldwin, a soil scientist who had been on the commission for 12 years, said he resigned because of the county commission’s increasing involvement with the panel, such as rejecting the beach commission’s endorsement of Normile for reappointment after Emerald Isle commissioners nominated him. He said he knew the county board had that right, but believed it made his participation a waste of his time.

“To overturn that (Normile) endorsement, well, I just thought ‘why should I stay on this,’” he said.

He hopes the commission, with its many new members, and the new shore protection office manager will get up to speed fast because the beaches are so important to the county’s tax base and economy.

During the meeting, Navey thanked the board for electing him as chair and said he would do his best to lead the panel in a professional manner.

He acknowledged there has been a lot of turnover on the commission, but added, “We’ll have plenty of time to get to know each other.”

This story is provided courtesy of the Carteret County News-Times, a newspaper published in Morehead City. Coastal Review partners with the News-Times to provide our readers with news of the North Carolina coast. 

The Carteret County Beach Commission is expected to elect a new chairman and vice chairman when it meets Monday in Emerald Isle.

The meeting is set for 2 p.m. in the town board room at 7500 Emerald Drive. The meeting agenda was posted Wednesday on the county government website.

Last month, previous Chair Jim Normile of Emerald Isle, a former town commissioner who was also the town’s nominee for reappointment, was passed over by Carteret County commissioners in favor of Emerald Isle businessman Ronnie Watson, whose application for the position arrived via email after the commissioners’ January meeting agenda packet had been released to the public, the Carteret County News-Times reported.

Normille had served on the Beach Commission since 2016 and as chair since February 2021.

County commissioners appointed Watson, Mike Fiorini of Salter Path and Atlantic Beach Councilman Austin Waters to three-year terms on the 11-member Beach Commission, which is responsible for beach nourishment and maintenance using a portion of proceeds from county occupancy tax collections as well as federal, state and other local funding.

The board is composed of two individuals who reside in Atlantic Beach, two from Pine Knoll Shores, two from Emerald Isle, one who resides in Indian Beach, one who resides on Bogue Banks, one who resides anywhere in Carteret County, one county commissioner and a member of the Carteret County Tourism Development Authority, which receives the remaining share of occupancy revenues to use for tourism promotion.

DUCK — Town officials have announced a tentative schedule for its planned $7 million beach nourishment project.

Duck and Dare County contracted with marine construction firm Weeks Marine. The company is to place sand dredged from offshore on the town’s beach in the same area as the town’s first beach nourishment project in 2017. Since that project was completed, multiple coastal storms, including hurricanes Dorian and Florence and several seasonal nor’easters, have contributed to erosion of the town’s oceanfront.

Weeks Marine notified Duck officials that the company plans to begin work in early to mid-August, with completion expected in late August or early September.

The schedule is subject to various factors, including weather conditions and unforeseen delays. Town officials said they will provide updates from the contractors when available and the public can follow all beach nourishment updates on the town’s project update page.

The project is part of an agreement with other Dare County towns and the county and is being paid for with revenues from municipal service districts the town established in 2016, sales tax revenues and county funding. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is reimbursing $2.4 million, or 34% of the total, FEMA’s estimate of the damage caused by Hurricane Dorian. The town also was awarded a $1.45 million grant from the North Carolina Division of Water Resources for the project.

Reprinted from Island Free Press

Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairman Bob Woodard summarized the highlights of 2021 and outlined what’s to come in the year ahead Wednesday during the annual State of the County.

Held virtually for the second year in a row, Woodard provided an overview of the county’s accomplishments over the past year, including the N.C. 12 Task Force, before digging into the upcoming projects that are planned for 2022.

In early 2021, Dare County and National Park Service Superintendent David Hallac established the N.C. 12 Task Force, made up of the North Carolina Department of Transportation, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Southern Environment Law Center, the Coastal Studies Institute, the Army Corps of Engineer, the Division of Marine Fisheries, and others.

“The primary mission of this task force is to complete a long-term plan for N.C. 12 and the highway’s vulnerable locations, meaning hotspots,” said Woodard, noting that there are an estimated eight hotspots along the highway, which are flooded on a regular basis during storms.

This year’s “State of the County” focused on the months ahead, and Woodard touched on the progress of several projects expected to be completed in 2022.

NCDOT is close to completing the “jug-handle” bridge, expected to open in late February or Marc. Woodard said to expect a celebration once an opening date has been announced.

Woodard reported that the Miss Katie Dredge, a new shallow-draft hopper dredge that will be used in the various channels and inlets throughout the county is still under construction in Louisiana but is is scheduled to be delivered on April 1. Miss Katie will be managed by the Oregon Inlet Task Force and will be able to operate up to 12 hours a day, weather permitting.

Funding for the project was approved in 2019 through a public-private partnership with the state. The legislature allocated $15 million from the Shallow Draft Navigation Channel Dredging and Aquatic Weed Fund for the purchase.

“Having easy access to Miss Katie will be extraordinarily helpful, but it’s not going to solve all of our problems when it comes to shoaling,” said Woodard. “We will continue to have to work closely with the US Army Corps of Engineers to ensure that dredging is taking place in the most crucial waterways throughout the county, which is making sure that dredging is being performed as often as possible in Oregon and Hatteras inlets.”

Woodard noted the county’s assistance in an effort to realign the Hatteras Inlet ferry channel is an initiative spearheaded by the Dare County Waterways Commission.

Due to its current alignment, the Corps is only permitted to dredge the southern tip of Hatteras Island using federal funding. State and local dollars must be used to dredge the South Ferry Channel to successfully create a route to the Hatteras gorge, and permission must be obtained before dredging can be performed outside the official dredging window of October through March.

“The fragmentation of this essential waterway, which also serves as a ferry route from Hatteras village to Ocracoke Island, has been a source of considerable frustration,” said Woodard. “The realignment would ultimately classify the entire channel as federally authorized, so that federal funding and federal dredges could be used to dredge the entire channel.”

Woodard stated that the realignment is expected to be finalized in April.

The county recently received a $150,000 Federal Emergency Management Agency flood mitigation assistance grant to update the county’s stormwater master plan.

“This master plan serves as an outline of our stormwater management policies in unincorporated Dare County, and it allows us to evaluate drainage issues, and develop a capital improvement plan to address stormwater issues,” said Woodard. “The grant also provides the funding we need to identify and map the county’s stormwater infrastructure, and to have an engineer develop projects for critical areas throughout the county.”

Dare County also received a $30,000 grant through the Division of Coastal Management’s North Carolina Resilient Coastal Communities Program to perform risk and vulnerability assessments on Hatteras Island, and to identify and rank the projects that are needed.

“The first step in this process was to develop a questionnaire which was sent out in November, and we received over 1,100 responses. The next step is for engineers to rank the risk,” said Woodard. “Once the process is complete, Dare County will have an opportunity to apply for up to $60,000 that would be used to design a project that would help address some of these issues affecting Hatteras Island.”

Several beach nourishment projects are planned for the summer, including a new project in Avon, and a maintenance project in Buxton.

“The Avon and Buxton beach nourishment projects will cost approximately $29.8 million,” said Woodard. “Dare County will contribute approximately $21.6 million from the beach nourishment fund, with additional funding provided by local, state, and federal (sources).”  

The Avon and Buxton beach nourishment projects, which will cover about 2.5 miles of shoreline in northern Avon and 2.9 miles of shoreline in southern Buxton, are scheduled to begin in May.

The full presentation video is available online, and can be viewed on the Dare County Youtube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/darecounty.

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. 

Reprinted from The Outer Banks Voice

At its Monday, Jan. 3, meeting, the Dare County Board of Commissioners took another step forward on beach nourishment projects slated for 2022 by entering into a contract with Weeks Marine of Covington, Louisiana, to pump sand onto the beaches of Duck, Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills.

Last month, the commissioners awarded the contract to Weeks Marine, which will pump around 2.46 million cubic yards of sand on 12.1 miles of beaches in those four municipalities for a total cost of $28.9 million. According to the agreement, the work would be finished on or before Dec. 31 of this year.

Turning to the other Dare County beach nourishment efforts, the commissioners also approved an amendment to the capital project ordinance for the Avon and Buxton project.

That project is to begin May 1, with an end date of Sept. 30, and includes pumping a total of 2.2 cubic yards of sand along the shoreline, with 1 million cubic yards being placed along Avon beaches and 1.2 million cubic yards on Buxton beaches.

Commissioners awarded the bid last month for the 2022 Avon and Buxton beach nourishment project to Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co., which came in with a bid of $25.9 million. Of that amount, the county is to contribute roughly $21.7 million. Other funding is expected to come from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and state grants.

This story is provided courtesy of the Outer Banks Voice, a digital newspaper covering the Outer Banks. Coastal Review is partnering with the Voice to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest about our coast.

Reprinted from the Carteret County News-Times

Carteret County officials announced Dec. 21 they have hired Ryan Davenport of the state Division of Coastal Management as shore protection officer manager.

Davenport was chosen from a pool of more than 20 qualified applicants, according to a news release from the county. He will begin his new role Jan. 18 as manager of the office that plans and oversees beach nourishment and dredging projects as well as responses to state and federal environmental regulations and proposals.

Davenport is replacing Greg Rudolph, who resigned in November after 20 years in the job in order to pursue new opportunities. Doug Huggett, based in Morehead City with Moffatt & Nichol, the county’s beach engineering firm, has served as interim manager of the county shore protection office since Rudolph’s resignation.

“We are proud and excited to have someone of Ryan’s caliber join the county and help lead the Shore Protection Office through the current challenging issues and those that are on the horizon,” said Ed Wheatly, Carteret County Board of Commissioners chairman. “He has an excellent background which is well suited to take on the responsibilities of this position.”

Davenport has more than 20 years of local, state and federal coastal management experience. For the past 14 years, he has been employed by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality as senior environmental specialist of the Division of Coastal Management.

His experience includes work as environmental planner for the Department of Land and Natural Resources for the state of Hawaii and field representative for the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management. His expertise includes leadership, resource regulation, project management, strategic planning and community outreach, according to the release.

“We are excited to welcome Ryan as our Shore Protection Manager and lead the charge in managing the 50-year beach master nourishment plan,” Jim Normile, Carteret County Beach Commission chairperson said in the release. “The recent increase of lodging occupancy tax dollars has nearly replenished funds expended post-hurricane Florence. This will afford Ryan a keen opportunity to begin 2022 in our scientific search for future offshore sand resources to position Bogue Banks beaches and infrastructure for a healthy, sustainable future.”

Davenport, a 1999 graduate of North Carolina State University with a bachelor’s degree in environmental science, said he was excited to take the position.

“Carteret County and the beach commission (which advises the shore protection office) have a long history of successfully planning and managing complex beach nourishment and dredging projects,” he said a statement.  “I am excited to join the team to help move the County Beach Commission forward in its goals and appreciate the opportunity to serve the citizens of Carteret County.”

In his resignation letter to county manager Tommy Burns in November, Rudolph wrote, “While there’s always the next storm, the next shoaling hot spot, or some regulatory/policy issue to contend with, I’ve come to a place in my career where there’s a sense I’ve accomplished all that I can for the county and it’s time to move on and pursue new opportunities and challenges.”

During his 20 years as Carteret County Shore Protection Office manager, Rudolph has been responsible for planning and guiding numerous beach nourishment projects to fruition, placing more than 20 million cubic yards of sand on Bogue Banks beaches at a total federal, state and local cost of nearly $223 million. He now works for Geodynamics, the county’s beach surveying firm.

This story is provided courtesy of the Carteret County News-Times, a newspaper published in Morehead City. Coastal Review partners with the News-Times to provide our readers with news of the North Carolina coast.

Reprinted from Island Free Press

The Dare County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Monday to award a $25.87 million bid to Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co. for the 2022 Avon and Buxton beach nourishment projects.

The county received bids for the project on Nov. 17 from Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co., Manson Construction Co. and Weeks Marine.

Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co. submitted the lowest bid, which was 13.7% less than project estimates from both Federal Emergency Management Agency and Coastal Science & Engineering, the primary contractor and manager of the two upcoming projects.

The estimate from Great Lakes is based on adding 2.2 million cubic yards of sand to the shoreline, which includes 1 million cubic yards of sand for Avon, and 1.2 million cubic yards of sand for Buxton.

The estimate is effectively $4.3 million less than the estimate the county received in the original beach nourishment model for the project, although the cost savings will be distributed among all the stakeholders contributing to the project, which includes Dare County and FEMA.

“FEMA is sharing in the project, so we got to reduce their shares well,” said David Clawson, Dare County finance director, during the meeting. “So when you reduce the FEMA share for the bid, we’re $2.9 million dollars to the good from what we planned on.”

According to a memo from Coastal Science and Engineering, Great Lakes is America’s largest dredging contractor and a major international competitor. Coastal Science and Engineering has worked with Great Lakes, on 10 beach nourishment projects since 1990, which includes 2011 and 2019 projects in Nags Head, and a number of similar projects in South Carolina and North Carolina.

“With extensive experience, two available hopper dredges, and a bid (that is approximately) 11% lower than the second-lowest bid, GLDD (Great Lakes) is clearly the Apparent Low Bidder,” stated Coastal Science and Engineering in the memo.

The memo also included price comparisons of recent beach nourishment projects in similar areas, with the Avon and Buxton’s cost being noticeably less than their coastal counterparts.

“When you look at (the cost) compared to what’s going on in Myrtle Beach and other areas, and the challenges that we have out here, that is very competitive. That’s a significant figure,” said Hatteras Island Commissioner Danny Couch.

After a brief presentation of the figures by Clawson, Couch introduced a motion to award the bid to Great Lakes for the 2022 project, and to authorize the county manager to proceed with the contract. The motion was unanimously approved.

Now that the county has awarded the work, Coastal Science and Engineering will coordinate with the contractor, National Park Service, state and federal resource agencies, and the county to determine an “Order of Work” before construction.

The project is slated to take place from May 1 through Sept. 30, 2022, in order to perform the work during optimal weather conditions.

The Buxton aspect of the project is a beach nourishment maintenance project, which will add about 1.2 million cubic yards of sand to the northern Buxton beaches. The original beach nourishment project, which was completed in February 2018, deposited a total 2.6 million cubic yards of sand on a 2.9-mile stretch of Buxton shoreline.

The Avon beach nourishment project is a new endeavor that will deposit 1 million cubic yards of sand on approximately 2.2 miles of Avon shoreline, from Due East Road to the southern village borer. Earlier in 2021, the commissioners voted to create a new service tax district in Avon to help fund the project.

Once the project begins, it is expected to take about 90 days to be completed, but the timeframe is very dependent on the weather. For example, the Buxton project was delayed by a few months due to a number of storms that impacted the area in 2017.

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. 

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has granted Dare County access to up to 6.6 million cubic yards of sand from the Outer Continental Shelf to restore 11.6 miles of beachfront in Duck, Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills.

Set to begin next year, the project is part of Dare County’s long-term shoreline-management program to sustain and protect beachfront, is designed to protect local infrastructure and property, restore the beaches and prepare for more rapid recovery from storms, BOEM officials announced Friday.

“BOEM is proud to work with Dare County to provide valuable sand resources to improve coastal resilience, protect coastal infrastructure, and provide recreational opportunities for surrounding communities,” BOEM Director Amanda Lefton said in a statement.

Beaches on the Outer Banks help drive the economy in Dare County, where the year-round population of 37,000 swells to 225,000 to 300,000 at times during summer months. Tourism and outdoor recreation account for $1.4 billion in direct spending in Dare County.

More frequent and powerful storms along the U.S. coast coupled with sea level rise have led to greater demand for offshore sand resources that can be used to restore and protect coastal communities and habitats.

BOEM is partnering with coastal communities like Dare County to address serious threats from erosion along the Nation’s coastal beaches, dunes, barrier islands and wetlands, the agency said.

BOEM has sole authority to convey outer continental shelf sand resources for shoreline resilience and beach or wetland restoration projects undertaken by federal, state or local governments.

The final environmental assessment and related documents are available on BOEM’s Marine Minerals Program’s North Carolina project page. 

For more information about the program, visit  http://www.boem.gov/Marine-Minerals-Program/.

Reprinted from OBX Today

Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co. is the low bidder for the 2022 Avon and Buxton beach nourishment projects.

Great Lakes bid $25,870,000 with a start date of May 1, 2022, and an end date of Sept. 30, 2022. The Avon and Buxton beach nourishment project’s estimated cost is $30,211,176.

Dare County received bids for the projects from Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co., Manson Construction and Weeks Marine.

The bids were opened Nov. 17 but the proposals must be evaluated for completeness before a specific bid can be recommended to the Dare County Board of Commissioners, which will then give approval to award the bid.

Great Lakes Dock and Dredge most recently conducted the beach widening projects from Duck to Nags Head four years ago.

Dare County will use occupancy tax and property tax funds to pay for the Avon project, a first for the beach stretching from Due East Road to the Ramp 38 area.

The sand lost from previous beach widening from the Haulover to the old Coast Guard base in Buxton, and South Nags Head from Jennette’s Pier to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore border, was determined to have been caused by recent hurricanes, making the projects eligible for federal and state disaster relief funds.

An announcement about the bids for the South Nags Head project are pending.

Weeks Marine submitted a bid of $27,932,050 for the sand pumping projects that are anticipated to take place next spring and summer off Duck, Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills.

The same company ran into numerous mechanical and weather delays while widening the beaches off Buxton between 2017 and 2018.

A combination of funding for those projects will come from funds set aside for beach nourishment from the county’s occupancy tax on hotel/motel room and vacation property rentals, along with a portion of property taxes assessed in the four towns that have been designated to beach nourishment.

Duck, Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills will have to come up with just under $12 million combined, while the county’s beach nourishment fund contribution will be just over $8.7 million, and there are grants of $11.7 million from FEMA and the state.

Exact dates for next year’s nourishment projects have not been set, so it is still too early to know when workers and equipment will be along a specific section of Outer Banks beach.

More information about beach nourishment on the Outer Banks can be found at MoreBeachToLove.com.

OBX Today is the community website of JAM Media Solutions’ Outer Banks radio stations: Beach 104, 94.5 WCMS, 99.1 The Sound and Classic Rock 92.3. The website is managed by local newsman Sam Walker and journalist Kari Pugh. Coastal Review is partnering with OBX Today to provide our readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest about our coast. 

Reprinted From Carteret County News-Times

Carteret County hired last week an engineer from Moffatt & Nichol Engineers to provide temporary services to the County Shore Protection Office.

The move will keep the office running until a permanent replacement can be found for the office manager, Greg Rudolph, who resigned earlier this month, effective Nov. 12, after nearly 20 years of service.

Jim Normile, chairperson of the County Beach Commission, which advises the shore protection office, said Wednesday the temporary hire is Doug Huggett, a senior environmental permit specialist and project manager with 30-plus years of coastal and water resource experience. Moffat & Nichol has long served as the county’s go-to engineering firm for beach projects. The goal is to start work in January.

“These on-call services include such activities as answering phone and emails, keeping projects moving in a management, regulatory and financial sense, serving as staff to the Beach Commission,” Normile said in an email.

The temporary position is funded with occupancy tax revenues, which have soared for the last 15 months, as was Rudolph’s salary. The tax is 6% on all rental accommodations, half of which goes to the county’s beach nourishment fund. The cost of the temporary position is not to exceed $30,000.

Normile said the county has advertised for a permanent replacement for Rudolph on the county website and it will run at least through Nov. 14. The ad says the salary is dependent upon experience. Rudolph’s salary this year has been $113,275, which, including benefits, totals $154,470, and the county gave him a one-time, $5,000 bonus this year at the request of the beach commission.

Rudolph, 51, is a geologist who graduated from East Carolina University.

Huggett, already based in Morehead City, “has extensive experience in permitting and mitigation under … the (U.S.) Clean Water Act and … the (U.S.) Rivers and Harbors Act and is an expert in both the North Carolina Coastal Area Management Act and the North Carolina Dredge and Fill Law following more than two decades with the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management,” according to his company biography.

Huggett earned his bachelor’s degree in biology at the Florida Institute of Technology and his master’s in biological oceanography from the College of William and Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

Huggett said Friday he and Moffatt & Nichol realize with Rudolph leaving, there “are some huge shoes to fill.”

“I and Moffatt & Nichol are honored that the county asked us to help in the interim, and we will do everything in our power to make sure that the organization continues to operate effectively, he said.

In his email, Normile said the beach commission will work in concert with the county’s human resources office to hire Mr. Rudolph’s permanent replacement.

Rudolph has been responsible for planning and executing all of the county’s beach nourishment and dredging projects during his two-decade tenure. Normile said he hopes the county will split those duties, at least to some degree.

“It remains the spirit and intent of the Beach Commission to budget and hire a future Water Resource & Resiliency Manager” during the next couple of years, Normile said. “This new position will have conjoined beach/shore, some waterway resiliency duties and monitoring coastal policy issues. Interestingly, there are more square miles of water (834) in Carteret County than land (506). The Beach Commission recognizes the importance … of our 834 square miles of water and coastal shores for the future.”

Among his accomplishments, Rudolph has been responsible for planning and guiding numerous nourishment projects, placing more than 20 million cubic yards of sand on Bogue Banks at a total federal, state and local cost of nearly $223 million, plus many dredging projects in area waterways.

He exits with one major project left in the wings: dredging east Taylor’s Creek and using the sand to nourish the public beach and other areas on Radio Island.

This story is provided courtesy of the Carteret County News-Times, a news outlet based in Morehead City. Coastal Review Online partners with the News-Times to provide our readers with news of the North Carolina coast.

Federal funds are back on tap for sand nourishment projects in Carolina Beach and Kure Beach, but back-and-forth interpretations of a law designed to discourage development in storm-prone coastal areas leaves Wrightsville Beach cut out, for now.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently announced it had shifted construction funds to projects for two of the three beach towns in New Hanover County.

The Corps plans to accept bids for a contract for work to begin after the Nov. 16 environmental window opens and be completed by April 30 next year.

Dave Connolly, public affairs chief of the Corps’ Wilmington district, said the projects, referred to as Coastal Storm Risk Management, or CSRM, projects, are expected to pump roughly 853,000 cubic yards of sand onto Kure Beach’s ocean shore and 865,000 cubic yards of sand onto Carolina Beach’s beachfront.

Corps officials decided it was more feasible to reprogram construction funds for those towns because Pleasure Island has an approved offshore sand borrow source, he said.

Wrightsville Beach does not.

Sand injected onto Wrightsville Beach’s ocean shore has, for years, been pumped from a portion of Masonboro Inlet that lies within Coastal Barrier Resources System Unit L09.

This is an area designated as part of the Coastal Barrier Resources Act, or CBRA, a law Congress passed in 1982 to discourage building on relatively undeveloped, storm-prone barrier islands by cutting off federal funding and financial assistance, including federal flood insurance.

CBRA, pronounced “cobra,” was also established to minimize the loss of human life, wasteful spending of federal funding, and damage to fish, wildlife and other resources associated with coastal barriers.

The interpretation of the law as it pertains to whether sand that is within a CBRA zone may be dredged and pumped onto a beach outside of a CBRA zone has gone through a kind of back-and-forth between federal regulatory agencies.

In 1996, Fish and Wildlife officials and the Corps established an agreement that allowed the Corps to dredge and move sand outside of the CBRA unit in a small number of areas, including Masonboro and Carolina Beach inlets, which the Corps dredges to maintain those inlets’ respective navigation channels.

Then, Fish and Wildlife in 2016 released an updated interpretation, one that said the law is intended to keep sand dredged from a CBRA unit within that unit.

The Corps disagreed and continued to maintain the projects in compliance with prior authorizations, agreeing to investigate alternative offshore borrow sources if the projects required additional authorization.

In late 2019, then-Interior Secretary David Bernhardt announced that federal funds could be used to pay for dredging sand within CBRA units and placing that sand on beaches outside of CBRA zones for shoreline stabilization projects.

The Biden Administration in July overturned that decision.

“We are currently in the process of identifying and conducting environmental clearances for offshore borrow sources for Wrightsville Beach,” Connolly said.

He said the process could take up to a year and is subject to the availability of funds.

A Wrightsville Beach nourishment contract “could be awarded next summer,” Connolly said.

Layton Bledsoe, New Hanover County shore protection coordinator, said county officials have made it clear to the Corps that the agency is “as sure as science will allow” that material from an offshore borrow site is comparable to the high quality of sand dredged from Masonboro Inlet.

“I’m confident they will do what’s necessary to make themselves comfortable that the material works,” Bledsoe said. “We can’t put substandard material up on the beaches. We just can’t.”

The CSRM projects in New Hanover County are some of the earliest in the Corps. The projects in Wrightsville Beach and Carolina Beach were first authorized in the mid-1960s. Kure Beach’s project was authorized in 1997.

Officials in all three towns and New Hanover County were rocked when they learned early this year that the 2021 Work Plan for the Army Civil Works program did not include appropriations for their longstanding shoreline maintenance projects.

Bledsoe said the county is prepared to bring its share of the funding to the table.

“The credit for making all this happen is with the delegation and with the delegation staff as well as the Wilmington district Corps of Engineers,” he said.

An Oct. 18 news release from the office of Rep. David Rouzer, R-N.C., explained that it was at the urging of Rouzer and Republican senators Richard Burr and Thom Tillis that the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and the Corps shifted funding for the projects.

“Throughout Congress, Rouzer, Burr, and Tillis spoke directly with all levels of the Army Corps to encourage the funding of this project,” according to the release.

“After urging the Corps to act, I’m pleased unused funds from other projects for the Carolina Beach and Kure Beach renourishment project has been approved,” Rouzer stated in the release. “This is a major win for Carolina and Kure Beaches, and it would be for Wrightsville Beach too if not for a change in how current officials at the Department of Interior are interpreting the Coastal Barrier Resources Act – an interpretation that is preventing sand from being used from Wrightsville Beach’s long-time historical borrowing site. This is not delaying renourishment but making it that much more costly as well. In spite of this new obstacle of nonsense, funding will be achieved. It will just take more time.”

Reprinted from the Carteret County News-Times

EMERALD ISLE — After nearly 20 years working to place sand on beaches and get inlets and creeks dredged, Carteret County Shore Protection Office manager Greg Rudolph has resigned, effective Friday, Nov. 12.

In a letter Thursday to county manager Tommy Burns, Rudolph, 51, said, “While there’s always the next storm, the next shoaling hot spot, or some regulatory/policy issue to contend with, I’ve come to a place in my career where there’s a sense I’ve accomplished all that I can for the county and it’s time to move on and pursue new opportunities and challenges.”

In an interview Monday, he said he couldn’t yet say what he is going to do next.

“You will not see me becoming shore protection manager for any local government in this state or another. The Shore Protection Office was a newborn baby when we started in 2001 and it’s been to college, got the first real job, married, etc., and you come to realize that it will be OK and it’s time to let go.”

When he started as head of the newly created office in 2001, “I’m not sure the beach commission or the county quite knew what exactly a Shore Protection Manager was supposed to do, and to be honest I wasn’t quite sure what a Shore Protection Manager was supposed to do either,” Rudolph said in the letter.

He learned on the job. In two decades, the office has been responsible for planning and guiding numerous beach nourishment projects to fruition, placing more than 20 million cubic yards of sand on Bogue Banks at a total federal, state and local cost of nearly $223 million. Much of the money has come the county’s beach nourishment fund, which receives half of the revenues generated by the 6% occupancy tax on rental accommodations.

Rudolph, a geologist by training at East Carolina University, called the tax a crucial decision.

“I can’t thank the county leadership enough for having the foresight in the late 1990s and early 2000s to develop the occupancy tax legislation that not only designated a portion for the purpose of beach nourishment, but to also codify the beach commission into the law,” he said in the letter. “That was the singular best thing to happen to Bogue Banks from a beach and inlet management perspective and I was incredibly fortunate to serve the beach commission since day one.”

He thanked the County Beach Commission chairpersons, Buck Fugate, Trace Cooper and Jim Normile, along with all beach commission members he’s worked with. The commission serves as the advisory body over the shore protection office.

“Working with them and the Town Managers was one of the best aspects of my tenure here,” he said. “It was good to learn from them and make friends along the way.”

Normile, the current chairperson, said the beach commission has begun the human resources process to locate and hire a new shore protection office manager.

“Rudi has been a blessing to work with and his brilliance will be sorely missed,” he said in an email Monday morning.

Normile also noted Rudolph’s efforts for the county “as a steward of natural resources” and said the manager “served as a subject matter expert” on U.S. Endangered Species Act listings, offshore oil and gas exploration, the National Flood Insurance Program and its rate maps and sea level rise.

Finally, Normile cited Rudolph’s liaison work with the state legislature and with the state’s congressional delegation.

Rudolph said his decision to move on had nothing to do with the county, the government or staff.

“It’s purely a life decision, and at the same time, the County will be well served by getting a set of fresh eyes and perspectives for beach/inlet management and waterway dredging moving forward,” he wrote in the letter.

He said he is committed to doing everything possible to ensure the next manager and the beach commission have continued success. Rudolph said he feels he’s leaving the program in good shape.

“Our beaches are in unquestionably better shape than they were subsequent to the spate of hurricanes that impacted us in the 1990s,” he said in the letter. “We also developed one of the most comprehensive beach survey programs in the entire country, which serves as a foundation for the Bogue Banks Master Plan we finalized not that long ago.”

That plan will serve as the county’s guiding engineering and permit “vehicle” for beach and inlet management over the next 45-plus years.

The office under Rudolph also became an important resource for planning and dredging waterways from Emerald Isle to Down East.

Rudolph exits with one major project left in the wings, dredging East Taylor’s Creek and using the sand to nourish the public beach and other areas on Radio Island. The estimated $1.9 million project is to be paid for with a $1.3 million grant from the N.C. Shallow Draft Navigation Channel Dredging and Aquatic Weed Fund, with a $650,000 U.S. Department of Defense grant to use as the local match for the state grant. The goal is to start work in January.

Rudolph also leaves with what he called in the letter “a very heavy heart.” The county, he said, “has great leadership and an amazing staff. I will miss working with … everyone.”

Rudolph told the News-Times he plans to stay in the area, even if it’s kind of a “home base” with more travel. His family “needs to keep our gills wet and there is absolutely no better place to do that than Carteret County,” he said.

He had a salary this fiscal year of $113,275, which including benefits, totals $154,470, and the county gave him a one-time $5,000 bonus at the request of the beach commission.

This story is provided courtesy of the Carteret County News-Times, a tri-weekly newspaper published in Morehead City. Coastal Review partners with the News-Times to provide our readers with news of the North Carolina coast.

Two major beachfront projects to mitigate erosion and beef up the east end of Ocean Isle Beach’s shore are expected to be underway next month.

Once the environmental window for dredging and beach nourishment activities opens Nov. 16, contractors are set to begin building a terminal groin, a wall-like structure built perpendicular to shore. At the same time, a joint federal project will kick off to beef up the east end of the town’s ocean shoreline.

“We do hope to see activity on the beach the middle of November,” said Ocean Isle Beach Mayor Debbie Smith.

Though the two projects were initiated separately, the timing is such that they will be done together.

Ocean Isle Beach had the necessary federal and state permits by February 2017 to build a 1,050-foot terminal groin, 300 feet of which will be a sheet-pile, shore-anchorage section.

In August that year, the National Audubon Society filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ approval of the project.

A three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed last March a lower court’s decision that the Corps fairly considered the alternatives included in an environmental impact statement examining the project.

About two months prior to that ruling, Congress approved the Fiscal Year 2021 Work Plan for the Army Civil Works program.

That approval included funding for a Coastal Storm Risk Management, or CSRM, project.

Federal funds cover 65% of the project costs, with the town and state matching the remaining 35%.

According to information on the town’s website, Ocean Isle Beach submitted the 35% share of $3,045,000 to the Corps and requested the state reimburse half of that amount.

Last month, the Corps awarded a $6,675,000 contract to Norfolk Dredging Co. to dredge from a borrow area within Shallotte Inlet and place the dredged material at the far-east end of the island.

An estimated 700,000 cubic yards of sand is anticipated to be placed on about 1.5 miles of the easternmost beachfront, according to Dave Connolly, public affairs chief of the Corps’ Wilmington district. Ocean Isle’s ocean shoreline is about 5.5 miles long.

“The work will be completed simultaneously and it is likely the town’s contractor for the groin will start work on the groin and our contractor will start and pump sand behind the groin and fill out the template,” Connolly said in an email response to Coastal Review. “This portion of work behind the groin is a contract option fully funded by the town – we are doing this work for them through an Additional Work Memorandum of Agreement.”

The cost to the town, per that agreement, is an estimated $2.45 million and does not include the cost of constructing the terminal groin, according to information provided on the town’s website.

Of the two bids the town received in September to build the terminal groin, Coastal Design and Construction Inc. of Virginia submitted the lowest at about $11.4 million. Coastal Protection Engineering, the Wilmington firm the town hired to oversee the project, recommended Ocean Isle award the contract to the low bidder contingent upon the town receiving a North Carolina Coastal Area Management Act, or CAMA, major permit modification.

The state has granted the permit modification extending the deadline of the completion of the terminal groin from March 31 to April 30, 2022.

Smith said the request for an extension was made in the event of possible weather-related or equipment-related issues that could push back work on the terminal groin.

“Hopefully with everybody out there it will move quickly,” she said.

A news release earlier this month from the Wilmington District described how, by the end of the project, “the east end of the island will look drastically different and provide added benefits toward recreation, erosion protection and a potential habitat for sea turtles and nesting birds.”

Smith said that opting to have the Corps build up the beach behind the terminal groin cuts down on costs.

“It will save the town money on the terminal groin project because it will save some on the mobilization cost of the dredge,” she said.

Smith said she did not know the specific cost savings, adding, “It’s substantial money.”

The terminal groin is designed to reduce the erosion that has for years eaten away at the east end of the island, where a wall of sandbags 15 feet tall and some 1,500 feet long barricades the ocean from private properties, roads and public utilities.

“Our engineer and modeling reports do say that the terminal groin should extend the life of the (CSRM) project,” Smith said. “How many years we don’t know for sure.”

Dredging for the Coastal Storm Risk Management project is expected to end March 31, 2022.

Reprinted from Carteret County News-Times

EMERALD ISLE — Carteret County’s proposed project to dredge east Taylor’s Creek and use the sand to nourish the public beach and other areas on Radio Island is almost surely a “go.”

Greg Rudolph, manager of the County Shore Protection Office, said Tuesday the county already had a $1.3 million grant from the North Carolina Shallow Draft Navigation Channel Dredging and Aquatic Weed Fund for the estimated $1.95 million project and now has a $650,000 U.S. Department of Defense grant to use as the local match. The DOD approved the grant last week.

The state fund, which gets revenue from boat title fees and the boat fuel tax, pays two-thirds of the cost of such waterway projects.

“We’re super pleased,” Rudolph said. “… It’s a great project for all involved.”

Several years ago, the county began planning a project to dredge and realign east Taylor’s Creek to match the rest of the waterway along the Beaufort waterfront. The idea at the time was to deposit the spoils on the Atlantic Veneer property on Lennoxville Road in Beaufort.

However, Rudolph earlier this year pitched the idea of using the dredged material instead on Radio Island, where erosion increased after Hurricane Florence in 2018. The County Beach Commission that advises his office agreed and also endorsed applying for the DOD grant, which it did in July.

In addition to the public beach on the north side of Radio Island, material will be placed along Marine Road, which the U.S. Navy uses, and where erosion threatens two power poles. That was key to getting the federal grant, as was the fact that the county’s beach access is heavily used by military families.

The next step, Rudolph said Tuesday, is to get the state Division of Coastal Management to amend the permit to switch the deposit site of the dredged material from Atlantic Veneer to the island. He doesn’t anticipate that being a problem, but said it could take some time. In addition, the county needs to go out for bids and approve one before work can begin.

Rudolph said he hopes to kick off the project before the end of the year, but said a January start should be soon enough to enable the dredging to be complete by the April 1 environmental deadline.

The goal is to use a 3.5-mile-long pipeline dredge, instead of a bucket dredge boat and barge, to carry the material from the creek to the island.

“The project would move much faster that way,” Rudolph said.

The spoils are to be spread roughly from Old Town Yacht Club southward, parallel to Marine Road to the land craft utility ramp and bulkhead, around 2,800 linear feet.

Rudolph said the Navy has been trying for some time to put rock along Marine Road to protect it from erosion, and the additional sand would be more room for the rocks.

“(The erosion) is very bad,” he said.

In announcing approval of the grant, the DOD said “the project will carry out shoreline and infrastructure protection measures on Radio Island. The project …will include restoration of a beach and dune system to mitigate erosion problems.”

This story is provided courtesy of the Carteret County News-Times, a news outlet based in Morehead City. Coastal Review partners with the News-Times to provide our readers with news of the North Carolina coast.

Nags Head officials are asking for federal approval to dredge three offshore sites for 975,000 cubic yards of beach-quality sand to place along a 4.5-mile section of oceanfront shoreline.

The town submitted an application to the Army Corps of Engineers Wilmington District seeking Department of the Army authorization for the proposed project. The public notice and related documents were published Sept. 24 on the Corps’ website. Written comments on the proposed work must be summitted by 5 p.m. Oct. 24 to Josh Pelletier, Washington Regulatory Field Office, 2407 West Fifth St., Washington, NC 27889.

The proposed nourishment project is to restore sand losses that have occurred since a summer 2019 nourishment project. The 2019 project involved the deposit of more than 4.6 million cubic yards of sediment on the beachfront. Since then, more than 500,000 cubic yards of material have been lost mainly due to Hurricane Dorian in September 2019, according to documents.

The proposed placement of 750,000 cubic yards of sand in the summer of 2022 is to restore protection to properties and infrastructure, and will help to maintain the recreational and ecological values of the beach, according to documents.

Before the Corps makes a final permit decision, the North Carolina Division of Water Resources will need to issue, deny or waive the state certification required by the Clean Water Act. To comment on the application for the state certification, submit in writing by Nov. 24 to NCDWR Central Office, Rick Trone, 401 and Buffer Permitting Unit, 1617 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1617 or 512 North Salisbury St., Raleigh, NC 27604.

Additionally, the Corps cannot issue a Department of Army permit for the proposed work until the town submits a certification that the proposed work complies with and would be conducted in a manner that is consistent with the approved North Carolina Coastal Zone Management Program.

A three-year study is underway in Holden Beach that could set the tone for how future beach projects may be funded.

The town has signed an agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to launch a coastal storm risk management feasibility study, one that will determine whether it’s in the federal government’s interest to take part in planning coastal storm risk plans for the town for up to 50 years.

An Aug. 27 signing ceremony between the Corps and Holden Beach officially kicked off the study, which is budgeted to cost up to $3 million, according to Emily Winget, a public affairs specialist in the Corps’ Wilmington District.

Funding for the study is being split 50-50.

Winget said in an email responding to questions that $500,000 was initially allocated for the study in the Corps’ Fiscal 2021 Work Plan. More funding has been requested for future budget cycles, she said.

“The Holden Beach, N.C. Coastal Storm Risk Management (CSRM) Project General Reevaluation Study will scope and analyze alternatives for Federal participation in cost shared coastal storm risk management measures over a project life up to 50 years,” Winget wrote in the email. “We will be looking at all possible alternatives that provide a benefit (reduced risk) to Holden Beach.”

Such alternatives will include routine beach nourishment, dune enhancement and repair, as well as public education, resilient town building codes and other “non-structural measures.”

“The study will analyze an array of alternatives (list to be determined), trying to find a project that maximizes benefits as compared to overall cost,” Winget said. “Specifically, the study will be determining if we can identify a project with ‘Federal Interest’ that reduces the risk to coastal storms at Holden Beach.”

The Brunswick County town’s entire 8-mile-long ocean shoreline will be included in the study.

In 2018, Holden Beach commissioners withdrew the town’s permit application to build a terminal groin at the east end of the barrier island, citing that the costs of the proposed hardened erosion mitigation structure outweighed the benefits to the town.

The board’s decision followed several years and more than $600,000 on studies examining various ways to mitigate severe erosion at the Lockwood Folly Inlet.

A coastal engineering firmed hired by the town to explore ways to reduce erosion at the inlet determined Holden Beach’s best alternative was to build a 1,000-foot-long terminal groin, the estimated long-term costs of which exceeded $34 million. Terminal groins are wall-like structures built perpendicular to the shore at inlets to contain sand in areas of high erosion, like that of beaches at inlets.

About a year before commissioners voted to withdraw the terminal groin permit application, the town completed the first phase of its Central Reach project, a multimillion-dollar sand nourishment project that pumped about 1.3 million cubic yards of sand along about a 4-mile stretch of oceanfront in the middle of the barrier island.

In March, North Carolina and the Federal Emergency Management Agency approved allocating nearly $15.5 million to help the town restore sand and vegetation along the Central Reach area damaged by Hurricane Dorian in 2019.

FEMA’s portion of the project cost included about $11.6 million for the project. The state’s share was about $3.8 million.

Those funds include restoring 555,000 cubic yards of sand and stabilizing 80,000 square yards of dune vegetation.

Town officials are currently discussing an east end project, one that would put at least 100,000 cubic yards of sand along that end of the island, according to information on the town’s website.

Holden Beach Town Manager David Hewett did not return calls seeking comment.

Oak Island, which is immediately east of Holden Beach, has submitted to the Corps a letter of intent asking to be considered for a Coastal Storm Risk Management feasibility study, Winget said.

“We have expressed that capability up the line, and will need funding (Federal and the non-Federal match) to be allocated to start that study,” she said.

No other beach towns in the state are scheduled to sign a feasibility cost share agreement with the Corps this year.

North Topsail Beach will not be joining its neighboring island town on a multi-million-dollar beach nourishment project.

North Topsail Mayor Joann McDermon earlier this month sent a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers notifying agency officials that the town would not, for a variety of reasons, be able to meet the deadline to commit to signing a project partnership agreement, or PPA.

The move ends months of discussions about the proposed 50-year, joint coastal storm risk management, or CSRM, project with the Corps and Surf City, one that has been on the table for more than 20 years.

Surf City plans to move forward with its portion of the project, which would nourish all 6 miles of that town’s oceanfront shoreline.

“The town certainly is not breaking away from the project,” Surf City Town Manager Kyle Breuer said.

As the years have passed, estimated costs of the project have drastically increased.

In 2010, the estimated construction cost of the project was $123 million and 50-year beach nourishment more than $227 million. Over the past decade, the project cost has more than doubled to $237 million for construction and $622 million for routine beach nourishment for the next half-century.

Under the PPA, the Corps would pay 65% of the project’s initial construction. The towns and state would split the remaining 35%.

According to the latest estimates provided from the Corps, North Topsail Beach would have to finance more than $26 million, according to McDermon.

She explained in the July 1 letter that entering into an agreement with Surf City and the Corps might jeopardize North Topsail Beach’s plans to fund a Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, project along the same stretch of beach this coming fall.

Funneling funds to the joint project would also limit how much money the town would have to pay for nourishment costs along its remaining 7 miles of beachfront, she wrote.

The town also is looking at the expense of replacing its south fire station.

If the town agreed to the joint project, McDermon wrote, that “could reduce or eliminate NTB’s ability to fund this necessary public safety item.”

The North Topsail Beach Board of Aldermen recently adopted two municipal service districts in the southern area of town in order to be able to take out a short-term loan for that project, which will be reimbursed with FEMA funds.

The property tax rate will remain the same this fiscal year in those districts.

The town board adopted a property tax rate was increase of .05 cents to a total of.46 cents per $100 valuation. The new tax rate went into effect July 1.

The oceanfront that would have been included in the joint project is already a FEMA engineered beach, meaning the shoreline has been designed and nourished to withstand severe erosion in coastal storms.

About six years ago, North Topsail Beach initiated a more than $15 million storm risk mitigation project in what is known as the “phase 5” area of the oceanfront shore.

Phase 5 includes 4 miles of beach at the southern end of North Topsail Beach starting at the town line with Surf City.

“The history provides perspective for the actions of NTB, including the questions of whether, given the substantial investment the town has already made in the CSRM project area, and the robustness and protection of the beach compared to the other non NTB areas of the Project, is the CSRM Project a proper use of NTB taxpayers’ funds,” McDermon wrote. “This is a question that the Board has wrestled with from the beginning recognizing that the CSRM Project is exciting, and the excellent work done by the USACE team.”

Now, a new partnership agreement will have to be worked out between the Corps and Surf City, which is looking at paying an estimated $24 million over the course of the 50-year project.

“We will work towards de-scoping the project to pertain to Surf City only,” Emily Winget, a public affairs specialist with the Corps’ Wilmington district office, said in an email. “The cost to Surf City will remain roughly the same, although some adjustments are likely as we determine the actual scope. Specifics and exact timings are to be determined.”

Bids for the joint project were anticipated to go out in October with sand being moved onto the beach beginning Dec. 1, Breuer said.

“Whether or not that timeline has been impacted we do not know yet,” he said.

Under the project, Surf City’s beach will be nourished every six years for the next 50 years.

The Onslow County Board of Commissioners and the North Topsail Beach Board of Aldermen have scheduled a joint special meeting next week to discuss the town’s desire for money from county occupancy tax coffers to pay for beach nourishment.

The meeting is set for 10 a.m. Tuesday in the commissioners’ chambers at the Onslow County Government Center, 234 NW Corridor Blvd., Jacksonville. No action is to be taken during the meeting.

The session is a follow-up to a discussion earlier this year about the county providing North Topsail Beach financial help with beach nourishment.

According to the county’s public notice, the county and North Topsail Beach boards are meeting to discuss tourism funding and the appropriate use of funds from the county’s room tax and a dune restoration project at the county beach access No. 4 at 484 New River Inlet Road, across from the town park.

North Topsail Beach in March put in place paid parking at all town-controlled parking areas to collect revenue to pay for regular beach maintenance and nourishment. Failure to pay the $5 hourly or $25 daily parking fee can result in a $50 fine.

For decades, Onslow County has provided free public beach accesses in North Topsail Beach and distributed funding from county tourism revenues to offset the town’s costs for providing beach parking. The town’s move to charge for parking led to a dispute over its use of these funds to pay rent for parking areas in which the town was charging for parking.

Adding to the tension between town and county officials, North Topsail Beach had not included in its dune restoration plan the dune area in front of a county beach access. County officials applied to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a separate dune restoration permit for that area, but FEMA responded that the entire North Topsail Beach project was to be covered under a single contract.

Reprinted from the Carteret County News-Times

EMERALD ISLE ­— The Carteret County Beach Commission unanimously agreed Monday to let beach engineering firm Moffatt & Nichol develop a fee estimate and proposed contract for a study to look for additional sand that could be used in future nourishment projects on Bogue Banks.

The board’s action came during a meeting in the Emerald Isle commissioners’ meeting room and on Zoom. The board will likely consider the contract and proposed fees at its next meeting, which most likely will be in August.

Greg Rudolph, manager of the Carteret County Shore Protection Office, proposed the move. It will be what he called an “initial reconnaissance/desktop-level examination” of existing literature about where significant deposits of high quality sand are located close to the island, other than at the long-used dredge disposal “borrow” site in the ocean just off Atlantic Beach.

Once the study has determined where those significant deposits are, it could be followed by an effort to take core samples to verify amounts.

The goal is to find enough sand to supply beach nourishment needs for the 47 remaining years in the county’s 50-year beach nourishment master plan.

There’s not an immediate need for sand to augment the existing site, Rudolph said, but it would be good to identify cost-effective deposits of sand to ensure there will be enough for years to come.

It’s estimated there are 12 million cubic yards or more of sand left on the borrow site, and it grows a bit whenever the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers deposits sand there, so in a sense it’s a renewable resource. However, Rudolph said to the commission, the county has put close to 5 million cubic yards of sand on Bogue Banks beaches in the past three years, and no one knows what future needs will be. Strong hurricanes have increased in number in recent years.

Strong hurricanes, such as Florence in September 2018, can strip hundreds of thousands to millions of cubic yards of sand off the island in a single event, and much of it moves out of the “natural” cycle that returns sand to the beaches on prevailing southwest winds in the summer.

Basically, Rudolph said, “We need a plan B.”

In addition, he said, it takes time to do the research, and to work with state and federal agencies to get permits to “harvest” sand.

For example, it’s known there is a lot of high-quality sand in the ocean south of Cape Lookout, as a result of erosion there over many years. However, in addition to the state, the county would have to work with the National Park Service to be able to use it for beach nourishment.

It’s also believed there is a lot of sand in the ocean near the mouths of rivers, such as the White Oak and possibly the New, both in Onslow County.

Another possible source is nearshore ocean berms at various locations off the island. Again, though, plenty of study and permits would be required to change the profiles of those berms.

“We need to work with Moffatt & Nichol and go through the process … and narrow out … what to target,” said Chris Freeman of Geodynamics, the county’s Newport-based beach monitoring and sand surveying firm.

He added Moffatt & Nichol and the county, after the initial study, could rank potential sand sources to target for field work with core samples.

Rudolph said the county can use accumulated funds in the beach nourishment fund, which receives half the revenue from the county’s occupancy tax, to pay for studies. He added that the nourishment fund is flourishing from record levels of tourism in the county over the past 10 months.

However, he added, “We  will  also look  to  augment  the  funding  pool  with  state  and/or federal   grants   and   other   funding streams. We had some very good preliminary conversations with BOEM (the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management) in this regard already and feel positive about future opportunities.”

Beach commission members Larry Baldwin, Mike Luther and commission chairman Jim Normile said they all think the effort is worthwhile.

“It’s all worth looking at,” Baldwin said of the various sources of potential sand.

This story is provided courtesy of the Carteret County News-Times, a twice-weekly newspaper published in Morehead City. Coastal Review partners with the News-Times to provide our readers with news of the North Carolina coast.

Dare County has asked to dredge 1 million cubic yards of beach quality sediment from two offshore borrow sites to nourish about 2.5 miles of oceanfront shoreline in the village of Avon.

The Army Corps of Engineers, which received the application from the county for the unincorporated village, has asked the public to submit comment on the proposed work by 5 p.m. July 28. Send comments to Josh Pelletier, Washington Regulatory Field Office, 2407 West Fifth St., Washington, N.C. 27889, or 252-251-4605.

The proposed project is to restore the critically eroded oceanfront and to protect N.C. 12 from future flooding and overwash. “It is intended to widen the beach, improve storm protection, and provide an erosion buffer to reduce chronic damage to NC Hwy 12 and federal, state, and county infrastructures,” states the public notice the Corps issued Monday.

The project location is just south of Elwood Court and will extend 2.5 miles south to the village limit in Avon.

Sand would be dredged using a self-contained, ocean-certified hopper dredge or a hydraulic cutterhead pipeline dredge. The sand would be placed via submerged pipeline with direct pumpout. The sand then will be shaped and graded using bulldozers and excavators, according to the Corps.

All plans for the proposed project are on the Corps’ Wilmington district website.

The Army Corps of Engineers is looking for public comment on a proposed beach nourishment project for the Dare County village of Buxton.

The village applied to the Corps’ Wilmington District seeking authorization to dredge 1.2 million cubic yards of beach-quality sand from an offshore disposal site. The sand is to be deposited along a 2.9-mile section of oceanfront shoreline, according to the Corps.

Comments should be submitted to Josh Pelletier, Washington Regulatory Field Office,
2407 West Fifth St., Washington, N.C. 27889, at 910-251-4605 until 5 p.m. July 28.

The proposed project is to restore the critically eroded oceanfront and to protect N.C. 12 from future flooding and overwash. The project is also intended to widen the beach, improve storm protection, and provide an erosion buffer to reduce chronic damage to N.C. 12 and federal, state and county infrastructures, according to the Corps.

The 200-acre borrow areas are in state waters, about 2 miles offshore of Buxton. Beach quality sand would be dredged using a self-contained, ocean-certified hopper dredge and/or a hydraulic cutterhead pipeline dredge. Material will be placed on the beach by submerged pipeline with direct pumpout. The sand then will be shaped and graded with as bulldozers and excavators.

This public notice and all attached plans are also available on the Wilmington
District website.

NORTH TOPSAIL BEACH – A vote is expected Friday on the town’s proposed municipal service districts

The North Topsail Beach Board of Aldermen has scheduled a special meeting from 1-3 p.m. Friday at the North-End Fire Station at 2049 New River Inlet Road.

The districts are proposed for the southernmost end of town and would generate revenue to pay for the town’s beach erosion control and flood and hurricane protection projects.

The two proposed districts include Phase 5 East, composed of properties on the ocean side of Island Drive, and a second district composed of properties on the Intracoastal Waterway side of Island Drive.

The board is also expected to go into closed session for attorney consultation.

Reprinted from The Outer Banks Voice

As part of its 2021-22 fiscal budget, the Dare County Board of Commissioners on Monday unanimously approved the creation two municipal service districts (MSDs) in Avon that will be taxed to help foot the bill of a $12.68 million beach nourishment project that will pump roughly one million cubic yards of sand along 2.5 miles of beach in that community next year.

Property owners in those districts will collectively contribute an estimated $750,000 per year over a five-year period to stave off the encroaching Atlantic Ocean that, in recent years, has led to chronic ocean over wash and flooding during storm events that has threatened oceanside homes and cut off N.C. Highway 12. The remaining funds to pay for the project will come from the county’s beach nourishment coffers.

Service District A will include all properties in Avon east of Highway 12 and south of Due East Road, while Service District B will include all properties in Avon. Property owners in MSD A will pay 20 cents per $100 of assessed value toward sand pumping efforts in addition to a Service District B tax of 5 cents per $100 of assessed value.

County officials have stressed in recent months that the sand pumping project is necessary due to the extensive closures of N.C. 12 during recent storm events that create severe disruptions to the life, health, safety and welfare of the residents of and visitors to Hatteras Island. Meanwhile, the plan has attracted significant attention among residents of Avon, both for and against beach nourishment in the oceanside community.

The county has received hundreds of emails regarding the project and the special tax in recent months. And during a public information session earlier this year, dozens of residents spoke. But at the June 7 public hearing, only two Avon property owners spoke, with both opposing the project.

“I have a very modest cottage on Croaker Court that may parents bought in 1975,” Mary Ann Marsal told commissioners during the public hearing. “The dune is higher than it’s ever been since that time and we don’t get ocean flooding on our road. I think it’s really arbitrary and unfair that we would be put in both districts and consequently be charged five times the amount of tax as those who are in District B.”

Belton Gray, Jr. told commissioners that the county didn’t have the money “to continue throwing at beach nourishment.”

“It would appear that the answer to most of our problems now is beach nourishment,” he said after the commissioners approved the project. “I just would like to pose one question to the Dare County Board of Commissioners. When the sand is gone, and it will be, will you repeal this unjust tax?”

This story is provided courtesy of The Outer Banks Voice, a digital newspaper covering the Outer Banks. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Voice to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest about our coast.

The Dare County Board of Commissioners is set to hold a public hearing on establishing county service districts to help pay for a proposed more than $12 million beach nourishment project in Avon. 

The hearing on the proposed county service districts for beach erosion control and flood and hurricane protection works is at 9 a.m. Monday, June 7, in the Dare County Administration Building.

Public comments may be presented to the board in person during the meeting. Maps and related documents are on the Dare County website. The meeting is to be on the county’s YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/darecounty.

In recent years, N.C. 12 in Avon has often been closed, sometimes for extended periods, because of ocean overwash. Officials said these repeated closures have had, and will continue to have, significant negative effects. The county board had a study performed that determined it is feasible for a beach restoration project to protect N.C. 12 and other infrastructure in Avon.

The proposed project would place sand on about 13,200 feet, or 2.5 miles, of Avon beach. The project will initially widen the beach by around 100 feet, officials said. Up to 1 million cubic yards of sand will be placed on the beach with a maximum average fill density of about 75 cubic yards per foot. The sand is to come from a 200-acre borrow site 1.5 to 2 miles offshore.

The project cost is an estimated at $12.68 million, or about $12.68 per cubic yard of sand. The proposed project is to be paid for with the Dare County Beach Nourishment Fund and revenues generated by the two county service districts.

Service District A will include all properties in Avon east of N.C. 12 and south of Due East Road. Service District B will be all properties in Avon.

For legal reasons, the service district alignment is slightly different than what was discussed during the previous public hearing and in a previous letter, but will result in the same revenue generation and the same net cost to the taxpayer, according to the county.

The project plan calls for bids to be let in the fall or early winter 2021, with construction beginning in late spring or early summer 2022, if bids are within budget and contractor’s proposed construction period is viable.

NORTH TOPSAIL BEACH – Several property owners here at a public hearing Saturday morning spoke out against a proposal that would divvy a portion of the town into districts for special assessments to help pay for a multi-million-dollar, 50-year joint beach project on Topsail Island.

A majority of the nearly 20 property owners who spoke at the hearing said the creation of municipal service districts, or MSDs, will only divide the town.

“Municipal service districts sound great because they’re affecting other people, but in fact they open up a can of worms on all of us,” said property owner Stuart Gillman. “They’ve been used for very, very pernicious purposes. I think that municipal service districts will have us all hang separately. We all need to pay our fair share of taxes.”

Local city and county governments may establish MSDs to charge property owners assessments on top of property taxes as a way to provide more services to those who reside within those districts.

In the case of North Topsail Beach, assessments allowed by creating the proposed districts would help cover the annual estimated cost of $3 million for the next 50 years in a joint project with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Surf City, North Topsail’s island neighbor to the south.

The estimated $672 million project would secure beach nourishment along 10 miles of Topsail Island’s ocean shoreline, including all 6 miles of Surf City’s beach and the first 4 miles of beach at North Topsail Beach’s south end every six years.

Under an agreement, the Corps would pay 65% of the project’s initial construction. The towns and state would pay for the remaining 35%.

North Topsail aldermen for months have been discussing a multipronged approach to bring in more money to the town to help pay for the project.

Earlier this year, the town implemented paid parking at its public beach accesses. Surf City did the same.

North Topsail aldermen have also discussed raising the occupancy tax, a move that would have to be approved by the North Carolina General Assembly, and one town officials are not optimistic about because of the powerful tourism lobby.

The occupancy tax rate in North Topsail Beach is 6% and the revenues generated from that tax are split equally between the town and Onslow County.

Property owner Becky Dickson said Saturday morning that she is adamantly opposed to the proposed project and argued that the town needs to focus its spending on infrastructure improvements.

“Sand’s not a permanent issue,” she said. “We need to get back to taking care of the town and our citizens. I think we need to let go of this project. It’s a failed project. We don’t have the money for what we need to pay for.”

Lisa Kozlowski said the project, while needed, “is entirely out of the town’s financial league.”

The only fair way to address the matter is to divide the entire town into municipal service districts to pay for projects within those districts, she said.

“If you truly believe in this project you would have the whole town pay for this project,” she said.

Town officials are considering dividing properties within the proposed project area, referred to as the Phase 5 area, into two districts – an oceanfront district and a soundside district.

Officials have not discussed proposed tax rates within those districts.

The town’s current property tax rate is 41 cents per $100 of property valuation. The county tax rate is nearly twice that amount at 70.5 cents per $100 valuation.

Property owners and former North Topsail Beach alderman Bob Swantek said property owners should pay equally for the joint project.

“The beach is all of ours,” he said. “It’s not just phase 5, phase 2, phase 3. If you’re going to put an MSD on the island it should be equal. The tax should be equal across the board.”

Kenneth Chestnut, whose father built Ocean City, a mile-long stretch of land within North Topsail Beach believed to be one of the first Black-owned beachfront communities, said he and other Ocean City property owners oppose the town establishing MSDs.

“The MSD creates further division within North Topsail,” Chestnut said. “The oceanfront property owners already pay a premium because the land and the lots are more expensive. Everyone benefits from the beach and the beach nourishment project.”

Six letters from property owners were read into the record after those who attended the public hearing spoke.

Those who submitted their statements in writing included the homeowners’ association of Topsail Reef, a 240-unit oceanfront condominium complex at the north end of town. The association said it supports the town establishing the two proposed MSDs.

After the public meeting closed, Mayor Joann McDermon said that for the town to consider the project it needs a new revenue source.

“The reason we are here with you all today is because of the vocal response by citizens that are in favor of the project to the point that some folks were so in favor of the project that they were requesting annexation from North Topsail Beach if the project did not move forward,” she said.

Though not required, it is “likely” that a decision on whether to establish the districts will be made in June, when aldermen are expected to adopt the town’s 2021-22 budget, according to information on the town’s website. The board could opt to call a special meeting in which its members would then cast their votes.

NORTH TOPSAIL BEACH — The oversized sandbags installed years ago as a temporary measure to protect an eight-building condominium complex from accelerated erosion on the town’s northeastern end can remain in place another five years.

During its meeting held online April 28, the Coastal Resources Commission granted a variance to Topsail Reef Homeowners Association Inc. The association manages and owns the common area property at the Topsail Reef condos built in the early 1980s a quarter mile from New River Inlet.

The oversized sandbags have been in place since 2012 and 2014, when the commission granted variances to the association to use larger-sized sandbags than what is allowed in the rules.

The association was granted a variance to install a larger sandbag structure in 2012 in front of Buildings 1-5. Standard-sized bags were permitted in front of Buildings 6-8. The association made several attempts on a variance to have the sandbag structure in front of Buildings 6-8 match the structure at Buildings 1-5. In November 2014, a variance request was granted to allow the larger sandbag structure for Buildings 6-8 until five years from the initial November 2014 permit, until late 2019.

The Division of Coastal Management received in February 2020 a variance request from the association asking to keep the oversized sandbag structure for five more years.  The cancellation of the March 2020 commission meeting because of the Covid-19 pandemic and requests by petitioner to postpone the hearing delayed the request until the April 2021 meeting.

Christy Goebel, assistant general counsel who represented Division of Coastal Management staff, explained during the meeting that the homeowners association had asked to keep the oversized sandbag structures while the town pursues long-term erosion management.

In September 2019 North Topsail Beach entered into a processing agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps has been working on an environmental impact statement, or EIS, for the town’s proposed shoreline-protection project, which includes construction of a terminal groin.

Officials said it will take up to three years to complete the EIS and permitting process that will allow the town to start work on the terminal groin.

Attorney Brian Edes, who represents the homeowners association, explained that when the buildings were built in 1980-81, they conformed with all setbacks, and other regulations.

“More importantly, however, in 1980-81, that area was accreting at an average of 6.1 feet a year as opposed to erosion, so there was no risky building in a place that has this history of accelerated erosion at that time,” he said, adding that in about 1984 the channel in New River Inlet shifted, causing accelerated erosion that continues.

Division documents show that Topsail Reef is in the ocean erodible and high-hazard flood areas of environmental concerns, or AECs. Ocean erodible AECs are beaches and any other oceanfront lands that are subject to long-term erosion and significant shoreline changes and the high-hazard flood AEC covers lands subject to flooding, high waves and heavy water currents during a major storm, according to the division.

“It’s located within the ocean erodible AEC, the long-term average annual erosion rate currently in effect is 2 feet per year based on our 2020 (erosion rate) maps,” Goebel said.

In 2006, the town hired a firm to develop the New River Inlet Management Plan, completed in 2009.

A Coastal Area Management Act, or CAMA, major permit was issued to the town in 2010 authorizing the first phase of that plan, which consisted of repositioning the New River Inlet ocean bar channel to a more central location, and then depositing the dredge material along the shoreline of the north end, including in front of the Topsail Reef property, Goebel said.

The Topsail Reef association decided on sandbags after learning in December 2011 that the town was planning to relocate the channel.

The division then issued in February 2012 to the association a general permit to install 1,500 feet of temporary sandbag revetment along the ocean shoreline in front of the eight buildings but were limited to the size allowed in commission rules, a 20-foot base width and 6-foot height.

Work was underway on the revetment in spring 2012, starting at Building 8 and working east toward Building 1, the farthest east. In April 2012, about 650 feet of sandbag revetment was installed before a storm struck during astronomical high tides.

The storm generally lowered the sand level under the buildings by about 4.3 feet, Goebel said.

In response, an emergency major permit was issued May 2012 allowing the standard sized sandbags instead of the larger size requested. The commission granted the association a variance in May 2012 to allow the larger temporary sandbags in front of buildings 1-5, where work had yet to be completed on the revetment.

In August 2014, the homeowners association submitted variance requests to install the bigger sandbag structure at buildings 6-8, which up to that time was the standard size. The permit was denied because of its inconsistency with commission rules, Goebel said. In September 2014, the association submitted another variance request, which was granted, for bigger bags in front of buildings 6-8.

In November 2014, the commission granted at an expedited hearing the town’s variance petition for larger bags to be placed just north of Building 1 of the complex, extending north to the inlet for about 14,050 feet, Goebel continued.

In 2015, when the legislature expanded the number of allowed terminal groins from four to six, North Topsail Beach considered applying for a permit to construct a terminal groin on the south shoulder of New River Inlet.

In August 2016, the town and the county issued a request for qualified contractors to develop a long-term management plan for New River Inlet, to include but not be limited to the consideration of a terminal groin.

In June 2017, Dial Cordy and Associates Inc. was selected to work with the town in coming up with an alternative approach, addressing urgent problems with New River Inlet.

“The town through its consultants had determined that a terminal groin would provide supplemental protection at the north end,” Goebel said.

The North Topsail Beach Board of Aldermen want to hear from residents about two proposed municipal service districts on the southernmost end of town related to the town’s beach erosion control and flood and hurricane protection works project.

The public hearing will be at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 15, at the North Fire Station, 2049 New River Inlet Road, North Topsail Beach.

The town has prepared a report with information on the proposed beach nourishment project, proposed municipal service district, a statement regarding the service proposed for municipal service district, and plan for providing the proposed service.

Of the 11 miles of North Topsail Beach’s beachfront, only the southernmost 4 miles are proposed for the municipal service districts, or  MSDs, the initial storm damage mitigation project. According to state law, a city council can define any number of service districts in order to finance, provide or maintain for the districts a number of services, including beach erosion control and flood and hurricane protection works.

There are two proposed districts. One district, Phase 5 East, includes properties on the ocean side of Island Drive. The second district would include properties on the Intracoastal Waterway side of Island Drive. Once the two districts are established, the town will be able to allocate the project costs within the area that will benefit from the Storm Damage Mitigation Project.

The project is to begin at the North Topsail Beach and Surf City limits and extends to the Coastal Barrier Resources area, “which will benefit from the dramatically increased protection provided by the storm damage mitigation project,” according to the report. The 4-mile MSD area will be the only portion of town to benefit from this project, and will be protected for the next 50 years.

The total project is expected to place 12 million square yards at first and build a new protective dune that is 25 feet wide and 14 feet high. The project will widen the beach with a 6-foot high, 300-foot wide berm.

The report is available for public review in the town clerk’s office at town hall, between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday.

Officials said that substantial changes may be made in the report to reflect objections, debate and discussion during the hearing. 

Town officials have determined that the proposed districts need the services provided by the Army Corps of Engineers beach erosion control and flood and hurricane protection works project “to a demonstrably greater extent that the rest of the town,” the report states.

“In order to maintain the aesthetic, environmental, protective, and physical value of the beach, the North Topsail Beach Board of Aldermen has determined that the creation of two municipal service districts for erosion control and flood and hurricane protection would benefit both public and private property owners,” according to the report.

Learn More

• Map of North Topsail Beach Phase 5 for MSDs

OAK ISLAND — The town council, after learning that the selected contractor was running behind schedule after starting two months later than expected on the beach nourishment project underway here, has decided to wait until early next year to set special assessments on property to fund its beach nourishment master plan.

The town council had previously approved a map that set the boundaries for four “benefit zones” for assessments to fund the master plan for beach nourishment. The special meeting held Thursday was to discuss the rates for each of the assessment zones.

Town Manager David Kelly explained during the meeting that Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co. initially said they’d begin work in February. The project is being funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Hurricane Matthew recovery fund. Instead, the company took on a project at Bald Head Island between being awarded the Oak Island project and beginning work here.

The Bald Head Island project took two months longer than planned and Great Lakes didn’t begin work at Oak Island until April 8.

Because of the delay, officials are worried that the work won’t be finished before the environmental window for dredging closes at the end of the month, Kelly said. The project would have to be finished in the fall when the window dictated by sea turtle nesting season reopens.

This sets up a domino effect, possibly pushing back the end of the first FEMA project to the fall when the second should be starting, Kelly said.

The current, or 2020-21, project being paid for by FEMA’s Hurricane Matthew recovery fund is to build a dune designed to withstand the intensity of a storm seen once in a 25-year period, from SE 63rd Street to Middleton Avenue. The second FEMA project will use federal Hurricane Florence recovery funds to build a similar dune on different stretch of beach.

Kelly said the second FEMA project should be going out for bid in June and July, and starting in November.

“But what Great Lakes has done to us if they do not finish, that puts them coming back in November, December, and not completing the project until January,” he said. “What that does is push our second FEMA project back. So, we’d be in the same predicament that we’re sitting here now wondering if they’re going to be able to get the product onto the beach and finish the project.”

Kelly added that Great Lakes put the town in a situation “where we don’t really have too much of a choice on delaying other items because of the hardship they put us in currently. So with all that said, I believe at this time we need to put off the assessments until January, look at the numbers that we obtain over the next six months and then reevaluate the cost.”

The assessment option was chosen to provide the estimated $40 million needed to fund future nourishment efforts anticipated within the master plan, a long-term approach to beach preservation and nourishment. The town said that a goal is to get FEMA recognition as an “engineered beach,” which could potentially provide ongoing funding for storm recovery and help ensure more consistent federal recovery funding, as previously reported.

The council opted for the service districts in what officials described as an effort to be equitable with rates proportional to the amount of direct benefit received, such as a property’s proximity to the oceanfront, according to the town.

Coastal Review made several attempts to reach Great Lakes for comment.

Dare County will receive more than $5.5 million to help restore beaches and stabilize dunes in Buxton that were damaged by 2018’s Hurricane Florence.

Through the state and Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Public Assistance program funds, the county will be reimbursed $5,782,866 for the cost of depositing 303,732 cubic yards of engineered dune beach sand and 5,000 feet of sand fencing along 3 miles of the north and south ends of the Outer Banks beaches in Buxton.

The public assistance program is a cost-sharing program that provides grants for state and local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations to reimburse the cost of debris removal, emergency protective measures and permanent repair work.

FEMA’s share for the project is $4,337,149 and the state’s share is $1,445,716.

FEMA reimburses applicants at least 75% of eligible costs and the remaining 25% is covered by the state. The federal share is paid directly to the state to disburse to agencies, local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations that incurred costs.

For more information on North Carolina’s recovery from Hurricane Florence, visit ncdps.gov/Florence and FEMA.gov/Disaster/4393 or follow on Twitter @NCEmergency and @FEMARegion4.

The Oak Island Town Council is expected Tuesday to consider a map designating special tax districts to fund its beach nourishment master plan.

The meeting is at 6 p.m. in town hall.

The town has set up an online tool to calculate an estimate of what each owner’s property would be assessed.

The town noted in the proposed agenda that the council will only be considering the map to establish the service districts, not the rates that would be applied to those districts. Rates are to be considered during a special meeting at 1 p.m. April 22.

The process to levy assessments involves public notices and hearings and there will be additional opportunities for public input as the process moves forward, according to the town.

The master plan is a long-term approach to beach preservation and nourishment. The town said that a goal is to get recognition by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as an “engineered beach,” which could potentially provide ongoing funding for storm recovery and help ensure more consistent federal recovery funding.

The assessment option was chosen to provide the estimated $40 million needed to fund future nourishment efforts anticipated within the master plan. The council opted for the service districts in what officials described as an effort to be equitable with rates proportional to the amount of direct benefit received, such as a property’s proximity to the oceanfront, according to the town.

An estimated 250,000 cubic yards of sand is eroded yearly. At a cost of $19 per cubic yard, officials estimate that it will cost an additional $4.75 million for every year the project is delayed.

Since 2009, including the current nourishment project, Oak Island has received about 2.4 million cubic yards of sand at a cost to the town of of $10.5 million. Federal, state and county costs totaled more than $21.9 million.

The 2020-21 nourishment project, paid for by FEMA’s Hurricane Matthew recovery fund, provides a dune designed to withstand the intensity of storm seen once in a 25-year period, from SE 63rd Street to Middleton Avenue. The 2021-22 project uses federal Hurricane Florence recovery funds to provide a similar dune from the town’s eastern limit to SE 63rd Street and from Middleton Avenue to the Point.

The initial project of the master plan is to be built after the two FEMA projects. It will restore any dune damage incurred in the interim and provide a beach berm across the entire oceanfront. The berm is “sacrificial” and meant to protect and maintain the dune. The beach berm will probably need to be replaced every six years. This provides the town with an “engineered beach,” which officials expect to make it fully reimbursable by FEMA for losses from federally declared disasters.

Officials have considered financing alternatives including asking for state and federal help, proposed legislation authorizing a prepared meals tax to be used for beach nourishment and paid parking. The town said it continues to seek additional taxing authority to defray the costs, but immediate legislative action is unlikely.

To view the meeting April 6, visit www.OakIslandNC.com/MEETINGS.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is taking public comments until April 14 on North Topsail Beach’s proposed terminal groin project.

During a scoping meeting last week hosted by the Corps’ Wilmington District, Fran Way, a senior coastal engineer with Applied Technology and Management Inc., or ATM, presented an overview of the town’s proposed New River Inlet Management Master Plan.

That plan includes the construction of a little more than 2,000-foot-long terminal groin at the north end of the Onslow County town at New River Inlet.

A terminal groin is a wall-like structure made of rock or other material placed perpendicular to the shore and adjacent to an inlet to control erosion.

North Topsail Beach has for years battled severe inlet erosion, which has forced the demolition and relocation of more than a dozen homes at the north end of Topsail Island within the past couple of decades.

Since 2014 the town received an emergency permit to build a sandbag revetment at the northern end of the town’s 11-mile oceanfront shoreline to protect homes and condominiums.

In all about 3,600 feet of sandbags have been placed along the ocean shore from the inlet south to Topsail Reef condominiums, an area where the erosion rate is as high as 100 feet per year, according to information provided by coastal engineers.

“We want a healthy beach and dune system in this area,” Way said. “These bags have done a really good job so far, but we need a long-term successful management of the area.”

The town in 2009 went through an environmental impact statement, or EIS, process to examine shoreline protection alternatives.

An EIS is a document that examines the positive and negative effects of a proposed project on the environment. Regulatory agencies use these documents, which are created by town-hired firms, as a tool to help determine whether to issue permits and what conditions, such as monitoring, to require in a permit.

The town chose a channel realignment project, one that ultimately “wasn’t as successful as anticipated,” Way said.

“It did not work and the erosion got exacerbated at the north end,” he said.

The latest EIS will include five alternatives, two of which examine construction of terminal groins.

Way said a preferred alternative has not been selected. “We’re still looking at all the other alternatives.”

North Topsail Beach hired Dial Cordy and Associates, a Jacksonville Beach, Florida-based firm with a regional office in Wilmington, to create an EIS for the proposed project.

Mickey Sugg, the Corps’ regulatory chief of the Wilmington Field Office, explained Thursday night that the federal agency is heavily involved in preparing the EIS.

“I will start by saying what is not an EIS document,” he said. “When an EIS is prepared and finalized one thing it is not is a permit decision. When it’s finalized that does not mean that the town or any applicant has permission to move forward with the project.”

Once a draft EIS is released for public review a 45-day public comment period will be opened and a public hearing will be held within that timeframe.

Comments the Corps receives will be included in the final EIS. Once a final EIS is released the town may apply for a permit for the project.

The public gets the opportunity to comment on permit applications.

At the close of the 45-minute meeting, North Topsail Beach Mayor Joann McDermon asked Corps officials to provide to the public a timeline “for us to be tracking towards.”

“The only thing I would stress to everybody is urgency,” she said.

The town has for years been discussing the option of building a terminal groin at its north end, but damage caused by hurricanes in the past couple of years have forced town officials to shift their focus on recovery efforts.

One of the project alternatives includes the construction of a 2,021-foot-long terminal groin consisting of three main sections: an anchor section, upland section and in-water section.

About 310,000 cubic yards of sand would be placed along about 5,100 linear feet of the north end shoreline every four years under this alternative.

These nourishment cycles would be in conjunction with dredging of the outer bar channel realignment/maintenance events the town has been authorized to conduct since May 2011.

About 600,000 cubic yards of material is expected to be dredged from the inlet, leaving 300,000 cubic yards of sand available to placed south of the proposed project area.

The Corps is accepting comments through April 14. Comments may be sent to Jordan Jessop, Wilmington Regulatory Field Office, at Jordan.e.jessop@usace.army.mil.

Reprinted from Carteret County News-Times

CAPE CARTERET — The long awaited Old Ferry Channel/Deer Creek dredging project is nearly complete, Carteret County Shore Protection Office Manager Greg Rudolph said Monday.

“We’re looking really good here,” he said in an email. “Our contractor has completed all the reaches (segments) except for the Old Ferry Channel and Deer Creek South, where we are conducting some cleanup work.”

Cleanup work entails addressing and redredging any high spots the surveys revealed as problematic as the project proceeded. The cleanup is common practice for a dredging project, Rudolph added.

Work began Jan. 14, so it’s taken a little more than two months to do the $1.4 million project.

He praised the contractor for the fast job to get the waters ready for spring boating and fishing season.

“T.D. Eure has been down maybe one or two days, total,” he said, despite several extended periods of bad weather.

The Old Ferry Channel in Bogue Sound runs from Cape Carteret to Emerald Isle and was the only passage for people and vehicles between the two towns until the high-rise bridge was opened in 1971.

Other segments of the dredging project were the main stem of Deer Creek, the connector from Deer Creek to Old Ferry Channel, Deer Creek North Extension, School House Creek and Deer Creek North.

Deer Creek and its tributaries are the main way boaters in Cape Carteret get to the deep water of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway and the ocean, and town residents and visitors have clamored for dredging for years as portions have been badly silted.

The state paid for two-thirds of the work, while the county, Cape Carteret and residents along the creek and its tributaries split the other third.

The dredge spoils are temporarily on privately-owned sites nearby, drying and awaiting sale or permanent disposal.

Meanwhile, Rudolph said Monday work to dredge channels at the North Carolina Port of Morehead City and put the material on the strand at Fort Macon State Park west to The Circle Development District in Atlantic Beach is complete. The state park and Atlantic Beach receive the free sand every third year when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredges the port channels.

The work was done by Weeks Marine of New Jersey at a cost of about $18 million, all paid by the federal government because of the port’s strategic and economic importance.

Under a longstanding agreement with the corps, the town gets the sand free because it is the closest disposal site for the dredged material. It’s piped across Bogue Sound to the beach.

Rudolph said the work was supposed to be done in 2020, but was delayed because of funding constraints.

“It was a big relief to have everything come together this year for the east end of Bogue Banks,” he said.

In the other two years of the three-year port dredging cycle, the material dredged is dumped offshore.

Once the cleanup work is complete in Deer Creek and Old Ferry Channel, that will leave one major, ongoing dredging and beach nourishment project, encompassing most of the strand in Emerald Isle, with material furnished from a borrow site in the ocean off Atlantic Beach.

This story is provided courtesy of the Carteret County News-Times, a news outlet based in Morehead City. Coastal Review Online partners with the News-Times to provide our readers with news of the North Carolina coast.

The appropriation for North Carolina’s parks and clean water trust funds would jump to levels not seen in a decade and a surge of money for flood mitigation projects are key features of Gov. Roy Cooper’s biennial budget proposal.

Cooper and State Budget Director Charles Perusse announced Wednesday the details of the $27.3 billion plan for 2021-22 and $28.7 billion plan for 2022-23.

It reflects a growing, albeit temporary, state budget surplus, in part to collections running higher than expectations and in part due to changes from last year’s tax schedule that pushed a substantial amount of revenues into the new fiscal year.

Although some previous federal aid is in the mix, Cooper’s budget does not include recently approved federal funding from the American Rescue Plan, which he said Wednesday would come later in a separate proposal.

The budget plan includes a pay raise for teachers and principals averaging 10%, a roughly 7.5% raise and bonuses for all school personnel and a 5% raise for state employees. State retirees would receive a 2% bonus each year and a recurring 2% cost-of-living adjustment.

With much of the available surplus deemed nonrecurring or one-time money, this year, budget writers in both the administration and the legislature are tasked with finding ways to spend it without creating ongoing expenses.

Cooper has proposed an extensive series of projects along with a $4.7 billion bond proposal to build out and fix state infrastructure. The bond proposal, which includes money for K-12, university and community college construction and repair; water and sewer infrastructure; and parks, museums and aquariums, would go to the voters in November.

Parks, Clean Water Funds

Cooper wants to see an additional $220 million flow into the state’s two main conservation funds over the next biennium.

The state’s Land and Water Trust Fund, which incorporates the Clean Water Management Trust Fund and other related state trust funds, would receive $49 million in each year of the governor’s budget with $30 million going toward clean water grants and $19 million each year targeted “to increase water storage capacity and decrease future flood risk for communities impacted by recent disasters.”

The trust fund hasn’t been funded at those levels since 2009. The state’s Parks and Recreation Trust Fund would receive $75 million each year to support state and local parks and beach access. State parks would also get $10 million to upgrade paved and unpaved trails, which have been heavily used during the pandemic.

State Department of Natural and Cultural Resources spokesperson Michele Walker said the funds will help with needed clean water and parks projects and expand the heavily used state parks trails system.

“We believe these investments will improve public health, stimulate economic growth, advance diversity, equity and inclusion, and build resiliency in our communities,” Walker said Thursday.

The governor’s budget also includes $56 million for additional flood-mitigation projects, including more focused buyouts.

With some bills to fund flooding projects already introduced this year in the legislature, resilience and flood mitigation, particularly in eastern North Carolina, are early areas of consensus between the governor and the legislature in the budget process.

House and Senate budget committees are expected to delve deeper into plans for a comprehensive flood mitigation program as the budget works its way through both chambers.

Walker said the Land and Water Fund, or LWF, and Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, or PARTF, would work together on some of the projects being considered.

“The proposed floodplain buyout program would allow LWF to acquire and restore high-priority floodplains to increase water storage capacity and decrease future flood risk for communities impacted by these recent disasters. PARTF funds could be used to convert these reclaimed floodplains into active recreational assets, such as parks or trails,” she said.

Office of State Budget and Management spokesperson Marcia Evans said the two funds haven’t been at that level since 2011. She said the rationale for the increases are that parks and clean water projects are cost-effective and have an impact throughout the state.

“Use of parks and trails has risen dramatically since the start of the pandemic and we want to continue to support and encourage safe, outdoor recreation,” she said. “But the benefits go beyond recreational uses because land purchases and improvements can also improve resiliency. A portion of the funds are set aside for floodplain buyouts—moving people and businesses out of the floodplain—and stream restoration. This reduces flooding and loss during natural disasters.”

The governor’s plan also provides more than $79 million over the next two years for navigation, water management, flood mitigation and beach nourishment matching money for more than $220 million in federal funds.

Other clean water initiatives in Cooper’s plan include an additional $9 million to buyout hog farms still remaining in the the 100-year floodplain.

The state’s Department of Environmental Quality would receive additional funding to deal with permitting backlogs and implement a streamlined permitting system as well as money for new clean energy programs for schools and communities.

Cooper also wants to hire 26 new chemists, engineers and hydrogeologists to deal with emerging compounds and provide clean drinking water to communities affected by them.

New positions in the Division of Coastal Management budget includes a coastal resilience coordinator to assist local resiliency planning and a “Southern Sites” manager to manage the new Bird Island Coastal Reserve, the state’s southernmost barrier island.

Cassie Gavin, director of government affairs with the North Carolina Sierra Club, said the budget includes several notable initiatives like the hog farm buyout funds as well as $24 million in local clean energy grants.

“We’re excited to see that the Governor’s budget shows a strong commitment to conservation, clean energy and resilience,” Gavin said Thursday in an email.

Road ahead

The governor’s traditional first volley in the budget process comes after two years of often bitter, partisan battles over spending that left the state without a formal, two-year budget agreement since the last one was adopted in 2018.

Since 2019, state government has been funded through a series of supplemental funding bills and an automatic budget backstop that keeps funding at prior levels.

While Cooper and legislative leadership are sure to clash over the budget, the surge of money could make reaching an agreement easier.

Cooper and Perusse said they do not expect the same kind of standoff over this year’s plan.

“Unlike, the last budget cycle we had, I’ve had numerous conversations with both Republican and Democratic leadership,” Cooper said. “And one thing we agreed on is that, first the people of North Carolina elected us again. So, we’re back in the same situation that we were, and we owe it to them to do the best that we can to find a path forward.”

Coastal provisions

Other coastal-related items in the budget include the following:

• $9.9 million for the University of North Carolina Wilmington Coastal Marine Studies for building renovations.
• $500,000 each year for resources to excavate and conserve artifacts from the 1718 shipwreck of the Queen Anne’s Revenge.
• A new sea turtle assistance and rehabilitation center position at the Roanoke Island.
• Additional parks staffing for Hammocks Beach and Jockey’s Ridge state parks.
• A $7 million boost each year to the North Carolina Department of Transportation Ferry Division to enable more timely maintenance and $4.5 million over two years for shoreside infrastructure preservation and improvements.

Reprinted from Outer Banks Voice

Dare County commissioners in a unanimous vote Monday authorized county staff to begin the statutory process of establishing a municipal service district in the Hatteras community of Avon to help cover the cost of a $11 million beach nourishment project that will pump roughly 1 million cubic yards of sand along 2.5 miles of beach.

Property owners in the service district are expected to collectively contribute an estimated $750,000 per year over a five-year period through a special tax in an effort to stave off an encroaching Atlantic Ocean that has, during recent storms, flooded N.C. 12 and threatened homes.

“We’re at a point where we’re going to do this (and) we’ve got to start a process to create a tax service district — and there’s a statutory process for that,” County Manager Robert Outten told the commissioners Monday prior to the vote.

The action signals the board’s desire to move forward with the 2022 project, roughly half of which would be funded through the Dare County Beach Nourishment Fund, with the other half funded by property owners in the community.

Oceanside property owners from Due East Road to the community’s southern border will foot the largest contribution that comes from taxes, paying an anticipated 25 cent tax per $100 in addition to their annual property bill. Westside property owners in the project area will be asked to pay 5 cents per $100 for the sand pumping.

Several steps are required to establish the district, Outten explained, including sending notices and maps to property owners as well as holding a public hearing. Those steps take about 60 days. Commissioners will then need to come back to finalize the district and set a tax rate during the budget process in late May or early June.

The proposed beach nourishment plan has attracted significant attention among Avon residents. The county received hundreds of emails regarding the project and the special tax. During a public information session last month, dozens of residents spoke both for and against the project.

During the public comment period of the Monday meeting, several residents spoke prior to the vote, offering different views on the subject. One resident said that the proposed district was drawn up “in an unfair and arbitrary way” and would represent a 45% increase in her annual taxes.

Another resident praised the commissioners, noting that, “Obviously saving the beach is essential to the entire community, and we are willing to pay our fair share … No one wants their taxes raised, but some things are worth paying for, at least until there’s a more permanent solution.”

This story is provided courtesy of the Outer Banks Voice, a digital newspaper covering the Outer Banks. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Voice to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest about our coast.

Southern Shores officials want to hear from residents next week on a plan to pay for a new beach nourishment project.

The public hearing at 5:30 p.m. March 16 is on proposed municipal service districts for a beach erosion control and flood and hurricane protection works project scheduled for 2022.

The meeting will be in the town council meeting room at the Kern Pitts Center at 5377 N. Virginia Dare Trail in Southern Shores as well as streamed online.

The town released a report with information on both the proposed beach nourishment project and municipal service districts. The report includes  maps of the proposed districts, an explanation of the proposed service in the municipal service districts, and a plan for providing the proposed service.

A copy of the report is available for viewing in the town clerk’s office at the town’s administration building, 5375 N. Virginia Dare Trail, Southern Shores, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday or at www.southernshores-nc.gov.

The feedback from the hearing could lead to substantial changes to the report to reflect objections, debate and discussion at the March 16 hearing.

The town is working to implement a long-term shoreline management program aimed that will provide and maintain a reasonable level of storm damage reduction, mitigate long-term erosion, and maintain a healthy beach that and supports valuable shorebird and sea turtle nesting habitat, according to the report.

Southern Shores authorized Coastal Protection Engineering of North Carolina Inc. in July 2020 to design a beach nourishment project that will include the dredging from a federal site offshore, and placement of sand along the entire ocean beach of 3.7 miles. The proposed project design calls for 30 cubic yards per foot of compatible sand, or a total volume of 591,000 cubic yards, plus additional sand to construct a berm. The total volume to construct the project is estimated to be 878,300 cubic yards at a cost of between $14-$16 million.

The two municipal service districts would allow for an additional levy of property tax rates with a higher rate for those in districts receiving beach nourishment protection services to a greater extent than the rest of the town, according to the report.

District 1 would include all properties east of N.C. 12 beginning at the southern town limit extending to Ocean Boulevard/N.C. 12, all properties east of Ocean Boulevard from the split at N.C. 12 extending to Hickory Trail, and all properties north of Hickory Trail that abut the Atlantic Ocean extending to the northern town limit.

District 2 would include all properties in District 1, plus all properties east of Ocean Boulevard/N.C. 12 and Duck Road/N.C. 12, beginning at the southern town limit extending north to the northern town line, and, all properties west of and abutting Ocean Boulevard /N.C. 12. beginning at the southern town limit extending north to 137 Ocean Blvd., and abutting Duck Road/N.C. 12 beginning at 139 Duck Road extending north to 149 Duck Road.

The public can attend in person, seats will be arranged to comply with social distancing guidelines, or viewed via Zoom. Those interested in attending via Zoom will need to register in advance at https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcoduGqqTksG9FO-toke6-JRDWakH7fMpnu. A confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting will be sent after registering.

The meeting will also be live streamed on https://www.youtube.com/user/TownofSouthernShores, but public comment is not available using this platform.

To provide email comments, write in the the subject line MSD and send to info@southernshores-nc.gov. Council will receive copies of all emailed comments.

From an Island Free Press Report

Dare County Manager Bobby Outten said Wednesday during a virtual public hearing that residents could pay less in taxes than originally thought to fund the Avon Beach Nourishment project if approved.

The proposed project to place more than 1 million cubic yards of sand along the beaches of Avon, likely from an offshore borrow pit, will extend the shoreline from about 3,000 feet north of the Avon Pier at Due East Road to the southern boundary of Avon, covering around 2.5 miles of oceanfront.

Outten said the study completed in 2020 recommended the project that would cost $11-14 million and would create a beach that is 100-125 feet wide. By the next time maintenance is due, in about five years, it will be about 75 feet wide.  If approved, the project would begin in the spring of 2022, and will take about 90 days to complete.

Avon property owners will pay about 50% of the beach nourishment project cost, and Dare County will pay the other 50% out of the Beach Nourishment Fund, from the county’s occupancy tax, according to the project proposal.

During the meeting, Outten said that the original estimated tax rate would be able to be lowered.

“We got the final tally of the occupancy tax from last year, and on Friday, we ran the (proposed Avon tax) model again,” he said. “As we ran the model, we had more money in the fund than we did initially, and found that we only need $750,000 per year to pay the community’s share of the project. The 40 cent tax rate can be reduced to 25, and the 10 cent tax rate can be reduced to 5 cents.”

The county proposes to tax the properties on the oceanside of N.C. 12 from Due East Road to the southern boundary of Avon at a higher rate because this stretch of shoreline is adjacent to the proposed beach nourishment project. The rest of the properties in Avon will also be taxed, but at a lower rate.

Outten said the tax will be in place indefinitely, as beach nourishment is not a one-time project, and maintenance and re-nourishment must be performed approximately every five years.

Outten added that the issue will be discussed at a March Board of Commissioners meeting, likely the second meeting in the month.

The board will decide whether to proceed with the project, and will decide the final tax rate. If they decide to proceed, another public hearing will be held, as required by statue, and another letter will be mailed to Avon property owners with the new tax model.

The majority of public comments following the presentation were questions, although there were also several positive and negative statements regarding the overall proposal.

For more information on the proposed project, see the Avon Beach Nourishment FAQs or visit the Dare County website.

More than a month has passed since New Hanover County’s beach towns were shocked to learn their longstanding shoreline maintenance projects did not receive federal funding, leaving them in a scramble to figure out how they may move forward with nourishing the beaches this fall.

“We are still trying to find out what happened and we’re working toward a remedy,” said Tim Buckland, New Hanover County intergovernmental affairs manager.

County and town officials have been elated at the news that beach nourishment projects in Carolina Beach, Kure Beach and Wrightsville Beach were authorized under the Water Resources Development Act, or WRDA, which was included in a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending package former President Donald Trump signed into law Dec. 27, 2020.

After projects receive federal authorization, federal appropriations for the projects still have to be approved.

The omnibus spending bill included the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, which doled out more than $53 million for operations and maintenance projects within the Corps’ Wilmington District.

The Corps delivered its fiscal 2021 Work Plan for the Army Civil Works program to Congress on Jan. 19. That plan does not include appropriations for New Hanover County’s beach nourishment projects.

“It was quite a surprise when the work plan was released,” Buckland said. “We went from elation to disappointment.”

Officials were anticipating another round of federal funding and, when they didn’t get it, they were caught off guard, New Hanover County’s Shoreline Protection Manager Layton Bledsoe said.

“This is maintenance money that we’ve been getting for years,” he said. “Historically, the nonfederal has been cost-shared by the state 50/50. In this maintenance event, the federal contribution would have been 65% for Kure Beach, 65% for Wrightsville Beach and 50% for Carolina Beach.”

The projects were first authorized in Wrightsville and Carolina Beaches in the mid-1960s, according to information provided by the Corps. Kure Beach’s project was authorized in 1997.

“These are some of the earliest (Coastal Storm Risk Management) projects in the Corps,” Emily Winget, a public affairs specialist with the Corps’ Wilmington District, said in an email.

For Carolina Beach and Kure Beach, these maintenance projects occur every three years. Wrightsville Beach’s project is completed every four years.

Every 12 years the maintenance cycles align. This is the year all three projects were set to take place at the same time.

The plan is to inject between 700,000 to 750,000 cubic yards of sand onto about 8 miles of Carolina Beach’s ocean shoreline. That same amount of sand will be spread across just under 3 miles on Wrightsville Beach’s shore.

Kure Beach is set to get about 500,000 cubic yards on nearly 4 miles of its beachfront.

Federally authorized beach maintenance projects are highly sought after by beach towns up and down the North Carolina coast as a way to fortify shorelines to protect infrastructure in coastal storms, be they hurricanes or powerful winter nor’easters.

“I think the projects speak for themselves,” Bledsoe said. “I don’t recall in the past several years any structural damage from ocean or wave overwash in the projects’ templates.”

“Simply put, they work,” Buckland said.

Local officials are hoping to kick off the projects this year after the Nov. 16 environmental window opens, but the work may be pushed back a year if federal funding is not made available.

“The board (of county commissioners) and the (county) manager and the municipalities will be sitting down soon, I understand, and a firmed-up direction will be put forth,” Bledsoe said.

In the meantime, Corps officials are looking into possible funding options.

“The Corps is evaluating funding alternatives for Wrightsville, Carolina Beach and Area South (Kure Beach) renourishments and is working with the sponsors to be transparent as we move forward,” Winget said.

The push to allocate federal funding for the projects is backed by Republicans Rep. David Rouzer and Sen. Thom Tillis.

“The projects in question were reauthorized for funding by this past Congress,” Rouzer said in an emailed statement. “However, when Congress banned earmarks years ago, all specific funding decisions were removed from the Legislative branch and given to the Executive branch. Therefore, the Army Corps of Engineers determines which projects they fund with the tax dollars appropriated by Congress. Demand for dollars nationwide far outstrips the supply, even when Congress appropriates more funding for the Army Corps accounts as it did this past Congress. While we’re disappointed the work plan put forward by the Army Corps’ national office did not include funding for these projects, we are supporting efforts by the Army Corps’ Wilmington District office to reallocate funds unused from other projects where and if possible.”

Tillis spokesperson Adam Webb said in an email that the senator “has been actively engaging on the funding issues facing the Carolina Beach and Wrightsville Beach renourishment projects.”

“He has been in touch with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other members of the delegation to coordinate and explore other funding options to ensure these critically important projects can move forward.”

Reprinted from OBX Today

Nags Head leaders approved during its meeting Wednesday moving forward with a nearly $14 million beach nourishment project for south Nags Head to replace sand lost during the 2019 Hurricane Dorian that they hope can take place along with other beach widening efforts in Dare County planned for 2022.

Maintenance dredging at the harbor for the North Carolina Port of Morehead City and simultaneous beach nourishment project for 2.5 miles of Atlantic Beach oceanfront that began Jan. 6 is one-third complete.

Weeks Marine is the contractor for the $18 million project planned under the Dredged Material Management Plan, or DMMP, developed for the Morehead City Harbor by the Army Corps of Engineers and the National Park Service.

The plan is to nourish just shy of 2.5 miles of Atlantic Beach’s oceanfront with the more than 1.143 million cubic yards of shoal material expected to be excavated or dredged from the Morehead City Harbor, mostly from the areas known as the Range B, Cutoff, and Range A.

Weeks Marine had dredged, pumped and graded sand starting just east of the Fort Macon Bath House Access moving west to the Coastal Area Management Act access at Henderson Boulevard, the former location of the Triple S Pier, according to an update last week from Carteret County Shore Protection Office.

Greg Rudolph with the Cartert County Shore Protection office told Coastal Review Online Monday that the beach fill for the Morehead City Harbor dredging and nourishment project was in place well west of the Henderson Boulevard, “1,200 linear feet to be more exact.”

The cutterhead-suction pipeline dredge J.S. Chatry arrived at Morehead City Harbor Dec. 29, 2020, and moved Jan. 6 to the most seaward reach of the channel to start maintenance dredging the harbor.

The sand dredged by the cutterhead-suction pipeline dredge at the harbor is pumped through a submerged pipeline from the channel west of the terminal groin at Fort Macon State Park, where the land-based pipe is affixed. Nourishment is taking place east of the Fort Macon State Park Bath House Parking/Access area to the Circle in Atlantic Beach.

The contractor is required to complete the project by April 30, when the environmental window for the work closes.

The hopper dredge Liberty Island is on schedule to arrive in Emerald Isle Feb. 20 to begin dredging, holding, sailing and pumping sand on the beach at Reach 1, the far west of the Carteret County beach town, as part of Phase III of the post-Florence Renourishment Project.

The Liberty Island will complete Reach 1 and then move west to east to reaches 3, 4 and 5, through central and east Emerald Isle, according to the most recent project update from Greg Rudolph with the Carteret County Shore Protection office.

It is anticipated that more than 2 million cubic yards of sand from the Offshore Dredged Material Disposal Site, or ODMDS, associated with Morehead City Federal Navigation Project, will be used to nourish 9.4 miles of beach in Emerald Isle for Phase III.

The larger-capacity dredge, the Ellis Island, could arrive as late as April 1 but officials are working to have the dredge arrive sooner. If both dredges are working at the same time, the project could be completed before the April 30 environmental window closes for sea turtle nesting season and other biological resources.

The Great Lakes Dredge & Dock has been awarded the dredging contract. Phase III is similar to Phase I in 2019 and Phase II in 2020.

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock set the first submerged pipeline, or subline, in Reach 1 on Jan. 19. Sand will be pumped through this subline once the hopper dredge Liberty Island arrives. Pipe will be added to this subline to pump sand west, then east from the subline landing point at the Point Emerald Villas/Lands End boundary. On Jan. 24, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock placed the second submerged pipeline just west of Bogue Inlet Pier in Reach 3.

Dates for the work to begin was pushed back a handful of times from the end of January, to Feb. 12 and now to Feb. 20. The Liberty Island and Ellis Island are working in Florida and Charleston, South Carolina, respectively and have been trying to complete their work at these jobs while also encountering COVID-related issues both at sea and on land, according to the county.

Dare County is proposing a beach nourishment project in Avon to place more than 1 million cubic yards of sand along 2.2 miles of oceanfront, with the cost split between the county’s Beach Nourishment Fund and property owners.

County officials are hosting a virtual presentation and meeting at 6 p.m. Feb. 24 to hear from the public about the project before a final decision is made. The meeting will be livestreamed on the county’s YouTube channel. Register online to participate. If unable to watch live, a video of the meeting will be available.

Erosion along the beaches in Avon has recently accelerated dramatically, washing away most of the sand dunes and causing overwash of N.C. 12, not only during named storms but also during nor’easters and other coastal storms. The overwash has impeded, and sometimes prevented, first responders from answering emergency calls, sanitation workers from collecting trash and residents from performing daily tasks, according to officials.

In addition to safety issues, overwash has caused flood damage to homes and businesses, and has negatively impacted the tourism-driven economy of the island, particularly when portions of N.C. 12 are forced to close due to flooding.

The county proposes putting sand from about 3,000 feet north of the Avon Pier at Due East Road to Askins Creek North Drive near the southern boundary of Avon.

Officials propose taxing properties that will most benefit from the project, east of N.C. 12 from Due East Road to the southern boundary of Avon at a rate of 40 cents per $100 dollars of value and to tax all remaining parcels in Avon at a rate of 10 cents per $100 dollars in value to generate revenue to complete the project.

If the Avon beach nourishment project is approved, it will likely take place in 2022 and will be bid in conjunction with the beach nourishment projects planned in Duck, Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head and Buxton, all scheduled for construction in 2022.

Comments or questions about the project can be emailed to DareCountyPR@DareNC.com before Feb. 24. Write “Avon Beach Nourishment” in the subject. Answers to frequently asked questions about the proposed beach nourishment project are on the website.

North Topsail Beach officials say the town now has federal approval to begin Hurricane Florence dune restoration work that was supposed to have begun Nov. 1, 2020.

The project was delayed by a Federal Emergency Management Agency requirement for an environmental and historical review. Planned work includes hauling sand by truck in areas delineated as phases 2,3 and 4. Approval came Friday during a multi-agency conference call, the town announced Tuesday.

Work to restore the dunes to their conditions before Florence hit the North Carolina coast in September 2018 is to begin where a project that followed Hurricane Matthew in 2016 left off, near  4400 Island Drive, and continue north until the environmental window closes in spring for sea turtle nesting season. Any work not completed is to resume in November.

The town has an online interactive map to allow property owners to check in which phase their property lies.

Reprinted from the Outer Banks Voice

Dare County plans to fund sand pumping efforts in both Southern Shores and Avon by withholding $1.4 million in beach nourishment funds from each of the five oceanfront communities was met with some pushback from Nags Head commissioners at their Jan. 6 meeting while sparking a broader discussion on funding mechanisms for these projects.

During a presentation to commissioners, County Manager Bobby Outten explained that both Southern Shores and Avon need beach nourishment, but that the current $8.5 million in the county’s fund falls short of what’s needed to help finance the two projects. But, he said, reducing the county’s contributions for replenishment efforts to each town by $1.4 million – the same amount the towns received in a state grant this fall for beach nourishment projects – would free up enough money to do so.

“We got lucky, I suppose, at least from my perspective,” Outten told the Nags Head Commissioners.

But not everyone appeared to share that view.

Expressing dismay about the loss in revenue, commissioners voiced concern over how the beach nourishment fund, which comes from a portion of the occupancy tax, is divvied up among the towns, asked about assurances of future funding and wondered whether there was a better source of funding that could be explored other than occupancy tax revenues.

Commissioner Michael Siers, referring to the state grant, contended the county was trying to “retrieve grant money that we received for damages from Dorian.”

In response, Outten asserted, “That’s not correct …We are not taking any of your money. You got a grant that had nothing to do with Dorian or anything else, it was just a grant. We got one as well.”

For his part, Commissioner Webb Fuller suggested the county needed a formula that provides some degree of certainty about how much each community is going to receive in the future and asked if funds were being dispersed fairly.

Outten responded that such a formula already exists, one that projects 10 years into the future.

“You assume none of that has occurred but the (beach nourishment model) shows you what we are going to give each community into the future,” he said. Speaking of equity, the county manager said, “every community has skin in the game because everybody is going to be taxed.”

Beginning in 2011 with the Nags Head beach nourishment project, the county has contributed roughly 50 percent to each town’s sand pumping efforts and also commits money for future maintenance projects. Towns also fund their perspective projects through municipal and service district taxes.

In response to a question by Commissioner Renee Cahoon about whether Avon property owners on the west side of N.C. 12 would be taxed, Outten said the community would likely be faced with a 40-cent tax on oceanside property and a 10-cent tax in other areas of the community to help fund its project.

Outten told commissioners if the county moves forward with its intended plan, “You are going to be in exactly the same place, with exactly the same amount of sand, exactly the same amount of everything. You just won’t have as much of it funded with Dare’s money.”

He added, “If there is a better way to do this, we’d love to hear it. Our goal is to take care of the beaches of Dare County as a whole and if there is a better way to do it, we want to do it.”

Following Outten’s presentation, Commissioner Kevin Brinkley observed that, “What the county is doing is, they already spent money out of that fund, but yet he’s coming to us now asking for our blessing, our okay, to spend the rest of the money for the projects.”

At the conclusion of the discussion, commissioners considered the need to pursue different funding options for beach nourishment and floated the idea of area professionals in the field forming a working group to explore those options. Mayor Ben Cahoon said he would suggest a gathering of the mayors following COVID-19 guidelines to discuss possibilities.

County Manager Outten has made a similar presentation to the Kitty Hawk, Southern Shores and Duck town councils and is expected to go to the Kill Devil Hills Board of Commissioners Monday, Jan. 11. The Dare County Board of Commissioners is expected to take up the matter at its mid-month meeting Jan. 19.

This story is provided courtesy of the Outer Banks Voice, a digital newspaper covering the Outer Banks. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Voice to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest about our coast.

MANTEO — From beach nourishment to channel dredging to erosion control to material disposal to shoreline preservation, sand management in coastal North Carolina communities is no longer a sporadic chore.

It is an engineering challenge, a ballooning expense, a bureaucratic headache, an evolving menace.

With rapidly changing coastal dynamics, it is also a necessity and, increasingly, a blessing.

Long-term planning for projects — whether permitting or designing — that would replace, preserve, move and/or remove sand is currently underway or about to be implemented at local, state and federal levels in North Carolina.

Even the National Park Service on the Outer Banks — once a strict advocate of beach management policies that “let nature take its course” — has taken a proactive approach with its first-ever Sediment Management Framework. The document is intended to guide the National Seashore in addressing project requests while minimizing impacts on the natural resources.

“What this plan is all about is looking at a framework so that when others come to us … (it) allows us to respond to those partners,” National Seashore Superintendent Dave Hallac said in a recent interview.

Under the preferred alternative in the proposed action, which is expected to be finalized this spring, permitted activities could under certain conditions and limitations include soundside and oceanside beach nourishment and filling island breaches.

Even as erosion worsened in the late 1990s and early 2000s, National Seashore officials were reluctant to permit beach nourishment projects except after severe storms. But it became evident that natural resources were not always benefitting from the hands-off approach.

“We are losing habitat at this seashore to sea level rise and erosion,” Hallac said, adding that how much has been lost “depends on when you look.”

In some places, such as off Cape Point in Buxton, where the emergence of 27-acre “Shelly Island” a few years ago caused a sensation before it soon disappeared, sand comes and goes. But at other places, it’s been more of a problem when sand doesn’t come back.

“Twenty years ago, there was 1 to 2 miles of a spit at the end of Hatteras Island,” the superintendent said. “It’s gone — completely gone.”

Hallac said the Park Service’s policies, like the environment, have been adapting to coastal impacts from climate change and associated sea level rise. Still, the sediment plan is dovetailing and intersecting with existing management, rather than dramatically altering it, he said.

For instance, Hallac added, sand replenishment makes sense in the short term, but it’s not a cure for erosion.

“Beach nourishment is best used as a stop-gap solution to more permanent solutions,” Hallac said.

Mirlo Beach in Rodanthe illustrates an effective use of beach nourishment, he said. The beach there, known as “S-turns” to surfers, is one of the fastest eroding shorelines on the Outer Banks. A temporary nourishment project was done there while planning was underway for the “jug-handle” bridge. The bridge, now under construction, bypasses the eroded area, meaning that beach nourishment will no longer be necessary.

“The ocean is at the doorstep at Highway 12.”

Dave Hallac, Cape Hatteras National Seashore

In the years since Hurricane Isabel in 2003 ripped a hole between Frisco and Hatteras village, overall storm damage, beach erosion and shoaling in waterways have worsened considerably in the National Seashore, which encompasses most of Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. But Hurricane Irene in 2011 and Hurricane Sandy in 2012 seemed to have dramatically changed the sand processes on the islands, filling channels that rarely had shoaled and taking away chunks of beach.

An area on the north end of Ocracoke Island near the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry dock, for example, has become extremely eroded, making the road exceedingly difficult to maintain. During Hurricane Teddy last year, huge swells from an extreme high tide flattened the dunes, which had recently been repaired after damage from a previous storm.

“There’s just nothing left,” Hallac said of the shoreline. “The ocean is at the doorstep at Highway 12 south of South Dock.”

In addition to project needs from the North Carolina Department of Transportation, he said, Dare County continues to plan beach nourishment projects on the island.

By doing much of the environmental review documentation ahead of time, the framework will be more efficient and timelier for all involved.

“Cape Hatteras National Seashore simply does not have the financial capacity to do beach nourishment,” Hallac said. “But we also recognize that the natural environment has been altered.”

So have the rules statewide for coastal projects. For many decades and until not that long ago, dredge contractors would scoop out shoaled channels and dispose of the spoils at what they deemed suitable spots, leaving them to become real estate for migratory birds and turtles.

And when sand piled up at inconvenient places, property owners would get out their plows and push it away. If they needed to fill a beach bald spot, they would take sand from where there was plenty and truck it to where it was skimpy.

Along the way, bulkheads and sandbags and groins and jetties were installed to keep sand from coming or going.

With the growth in population necessitating the growth in environmental regulations, the old days of “no permit, no problem,” are mostly a dim memory. But so are the days when shoreline projects were funded by fat government budgets often stuffed with line-item “pork” to dole out to constituents.

Over the years, the federal budget for the Army of Corps of Engineers has been pared down to the extent that communities now need to pay all costs for them to do beach nourishment projects, and often, to dredge their channels.

In 2018, the Corps stopped allowing any dredged material that was not associated with a Corps project to be dumped at their dredge material sites, leaving communities scrambling to find places to place material dredged from their non-federal waterway projects.

“There was a history of the Corps allowing their islands to be used,” Kathleen Riely, executive director of North Carolina Beach, Inlet and Waterways Association, said in a 2019 interview. “So, when it was stopped, it was like ‘Boom!’ Really, you didn’t have any chance to adjust.”

Riely said that along the southern end of the coast, nearly every disposal area was owned by the Corps.

“But I think that as spoil areas get used up more and more,” she said, “it’s just a matter of time that everybody feels this.”

In response, the state has launched a Dredge Materials Management Plan to evaluate the federal and nonfederal placement facilities.

The state signed an agreement in late 2020 with the Corps to work on identifying upland disposal sites for dredge material and build and map a GIS database, according to Kevin Hart, coastal infrastructure grant program coordinator for the state Division of Water Resources.

“The goal is not just to figure out where to put that material, but how to best use that sediment as an asset.”

Ken Willson, Coastal Protection Engineering

Phase I of the total $266,000 project is expected to be completed in about a year, he said. Phases II and III — assessment of the sites and assessment of dredging needs, respectively — will follow, depending on funding. Meanwhile, the Corps has analyzed sediment needs as part of its South Atlantic Coastal Study. In its 2020 Regional Sediment Management update, the document recommended projects for numerous beneficial uses, including to restore wetlands and stabilize shorelines.

“Significant value and coastal resiliency can be achieved across (the South Atlantic district) through placement of sand in the nearshore environment but will require coordination among USACE districts, agencies, and the dredging industry to effectively implement a nearshore placement program,” it said.  “Placement strategies such as nearshore placement … and open water dispersal should continue to be implemented and refined throughout the Division to support long-term coastal resiliency and USACE programmatic efficiencies.”

Also, Dare County has contracted with Ken Willson, senior project manager at Coastal Protection Engineering of Wilmington, to analyze the southern and central coastal areas to find suitable disposal sites for channel dredging projects, including Rollinson Channel in Hatteras Inlet and the Manteo/Shallowbag Bay interior channels leading from Oregon Inlet.

“The goal is not just to figure out where to put that material, but how to best use that sediment as an asset,” Willson said.

Willson said that he hopes to be able to present project proposals to the Dare County Board of Commissioners this month.

Reprinted from The Outer Banks Voice

Two of the four Dare County municipalities that are expected to partner on a 2022 beach nourishment project have given the green light for the Coastal Protection Engineering of North Carolina Inc. to move forward with the critical design and permitting steps needed prior bidding and construction of the project.

The Kitty Hawk Town Council and the Kill Devil Hills Board of Commissioners both unanimously approved a contract with the Wilmington-based firm Monday, while the Duck Town Council is expected to take up the contract on June 17 and Southern Shores Town Council will hold a public forum on June 16 before committing to the project.

Project Manager Ken Wilson told the Voice that over the next six to eight months, his firm will be providing assistance to the municipalities in the way of engineering design, environmental permitting and identification of offshore sand resources. The firm provided the same services for the four municipalities and Dare County as part their joint beach nourishment project in 2017.

“We’re going to have crews out there doing some additional investigations offshore,” Wilson noted, adding that in addition to a borrow site used for the 2017 project, there may be some areas that could have usable sand that are a little closer to the Southern Shores and Duck project.

“If we can identify those and if we can develop them into permitted borrow sites, it could potentially bring the cost of the project down,” he added. Final designs will also be drafted, taking into account any improvements that could be incorporated based on the results of the 2017 project.

As part of the 2017 nourishment project, nearly 4 million cubic yards of sand was pumped on 1.7 miles of shoreline in Duck, 1,500 square feet in Southern Shores, 3.58 miles in Kitty Hawk and 2.6 miles in Kill Devil Hills. Wilson estimates that the towns, working collaboratively, realize a 15 to 20% cost savings as well as improve the speed and efficiency in which project goals can be achieved.

“There are a lot of benefits that the four counties have seen by working together on this,” Wilson asserted. Once design and permitted are finalized, Wilson noted there will likely be a future contract in which his firm will develop bid documents and perform some construction oversight.

Beach nourishment projects are funded through a combination of funding from municipal sources as well as Dare County’s Beach Nourishment Fund.

From an Island Free Press report

BUXTON — The early impression from a recent survey of the 2017-18 beach re-nourishment project here is that the shoreline has adapted quicker than expected to the influx of sand.

The goal of the project that began in summer 2017 was to widen a stretch of beach that extended 2.94 miles in northern Buxton. A total of 2.6 million cubic yards of sand was deposited on the shoreline from an offshore ridge 1.7 miles offshore, a site that was chosen for its sand quality and consistency with the rest of the shoreline.

The dredging was officially completed Feb. 27, right before four nor’easters pounded the Outer Banks.

Haiqing Liu Kaczkowski, senior coastal engineer for project manager Coastal Science and Engineering, which conducted the survey, estimated that the series of storms sped up the sand-distribution process.

“The early impression is that the initial volume has adapted very fast, especially during the March nor’easters,” Kaczkowski reiterated.

“The overall impression is that the project has served its original purpose, which is to protect N.C. Highway 12,” said Kaczkowski. “Since the volume (of sand) was put in place, Highway 12 has not been (impassible), even during the September hurricanes and March nor’easters. The volume has adjusted faster than it would in a normal year. Because the groins at the south end of Buxton have deteriorated and have little capacity to hold more sand, the sand loss to the south has been much higher than the historical average. The detailed reasons as to why will be evaluated.”

Beach re-nourishment project surveys are typically conducted immediately after they are complete to ensure that the total volume of sand deposited aligns with the original project specs. This survey had to wait until weather conditions were optimal for obtaining the most accurate results.

The survey was conducted in two parts, measuring both the width of the beach and the depth of the waters within the sandbox, or area where the sand moves within the project. The surveyors examined the land on foot with handheld equipment and the nearshore waters with a boat equipped with GPS and tools that examine the underwater topography.

Janet Morrow Dawson, owner of the Cape Hatteras Motel in Buxton, said that the goal of protecting N.C. 12 has been successful.

“Overall, we’re very satisfied,” she said.

There’s still a little more behind-the-scenes work going on before the exact results of the survey are expected to be completed by August. Contractor Weeks Marine has been working roughly 1,000 feet offshore to remove sublines that were buried and have been inaccessible until recently. All of the equipment on the beach and close to shore was removed shortly after the project’s completion.

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast.

Reprinted from Island Free Press

The Buxton Beach Nourishment project was completed on Feb. 27 with all of the 2.6 million cubic yards of sand deposited on the 2.9 miles of Buxton beach.

The completion of the project was roughly a week or two ahead of schedule, and was announced to involved parties and stakeholders at a Wednesday morning meeting in Buxton.

“Yesterday was a big day, as it was the last day of pumping,” said Dr. Haiqing Liu Kaczkowski, senior coastal engineer for Coastal Science and Engineering, or CSE. “A week ago, they were 92 percent complete. Everybody thought it would take another week or two [to finish], but then we got good news.”

The contractor, Weeks Marine, had logged in more than 114 hours of work in recent days, and had been breaking records on the amount of dredging completed during the project.

Alberto Saavedra of Weeks Marine said that the crew would be removing all equipment from the beach over the next three days, before forecasted severe weather arrives over the weekend.

“Hopefully by this weekend, all of the beach will be released to the public except for a small footprint,” he said.

The only elements from the project remaining will be two sublines, as the contractor will be unable to remove those before the bad weather arrives. However, Saavedra noted that crews would be patrolling the subline areas to ensure they are not impacted by any upcoming rough seas and winds.

The final steps will be restoring the beach to its pre-construction state, leveling the recently deposited sand, and possible tilling depending on the results of a pending compaction test.

National Park Service and Dare County representatives also discussed the possibility of adding county-funded sand fencing and vegetation, or “sprigging,” along the project area to protect the newly deposited sand.

“We asked Haiqing [and CSE] to come up with a plan for fencing and sprigging,” said County Manager Bobby Outten. “Assuming all goes well, it’s our intention to do just that.”

“This is a $22 million dollar investment, and we want to protect it,” added Dare County Commissioner Chairman Bob Woodard.

Though possible Dare County-sponsored sand fencing is in the initial discussion stages, Kaczkowski noted that installing sand fencing was an important step for affected homeowners and stakeholders.

“Sand fencing will help stabilize the dunes, so it’s a smart move,” she said. “It will protect your investment.”

In the meantime, both CSE and Weeks Marine were anticipating getting all equipment removed from the beach, so that the Buxton shoreline would get “back to normal.”

“We’re anxious about getting everything cleared out, and getting back to normal, so it looks like nothing has occurred,” said Timothy W. Kana, president of CSE. “We’ll still have natural rhythmic variations along the beach,” he added, noting that upcoming storms would shift the geography of the shoreline, “and that’s something we will be monitoring. With each project, we learn something new.”

“Our goal is for people not to recognize this as an unnatural beach,” he said.

The weekend’s forecasted windy weather, with gusts of up to 40-45 mph and high seas, will be a bit of a test, but will also speed up the adjustments that will transform the shoreline from unnaturally wide to more in-line with the other shorelines on Hatteras Island.

“What we’re trying to do is keep as much water off the highway as we can,” said Dare County Commissioner Danny Couch. “We’ve had two tests [of severe weather] so far, and it’s doing its job.”

The Buxton Beach Nourishment project was originally expected to last until August, but rough weather in the summer and fall, as well as a month of hurricanes in September, lead to multiple delays.

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. 

Reprinted from the Island Free Press

BUXTON — Coastal Science and Engineering, or CSE, project manager for the Buxton Beach Nourishment Project, provided a detailed update Monday during the Dare County Board of Commissioners’ meeting.

CSE discussed production improvement measures that are being considered to expedite construction. They reported that Weeks Marine is hoping to bring a second dredge and will work through inspections and other requirements in an effort to bring the B.E. Lindham hopper dredge on site in the next 10-15 days.

Learn More

• View the PowerPoint presentation from CSE
• MoreBeachtoLove.com

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. You can read other stories about Hatteras and Ocracoke here.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three Outer Banks beach towns will get sand from the seafloor in federal offshore waters to re-nourish beaches in an unusual, one-time project set to begin next spring.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, announced Tuesday, it had signed an agreement with Dare County to provide up to 4.83 million cubic yards of sand from federal waters as part of a shoreline management project for the towns of Duck, Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills. The project will use sand from the federal outer continental shelf, between 4.1 and 6.5 miles offshore, to re-nourish about 8 miles of beach – more than half of the 15 miles of oceanfront shoreline adjacent to the three towns.

“BOEM is pleased to support Dare County in this project, knowing how important these beaches are to the local economy,” said BOEM Director Abigail Ross Hopper. “This project will help protect infrastructure from storm damage, mitigate erosion that threatens biological, recreational and cultural resources, and help sustain habitats that support various birds and animals, including sea turtles,” Hopper said.

BOEM said the project will help protect vulnerable public infrastructure, including highways that serve as storm evacuation routes, reduce flooding of roads and homes and protect public and private development.

“Dare County is pleased to collaborate with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the towns of Duck, Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills to bring this much needed nourishment project to fruition,” said Dare County Manager Bobby Outten. “This nourishment project will provide substantial storm protection for our coastal communities and ensure robust shorelines are available for our residents and visitors to enjoy for many years to come.”

The sediment will be dredged from two areas. BOEM and the Army Corps of Engineers are the lead agencies on the project. The agencies have partnered with the county and the towns and prepared individual National Environmental Policy Act studies for each of the three town’s re-nourishment projects. In addition, BOEM and the Corps jointly consulted on endangered species, essential fish habitat, National Historic Preservation Act coordination and Coastal Zone Management Act consistency.

To Learn More

View the summary environmental assessments for each of the three towns:

• Duck
• Kill Devil Hills
• Kitty Hawk