From a Tideland News  report

SWANSBORO –  While the May 21 special meeting was called to discuss the 2019-20 budget, Commissioner Frank Tursi used it to voice his concerns over a proposal to expand a strip mall on N.C. 24, which includes a request to fill  wetlands in an area of town where runoff is a problem.

Tursi, former editor of Coastal Review Online, requested that the board address the issue because if the application currently under review by the Army Corps of Engineers is approved, more than an acre of wetlands will have been destroyed by both phases of this project, the Tideland News reported. Construction of the first phase of the 2.64-acre Bailey Center strip mall that opened earlier this year required filling 33,794 square feet of wetlands. The current application calls for filling 0.23 acres of wetlands.

Though no vote was taken during the meeting, none of the other four commissioners supported Tursi’s request for an objection to the plans or asking for an extension on the public comment period for the federal Clean Water Act permit.

According to the Army Corps of Engineers public notice, the request to expand the Bailey Center would include the construction of a multipurpose building with six units, a mini-storage facility, associated parking, roads and a reconfigured stormwater facility.

The corps is accepting until 5 p.m. Thursday comments to determine whether to issue, modify, condition or deny a permit for this proposal. Any person may request in writing that a public hearing be held to consider the application. Comments should be submitted to Rachel Capito, Wilmington Regulatory Field Office, 69 Darlington Ave., Wilmington, NC 28403 or 910-251-4487

The strip mall currently includes a Dollar Tree at 10,000 square feet and an adjacent multi-purpose building of 3,600 square feet, according to a previous Tideland News report. The board voted to end a moratorium on new commercial construction encompassing more than 12,000 square feet in June 2016 and approved the development. The expanded plans will include an additional 16,000-square-foot indoor storage facility and a 14,000-square-foot building on the site.

If plans are cleared with the corps, the developer will likely submit his request the planning board.

The strip mall construction was approved before Swansboro put in place in January the land-use plan update based on residents’ input calling for wetlands preservation. A land-use plan serves as a guide for development and is required of local governments in the state’s 20 coastal counties.

Tursi suggested that Swansboro officials attempt to negotiate with the developer in order to lessen the impact on the upland wetlands or be prepared to object to all federal and state permits and certifications.

Commissioner Roy Herrick said an objection to this project could negatively affect the town’s financial future because of the town’s limited ability to add to its tax base because of a state law restricting annexation.

Jennifer Allen contributed to this report.

Updated 11 a.m. Oct. 16 with new meeting location.

SWANSBORO — Cruise the White Oak River with area birding expert JoAnne Powell.

Birding cruises will be held from 10 a.m. to noon Oct. 21, which is sold out, and Nov. 18 leaving from downtown Swansboro. The cruises were meeting at Hammocks Beach State Park but due to Hurricane Florence damage, the park currently is closed. The first cruise was held  Sept. 16.

Fee for the cruises, hosted by the North Carolina Coastal Federation, is $20 for federation members and $25 for nonmembers.

Up to 32 birdwatchers will board a covered ferryboat at the state park’s visitor center and slowly cruise the estuaries in and around the White Oak River and Bogue Sound, including Huggins and Bear islands, looking for resident and migratory birds.

The program is geared toward adults but all ages are welcome to join. Organizers recommend that participants bring binoculars, water and a snack and to dress appropriately for the weather.

Registration is required and is nonrefundable. Cruises are held rain or shine. If the cruise is canceled due to severe weather, registration may be transferred to another scheduled event or fees refunded.

Contact Rachel Bisesi, education coordinator, at 252-393-8185 or rachelb@nccoast.org for more information.

Registration

• Nov. 18 Birding Cruise

Reprinted from the Tideland News

SWANSBORO — It is the classic case of taking down two birds with one stone. In one sprawling project, Swansboro will add dozens of public parking spaces within easy walking distance of downtown and reduce the amount of untreated stormwater runoff reaching the nearby White Oak River.

Making the project even sweeter is the fact that the town will be getting financial assistance in the form of a Section 319 grant, federal funds distributed by the North Carolina Division of Environmental Quality.

“We’ve just received word that we’ve been awarded the grant,” Scott Chase, town manager, said during the last week of July.

The project will add 70 parking spaces and retrofit the town hall campus for better stormwater treatment. It is estimated to cost $284,130. The town was awarded $172,397 in Environmental Protection Agency funds.

Notification came at a very good time, according to Chase. Because, even though the grant “doesn’t come online until January,” knowing now means that work to complete the recent Swansboro Public Safety sleeping quarters project can be upgraded to fit into the goal of the stormwater reduction plans. And that work, including labor and materials, Chase said, can be counted toward the town’s required grant match.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation led the town through the grant application, according to Chase.

“We met with Coastal Federation onsite … we’re wrapping up the public safety facility … and got guidance from them,” he said. “Ultimately, we are going to have a bio-retention area … that will be part of the stormwater plan.”

“This (work on the Public Safety Facility) will make sure we don’t have to go back and retrofit anything.”

The project involves the town buying a vacant 1,200-square-foot house adjoining the town hall campus and next to the fire department, just off N.C. 24. And, other than the purchase price of the house and property – which is still in negotiation – any costs related to the development of the site could be counted toward the match. The property purchase and demolition has been estimated to cost $95,000.

Chase said town crews would do much of the work.

Furthermore, Chase has been in touch with David Cotton, Onslow County manager, concerning the disposal of debris from the home, which will be razed. Chase requested that the cost of disposing of the debris – the “tipping fee” – be waived.

In addition to creating a bio-retention area to capture and treat stormwater runoff, the project includes adding 40 new parking spaces and re-configuring the current spaces to create another 30. Because the project will mean more parking for downtown visitors, the Onslow County Tourism Development Authority found it worthwhile enough to approve a contribution of $17,500, which will count toward the town’s match.

“This is a huge benefit for our campus area … and downtown,” Chase said.

Chase presented the project, dubbed Stormwater Volume Reduction at the Town of Swansboro Municipal Complex, to the state officials considering grant requests in July. Joining him were Lauren Kolodij, deputy director of the coastal federation, and Bree Tillett, engineer intern and coastal specialist with the federation.

The presentation provided a look at the federation’s overall stormwater strategy:

• Working in urban and rural landscapes.
• Using low-impact development techniques.
• Slowing down the flow of stormwater runoff and directing it to soak in.
• Reducing the volume reaching surface waters, thereby reducing the pollutant load.

It pointed out that state officials support the strategy and included a statement from Mike Randall of the stormwater permitting program with the North Carolina Division of Energy, Mineral and Land Resources. The Division of Environmental Quality, it states, “places a premium on reducing stormwater runoff by infiltrating stormwater into the landscape using cost effective solutions.”

“If you can eliminate stormwater runoff you won’t have to treat it,” Randall states.

Swansboro strategy, made official with a watershed management plan approved in March, matches speaks to this goal.

The town, according to the grant presentation, aims to “turn back the clock” on water pollution. Using shellfish water closings as a gauge, the goal is to lower the amount of untreated stormwater runoff to a time when more shellfish waters were open.

This is accomplished by reducing instances of flooding, aligning future capital improvements with stormwater retrofits, increasing community awareness and positioning the town for future funding opportunities for implementation, according to the presentation.

In addition to retrofits on public properties, the town plan encourages the installation of voluntary retrofits on private properties, tracks progress and monitors incremental improvement in stormwater runoff volume reduction.

The Stormwater Volume Reduction at the Town of Swansboro Municipal Complex, the town will incorporate low-impact development and green infrastructure techniques into a town capital works project that will result in a public amenity for the town that reduces locally generated stormwater runoff.

This work aims to reduce stormwater runoff volume in the White Oak River historic sub watershed by 87,700 gallons for the one-year storm, or 3.5 inches.

And it will increase awareness of and demand for low-impact development stormwater management techniques by installing signage, encouraging media coverage, offering tours to demonstrate stormwater reduction techniques, coordinating with Onslow Soil and Water Conservation District to promote grant incentives to landowners and businesses, educating students about stormwater runoff, water quality problems and management options and field experiences.

Chase told town commissioners of the award at the July 11 board meeting.

“We’re really proud of this,” he said.

Commissioner Frank Tursi, also the former editor of Coastal Review Online, said he, too, was proud of Swansboro.

“I know this will be the first of many,” Tursi said. And, he added, “We are stressing stormwater control.” In fact, the town is setting an example by being a good steward. “We have to walk the walk.”

This story is provided courtesy of the Tideland News, a weekly newspaper in Swansboro. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Tideland to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest about our coast. You can read other stories about the Swansboro area here.

“Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet?”

– Ezekiel 34:18

SWANSBORO — Members of Swansboro United Methodist Church are certainly making an effort to preserve “clear water” for others – including marine life – as they prepare to start construction this year of their new Family Life and Ministry Center just off N.C. 24.

Julia Wax, co-chair of the church’s building committee, said recently that she and her co-chair, John McLean, have long thought it was important that they incorporate “green” and low-impact development concepts into the center, which has been a dream at the large and socially active church for about seven years.

“We feel like God calls us to be excellent stewards of his creation by being environmentally sensitive,” she said.

Large vegetated areas will treat much of the stormwater in front of the new building.

The back of the building will also rely on vegetation to treat stomwater. Architect drawings: Swansboro Methodist Church

It was a natural, really, for Wax, owner of Emerald Isle Realty, to think that way. Her business, which rents and sells homes on Bogue Banks, a barrier island in Carteret County, won the N.C. Coastal Federation’s 2006 Pelican Award for “Business of the Year” on the central coast, and the firm has also sponsored the federation’s photography contest, which uses photography of the coastal region’s natural wonders as a way to encourage environmental protection and activism.

So, as plans for the church project inched from concept toward reality in recent months, the church’s building committee reached out to the federation. Lexia Weaver is the coastal scientist in the federation’s headquarters in Ocean, which is also on N.C. 24 not far from Swansboro. She met with church officials and began the process.

“We have worked with a number of public facilities, such as schools and museums, but we have not, as far as I know, worked with any churches before,” said Weaver.

Weaver manages coastal restoration projects within the the federation’s central region. She said she was pleased to learn that Wax and the others involved were “excited to do some great things” as the church moved toward construction, and called working with Wax and others involved “a very good fit” for the federation.

Ideas so far include islands of green – native plants – in the expansive new parking lot planned for the ministry center, and use of cisterns to catch rain from the building in order to help keep stormwater from washing pollutants off the property, which is just across N.C. 24 from the White Oak River.

“I’d love to say that we’re are going to be fully LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified,” Wax said, “but funding for that is difficult to come by. But we’re going to do all we can, including requiring that our contractor recycle his materials.”

The two-story building will house expanded contemporary worship space, children’s and adult classrooms, new youth activity areas and a kitchen equipped to greatly expand the church’s outreach to those in need within the area.

Wax knows that the goal of “greening up,” while not totally unheard of for a church, is a little unusual, particularly in a climate in which the nation seems divided on environmental and climate change issues.

“Churches are a reflection of secular society,” she said. “And secular society is certainly somewhat divided on these kinds of things.”

Lexia Weaver

John Freshwater

Another factor is that even large churches have faced financial problems during the economic downturn, and many people perceive “green” and low-impact development alternatives as “grossly expensive,” Wax said. “But we think it’s the right thing for us to do.”

And John Freshwater, a church member and Swansboro engineer who is handling stormwater management for the church project, said it’s not necessarily true that green costs more, and it certainly isn’t true in this case.

“We’ve still got a way to go before we get there, but it’s going to actually save us money,” he said. “And there should be less maintenance cost.

“This whole parking lot was going to be normal curb and gutter, but what we are doing is putting in some islands of vegetation, which will use grass and native plants to take in a lot of the runoff,” he said. “They won’t necessarily be what you’d call rain gardens, because we don’t really have the right soils. But we think it will be very effective. It will give the stormwater a place to settle so that all the nutrients don’t run off.”

There will be several of the islands in the interior of the lot, one very large, about 9 feet wide by 60 to 70 feet long. Others will likely be about the same length but will not be quite so wide. Weaver and the federation will advise the church which plants will work best.

Freshwater said the plans are still fluid, but he has no doubt the final result will be environmentally friendly. Cisterns, he said, are likely, with the collected water from the building’s roof most likely used for irrigation of natural areas.

The end result, he and Wax said, is that the stormwater management system for the parking lot and the new building will far exceed what is required by the state’s stormwater rules and the town’s regulations. And the fact that the project will be more aesthetically pleasing is no small benefit, either.

Wax said it’s been gratifying to see the church congregation and its officers, including senior pastor Ed Gunter, supportive of the project, and to see the architect for the ministry building, Tripp Eure of New Bern, embrace the goals of making the addition as environmentally friendly as possible within the church’s budget.

“We’ve gone through fund-raising and we think we have a good handle on the budget,” she said. “We’ve been through the design work, and we’ve trying to procure a financing package from a lender. We’re hoping that sometime this spring we will begin work on the project.”