Cape Hatteras National Seashore and Dare County officials hosted a public meeting Wednesday in Buxton to talk about the environmental document that must be prepared before the Park Service can consider giving the county a special use permit to pump sand on badly eroding beaches to protect Highway 12 on the village’s north end.
The 25 or 30 island residents and business owners who attended were almost outnumbered by Park Service and county officials who came to answer questions about the project and give out information on how to make public comments on the plan.
The meeting was one of two that were held this week on the project. The first one on Tuesday night in Manteo was only lightly attended.
The Buxton audience listened politely to short presentations by Dr. Tim Kana of Coastal Science & Engineering, the contractor the county has hired to oversee the restoration, Dave Hallac, the new superintendent of the seashore, and the seashore’s acting natural resources division chief Randy Swilling.
The Park Service published its notice of intent to prepare a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the nourishment project last month. Public comment on the preparation will be accepted until Feb. 27.
The project proposes to pump sand from an offshore borrow area onto three miles of beach in north Buxton. Since the Park Service owns the beaches, it must issue a special use permit before the project can start, but it is only one of many federal and state agencies that must issue permits or sign off on the nourishment.
All three of the presenters at the meeting stressed how the agencies are working closely together, meeting regularly, and doing everything possible to meet the goal of pumping sand in the summer of 2016.
Further complicating the timetable is the fact that the project must be done in the summer because the offshore waters are more dangerous during the winter months with more frequent coastal storm systems that make working then either impossible or impossibly expensive.
The Buxton project is moving along at warp speed compared to other Environmental Impact Statements we’ve seen around here, such as those for the Park Service’s off-road vehicle plan or the Bonner Bridge replacement. Swilling said Wednesday night that the fastest EIS he’s seen produced took three years.
So about 17 months from the notice of intent to prepare the EIS to pumping sand is a really ambitious timeline.
But it still is not acceptable to the people whose homes and businesses are imminently threatened by the almost constant ocean overwash, even in really minor coastal storms.
A small but tenacious and determined group have kept the issue of the timing of the nourishment front and center — with Facebook postings, frequent phone calls and e-mails to state, federal and elected officials, and with their passion at public meetings.
These folks refuse to accept that nourishment cannot happen faster than the summer of 2016. They want to see it this summer.
And they made that clear with comments such as these:
“Most of us believe Buxton beach won’t be here in 2016.”
“Our livelihood will be gone in two years….It’s very scary.”
“It’s people’s lives, not just paperwork.”
“We are grateful for the beach nourishment….but it’s not soon enough.”
“People have died waiting to get sand on the beach.”
“The reason the room is not full tonight,” Christie Roberson said, “is because some… can’t keep their composure enough to come.”
Roberson, who owns two oceanfront properties in Buxton and is one of those calling the governor’s office just about every day, said she has talked to “about 100 different people.”
“They are all sympathetic…but they act like they’ve never heard about this before,” she said.
“Go to the governor tomorrow and ask that it (Buxton) be declared a state of emergency,” demanded Carol Dillon, owner of Outer Banks Motel in Buxton, who makes the point at every meeting that she believes beach nourishment will happen immediately if the state declares an emergency.
“I have no problem getting on the phone tomorrow and calling the governor’s office,” said Bob Woodward, newly elected chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners.
Woodard also noted that the county made phone calls and met with state officials in March of 2013 after Hurricane Sandy and several northeasters beat up Hatteras Island beaches and Highway 12 badly.
“They (state officials) knew what was going on down here…They did not act,” he said.
Warren Judge, former board chairman, reminded the speakers that “No one has said anything tonight that we haven’t said before to the governor, two NCDOT secretaries, Congressman Jones, Senators Hagan and Burr and now Tillis, Sen. Cook, and Rep. Tine.”
Seashore superintendent Hallac was asked if the declaration of an emergency could speed up the EIS process. He replied that there are procedures to speed up the NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) process in an emergency but that he wasn’t sure what they are.
Hallac added that he had briefed National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis on the Buxton beach restoration project on a trip to Washington last week.
“I’m happy to go back to him,” Hallac said, “and tell him you want it sooner… and tell him you want him to call the governor.”
As the two-hour meeting was winding down, the discussion turned back to what county officials could do to speed up the timing of the Buxton restoration.
Woodard offered to take the issue to the rest of the board at its meeting on Monday, Feb. 2.
At the end of the meeting, Hallac summed up the discussion.
“We’ve heard you loud and clear…You want us to move faster than we think we can.”
On Thursday, Woodard wrote and mailed a letter, signed by him as chairman of the board, to Gov. Pat McCrory.
“As you know,” Woodard wrote, “the permitting process is a long and arduous process. We have been told that on the project’s current track, work on the beach will not be able to begin until 2016, at the earliest. As has been vividly clear during public meetings with the people of Hatteras Island, the residents of Buxton may not be able to hold on for that long. Fear exists that the very next storm could be the death blow of NC Highway 12 in Buxton.
“Governor McCrory, we are reaching out to you for your help in marshalling all available resources that might help us move this project forward more quickly. We ask you to consider declaring a State of Emergency for the Buxton area. It is our hope that this or other action by the Governor might enable the National Park Service and other agencies to expedite our permit requests and open doors to additional resources that will help remedy the problem.”
While it will be interesting to see how the governor and the Park Service director respond to these requests, there are many other issues to be addressed before beach nourishment can begin.
Whether or not the governor — or any person or any agency — can speed up the process enough to start pumping sand this summer remains to be seen.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Click here to read the entire letter from Chairman Woodard to Gov. McCrory.
Click here to see the presentation on the Buxton beach restoration plan and the Environmental Impact Statement that was given at the meetings this week.
Click here to read the Aug. 20 article in Island Free Press about the public meeting on Buxton beach restoration on Aug. 19.
To read an blog from April 18, 2014, “Where we are on beach nourishment on Hatteras Island, go to http://islandfreepress.org/PivotBlog/?e=289#body-anchor
To read a blog from June 20, 2014, “Buxton beach nourishment is moving, but not quickly enough for some, go to http://islandfreepress.org/PivotBlog/?e=297#body-anchor
SUBMITTING PUBLIC COMMENTS
Public comments on the Buxton beach nourishment project can be submitted electronically at http://www.parkplanning.nps.gov/caha or in writing to the Superintendent, Outer Banks Group, 1401 National Park Drive, Manteo, NC 27954. Written comments will be accepted when postmarked no later than Feb. 27, and electronic comments can be entered until midnight (ET) on Feb. 27. No fax or e-mailed comments will be accepted.
More information, including the purpose and need for the planning process, can be found at http://www.parkplanning.nps.gov/caha.
