The issue of nourishing Hatteras Island beaches has been front and center on the social media this week with petitions to the governor and other officials and a claim that a breach or inlet north of Buxton is imminent.
Islanders want beach nourishment to protect Highway 12, and property owners in especially threatened areas are desperate to slow the beach erosion that threatens their land, their livelihood, and their investments.
That?s very understandable.
However, you might get the impression from some posts that you have read that local, state, and federal officials are sitting on their hands when it comes to putting sand on our beaches.
This is not true.
There are several beach nourishment projects in the pipeline ? so to speak. And they are moving forward.
The pace at which they are moving is not acceptable to some, but the fact is that beach nourishment on this island will not happen next week or next month or next year.
It?s going to take time.
The project closest to completion is the North Carolina Department of Transportation and Army Corps of Engineers plan to do short-term, one time beach nourishment at the S-curves and northern Rodanthe to protect Highway 12.
The area was hard hit by hurricanes Irene and Sandy. In March of last year, Gov. Pat McCrory declared a state of emergency to move along the emergency nourishment project. And for a number of reasons, it still hasn?t happened.
However, the project is about to be put out for bids again with some changes that it is hoped will make it more attractive to contractors.
If all goes well, the short-term nourishment will be underway this summer.
DOT hopes that this project will protect Highway 12 until the department decides on a long-term solution for bridging the hotspot.
Dare County has two nourishment projects on the drawing board.
One is also in Rodanthe for longer-term nourishment that will cover a slightly longer distance on the beach. And other is in northern Buxton.
In March of last year, Dare County?s commissioners voted to open contract negotiations with Coastal Science and Engineering from Columbia, S.C., to work on a feasibility study for the two projects. The company also oversaw the South Nags Head beach nourishment several years ago.
A contract for the feasibility study was approved in April of last year.
In November, Coastal Science and Engineering delivered the feasibility study to the Board of Commissioners.
Dare County is working with three towns that also want nourishment on financing beach restoration ? Duck, Kitty Hawk, and Kill Devil Hills.
Coastal Science and Engineering, along with CZX, Inc., reviewed historic documents, conducted baseline surveys, determined the sand deficit and amounts needed to protect Highway 12 and the adjacent beach areas.
The team would replace lost sand and add ?advanced nourishment,? which is expected to flow to beaches north and south of the identified areas.
Cost estimates, depending on whether the county goes with the five- or 10-year option range from $17.5 to $30 million for Rodanthe and $19.85 million to $26.7 million in Buxton.
The county has a plan to pay for the shoreline protection project with funds raised from an increase of 1 percent in the occupancy tax and perhaps other sources.
The current estimate of what will be available in the fund earmarked for nourishment and what will be added in the near future is about $25 million.
However, a feasibility study and a plan for funding is not all that is required. The county is a long way from actually putting sand on the beaches, which will require much more information, more study on sand sources and amounts and quality of sand, and, most importantly, permits to do the work.
The beaches in the seashore are owned by the National Park Service, which at this point favors letting nature take its course. The NPS policy does not include restoration of beaches with nourishment.
At this point, Dare County is negotiating with the Park Service for an easement to put sand on the beaches.
Warren Judge, chairman of the county board, says the plan has been received favorably by the Park Service at the local and regional level. Now, it is being considered in Washington.
Judge said county officials have decided the fastest way to move shoreline protection forward is to go straight to Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell, who oversees the Park Service.
Last week, U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., and Sens. Richard Burr, a Republican, and Kay Hagan, a Democrat, sent a letter to Jewell urging her to meet with the county about shoreline protection as soon as possible because of the ?urgency? of protecting Highway 12.
It will be extremely difficult ? if not impossible — for the Dare County plan to proceed without the easement from the NPS.
You may have read on the social media this week that an inlet north of Buxton is ?imminent.?
Really, no one can predict when an inlet will occur in the area. There have been inlets in there before, most notable with the Ash Wednesday storm of 1962, and the area is one of the most vulnerable on the island.
Almost everyone accepts that another inlet is possible in the right hurricane or perhaps even back-to-back serious northeasters. That?s also true of other hotspots on Hatteras and Ocracoke.
There is no question that beach nourishment is needed in the area. And local and state officials are working as hard as they can to get it done.
There are petitions out there to urge the governor to declare at state of emergency in north Buxton, which probably won?t move the federal government to bypass the required engineering studies or permits.
And before you sign these petitions, think carefully about whether or not you believe dredging in Oregon and Hatteras inlets are the reason for the beach erosion.
At this point do you really think we should or can afford to stop dredging?
There are no easy answers for the situation we find ourselves in. A solution, if there is one, will require time.
As difficult as that will be, we need to temper being diligent in keeping the pressure on and inciting panic in visitors who are planning trips to Hatteras and Ocracoke.
