As we look forward into 2015, we have three R’s on our mind — recreation, restoration, and replacement.
To be more specific, we want to see some movement on three issues that have plagued us for too long.
In the area of recreation, we hope that the legislation passed last month by the U.S. Congress that will require the National Park Service to consider some changes to its off-road vehicle plan to give more reasonable public access to the seashore’s beaches — for drivers and for pedestrians.
In restoration, we look to state and federal agencies to streamline the permitting needed for Dare County to proceed with its planned 2016 restoration of the badly eroding beach in north Buxton.
And in replacement, we want to see an end to the impasse between the state Department of Transportation and environmental groups on the replacement of the aging Herbert C. Bonner Bridge over Oregon Inlet.
REPLACEMENT
Not only have DOT and the Southern Environmental Law Center been battling for years over replacing the decrepit bridge and dealing with the “hotspots” on Highway 12 through Pea Island, but negotiations to reach a settlement have been dragging on now for four months.
More importantly, the negotiations have been dragging on out of public view and without comment by either side.
There was some hope that maybe the two sides were getting closer but that the announcement of a settlement was being slowed down by the holiday when all public and private business seems to come to a screeching halt for weeks.
However, that hope was pretty well dashed today.
DOT and other defendants today asked for yet a fifth extension of the time it has to ask for a rehearing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Va. It was a ruling from the appeals court in August that led to the announcement that the parties were in discussions to reach a settlement.
Meanwhile, those of us whose lives and livelihoods depend on reliable transportation on and off Hatteras Island can only wait and hope — and trust that DOT is making some headway.
That’s not really easy, considering the track record that SELC and its clients have for making our lives more difficult on many fronts.
At this point, DOT should say something — anything — about what is happening in the negotiations in Raleigh and Chapel Hill.
We know that a settlement to the legal wrangling won’t mean we will have a new bridge immediately. We know replacing the Bonner Bridge and bridging hotspots will take time — probably years.
However, economically and psychologically, we need and deserve some signal that this legal wrangling is coming to an end — or not.
As the negotiations drag on, it is getting more and more difficult for residents, business owners, and non-resident property owners to plan their lives and their futures.
Furthermore, and perhaps most importantly, we need to reassure our visitors that there is a plan in place to address the issues of access to Hatteras and Ocracoke islands.
RESTORATION
The National Park Service has published a notice of intent to prepare a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on Dare County’s plan to nourish the badly eroding beaches in north Buxton.
The notice, which was filed in the Federal Register on Dec. 29, begins the public scoping process for the Environmental Impact Statement that is required by the Park Service before it issues a special use permit to the county to pump sand on the eroding beaches in the area.
Meetings to get input from the public on the county’s plan and the EIS are tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 27, in Manteo and Wednesday, Jan. 28, in Buxton. A public comment period will also begin soon during which comments will be accepted in writing.
More details on the meetings and submitting public comment will be available soon.
The county’s plan to pump sand onto the north Buxton beach in the summer of 2016 isn’t soon enough for some residents and property owners in the area. But it’s the soonest it can be done since it is entirely dependent on obtaining a number of authorizations and permits from state and federal agencies.
At the top of that list of agencies is the National Park Service, which must issue a special use permit for the project because most of the sand will go on NPS-owned beaches.
The Park Service, which generally opposes nourishment on its beaches, has said it will consider the county’s request to restore the Buxton beach to protect Highway 12.
So far, park officials locally and in Atlanta and Washington have been cooperative and receptive and have been working closely with county officials and other agencies involved to get the job done.
However, it’s been noted all along by county officials and others, that the timeline for the project is very ambitious. Any hang-up at any level in any agency could throw a wrench into the works.
The plan calls for pumping sand onto the beach in the summer because the project would be more difficult and the cost of it would be prohibitive in the cold and more stormy winter months.
The public scoping meetings on the draft EIS have been tentatively scheduled and cancelled twice in the past month because the Park Service didn’t get its notice of intent published in time.
We can only hope at this point that the process for the environmental studies moves along on schedule.
“If we miss it by a week, we miss it by a year,” county manager Bobby Outten said this week.
One hopeful sign is that county officials who attended a meeting of the agencies involved earlier this week in Washington, N.C., reported that the discussions there went well.
County commissioner Warren Judge said after the meeting that there is a lot of work to be done but that, so far, no agency is raising a red flag about the plan.
RECREATION
The legislation passed by the U.S. Congress in December is significant and directs the National Park Service to revisit parts of its 2012 off-road vehicle plan and to make or at least consider — in a public process — changes to the rule.
The legislation requires the Secretary of Interior to review and adjust wildlife buffers within 180 days — six months — and report back to Congress in a year.
So far, Cape Hatteras National Seashore officials have made no comment on how they plan to address the legislation — and the clock is ticking.
The process has no doubt been slowed by the fact that the seashore has had only acting superintendents since Barclay Trimble left the job last July.
The new superintendent, Dave Hallac, was appointed to the job on Nov. 13, but didn’t arrive at the Outer Banks Group until the first of the year.
And there were a lot of demanding issues on his plate when he walked in the door — not the least of which are Buxton beach restoration and the new legislation.
Hallac has agreed to an interview next week with The Island Free Press and Radio Hatteras.
It will be our first chance to talk to him, although he has warned — and we understand — that he can’t be as specific yet as we would like on some issues.
We hope to at least meet him and find out something more about his life and career to this point. He is the first seashore superintendent in recent memory — and perhaps ever — who comes here with a background in natural resource management.
It’s a start to moving forward in challenging times with a new leader and some new directives.
I will be writing about the interview next week on my blog and you can hear the entire interview on Sunday, Jan. 17, at 5 p.m. on Radio Hatteras.
