Dare commissioners approve moving up Buxton, Avon beach nourishment projects to 2026
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With erosion occurring more rapidly than expected off Buxton, the Dare County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to shift the next beach renourishment project to 2026.
Buxton’s stretch of beach took a beating this past fall and winter from offshore hurricanes and repeated nor’easters, including one of the worst incidents of erosion since the 1960s taking place in late March.
The erosion also exposed infrastructure and contaminants in the sand and soil from the former Navy/Coast Guard installation north of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, which has kept closed since last September an area from the Buxton Beach Access to the south jetty.
This will be the fourth time sand has been pumped on the beach from near the old lighthouse site to the Haulover/Canadian Hole area since 1973.
Avon’s first beach nourishment project took place in conjunction with the second Buxton project in the summer of 2022 at a combined cost of $29.8 million.
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County Manager Bobby Outten said there is enough money available in the county’s beach nourishment fund to conduct the project a year earlier than originally planned without impacting the Duck/Southern Shores/Kitty Hawk/Kill Devil Hills project that is expected to take place in 2027.
The county’s Capital Improvement Project Committee voted unanimously at their last meeting to recommend the earlier timeline for Avon/Buxton to commissioners.
The county manager explained that the primary goal of the nourishment is to protect N.C. 12 from being washed out at the northern entrance to Buxton would cut access to the rest of the island.
“Yes, it costs a lot of money…but it is worth it to make sure the folks in Buxton, Frisco, Hatteras village, and points south can come and go and live their lives, and we can service them and we can get food and water and all those things there,” Outten said.
“The protection of the houses and the hotels there has been an ancillary benefit,” Outten said.
Outten noted prior to the board’s vote that moving the project up to 2025 was not feasible because of the time it takes to get the state and federal permits approved, and even then the total cost would likely double.
He also said that the jetties built by the military in the early 1970s did a good job previously of holding sand, but they are damaged beyond the point that they cannot be fixed or replaced under current state law.
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And Outten said while Avon’s beaches are in good enough shape now to wait until 2027 for their renourishment, the county will save between $4 and $8 million in mobilization costs by having both Avon and Buxton done at the same time.
Dare County’s Beach Nourishment Fund comes from a 2% portion of the 6% Occupancy Tax charged on nightly stays at motels, hotels, and vacation rentals.
The 2% portion is restricted by state law to be used for the placement of sand, planting of vegetation, and the building of sand fences and dunes, according to the county’s MoreBeachToLove.com website.
Projects are also funded by various property and municipal service district taxes, as well as state and FEMA Public Assistance program funds, when applicable.
Outten noted that trying to execute a beach nourishment project for the rapidly eroding beach off Rodanthe is estimated to cost at least $40 million, if not more, and that creating a service district in the tri-villages while using the occupancy tax funds would not come close to covering the cost under the current funding models.
“(Rep. Greg) Murphy is working in Congress to try to get some funding there,” Outten said.
The commissioner’s approved the change in schedule for Avon/Buxton on a 6-0 vote. Hatteras Island Commissioner Danny Couch was unable to attend Tuesday’s meeting.
Why? They don’t need it, Rodanthe needs it!