Emerald Isle beach nourishment plan OK’d
posted 1/13/2010 2:21:13 PM
By SHANNON KEMP
Emerald Isle commissioners approved a plan Tuesday night that aims to provide more protection for oceanfront homes that currently could not be rebuilt if substantially damaged.
And, while communities along Bogue Banks are adopting similar plans, all of Bogue Banks is preparing for a bigger project to nourish the entire shoreline for 30 years.
Bogue Banks communities are in various stages of preparing static line exception reports. The static line is the location of stable, natural vegetation at the time of beach fill construction and is used as the line from which oceanfront setbacks are measured.
It is a permanent line only used in those communities with large-scale beach nourishment projects from which all oceanfront setbacks are based.
Those communities that have not had a large-scale nourishment project that triggers this static line rule use the first line of stable vegetation to base the oceanfront setbacks. In the case of a static line exception the town that once used a static line would use the stable line of vegetation again.
Emerald Isle voted unanimously to accept the static line exception report written by Coastal Planning and Engineering of Wilmington.
Authority for granting the exemption rests with the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission and the goal is to get the report to the CRC for approval at that panel’s March meeting, according to Greg L. Rudolph, Carteret County shore protection officer.
However, to be approved the static line exception report has to show the CRC that the town is willing to commit to long-term beach management.
The static line exception report must demonstrate that the town is already committed to beach nourishment by describing past nourishment projects and how those projects are holding up.
To show the CRC that the town is committed to continued beach maintenance the town must identify suitable sand sources and funding sources that could be used to nourish the beaches for at least 25 years.
Once approved the CRC will check on the progress of the town’s 25-year plan every five years.
For the towns of Bogue Banks that request a static line exception the sand source and funding source for the 25-year maintenance plan will be the same for each.
Whether a town wants to apply for a static line exception or not, Bogue Banks is currently working on a master beach nourishment plan that will detail when, where and how Bogue Banks will be nourished for the next 30-50 years.
For each town, sand for 30 years to nourish Bogue Banks will come from the Offshore Dredged Materials Disposal Site near the Beaufort Inlet channel off Atlantic Beach. It includes more than 30 million cubic yards of beach quality sand. There are also sand sources located in the Bogue Inlet Channel and offshore dredged spoils disposal sites.
The cost to nourish all of Bogue Banks for 30 years will be around $187.2 million and funding will come from three likely sources – the state, Carteret County room occupancy tax designated for beach nourishment projects and the individual towns.
There are currently 171 nonconforming properties in Emerald Isle. A static line exception would give almost all of these nonconforming properties, or homes, conforming status – but not all, Frank Rush, town manager, said.
For Emerald Isle, the worst-case scenario for funding would be a cost of $21.2 million over 30 years. The best-case scenario would be that the town would pay $4.2 million over 30 years.
With the state and occupancy taxes the town would still need a way to provide its share of the funding for the project.
“My recommendation would be to prepare for the worst-case scenario,” Rush said.
That could be done by establishing a special district tax rate in fiscal year 2011-12 of 3 cents for owners of oceanfront property and property on the inlet and 1 cent for all other property owners.
Commissioner John Wootten emphasized that this new tax would not be established just to protect these 171 properties “but to protect the whole town.”
The static line exception would benefit a few, but the bigger project – the 30-year nourishment plan – would benefit the whole town, Wootten said.
Currently the town has a 16-cent special district tax rate for property on the ocean and inlet and a 1.5-cent rate for all other property owners.
