A federal judge has dismissed a Maryland couple’s legal fight against North Carolina regulators to replace a house destroyed by fire on the same site, one of the most rapidly eroding stretches of beach on the Outer Banks.
The Army Corps of Engineers has withdrawn Sunset Beach’s permit application for dredging Jinks Creek because the placement area for sand removed from the channel has not been determined.
Officials in coastal N.C. communities say beach renourishment is essential to the economy, and federal dollars flow to sand projects in the wake of hurricanes, but priorities may change with rising seas and more storms.
The Army Corps of Engineers is providing more than $281 million for rebuilding beaches in North Carolina communities damaged by hurricanes Matthew and Florence.
The $28.2 million Phase 2 Hurricane Florence sand replacement project for western Atlantic Beach, all of Pine Knoll Shores, a small part of Salter Path and a part of western Emerald Isle is expected to begin in early next month.
With new Corps of Engineers restrictions on the use of federal dredged materials disposal sites, N.C. officials have drafted a plan to identify other locations and study the state’s needs.
A seminar Tuesday on managing and adapting as sea levels rise, along with other effects of climate change, kicked off UNCW’s monthly, collaborative series on coastal resiliency.
Federal and state agencies are working to resolve questions about how dune planting after beach renourishment projects can be done without harming endangered species.
The state Division of Coastal Management will hold several public hearings on proposed updated inlet hazard area boundaries and building rules, following hearings on the updated erosion rates used to determine the proposed IHAs
Officials hope to begin an estimated $30 million beach renourishment project on Bogue Banks this fall, on the heels of the $21 million project completed in April.
After losing more than 70 feet of shoreline in the past year, NCDOT has been granted special permission to install sandbags in ways not generally allowed by state rules.
A $30 million buyout of North Topsail Beach’s most vulnerable properties would save over 30 years nearly twice what the town will spend trying to hold back the ocean, says a new university analysis that Mayor Dan Tuman calls “uninformed.”
