N.C. begins push for removal of sandbags along coast

NAGS HEAD

Strolling on the beach in South Nags Head at high tide can become an obstacle course around battered sandbags where beach erosion has been most severe. But the desperate measures to keep the ocean at bay with the huge bags may be ending.

State regulators will soon visit the beach there to determine which of the more than 100 exposed sandbag structures have to go first.

To the despair of a number of homeowners, the state Division of Coastal Management set a deadline of May 1, 2008, to start removal of unvegetated sandbags from the rapidly eroding stretch of beach north of Oregon Inlet.

"I think that people are between a rock and a hard place," said Ellen Dutkowsky, who lives off Old Oregon Inlet Road in South Nags Head.

Beach nourishment projects proposed by the federal and town governments have not been funded so far, she said, but the shoreline continues to narrow. Dutkowsky said that her property is not sandbagged, but she fears for the future unless the beach is widened.

"So now people have no recourse and their properties are doomed if they have to take out their sandbags."

The division has issued about 10 more sandbag permits since July 2007, bringing the total number of sandbag structures statewide to about 379. Of those, about 149 are uncovered. Dare County has 117 of those exposed sandbag structures - and most of them are in South Nags Head.

Under state coastal rules, sandbags are considered hardened structures that are forbidden as permanent features because they create erosion elsewhere. They are allowed as temporary erosion measures for up to five years to provide time for property owners to take other steps to save their homes. But various extensions granted after storms have resulted in some bags staying in place for as long as two decades.

In 2000, the state Coastal Resources Commission extended the deadline for removal of the bags until May 1, 2008, for communities that were pursuing beach widening projects. The state panel last year declined to extend the deadline.

Mike Lopazanski, the division's coastal and ocean policy manager, said that staff, using GPS, photographs and site condition assessments, will prioritize which sandbags need to be removed. After property owners are notified, they have 30 days to comply. Bags with current permits can stay, he said.

"They can maintain their sandbag structures," Lopazanski said. "We permit sandbags all the time. We haven't banned sandbags."

So far, there have been about 30 requests for permit variances to the commission, he said. The requests are expected to be considered at the panel's meeting next month.

The law allows variances if the commission agrees on each of four findings, including that the variance is "consistent with the spirit, purpose and intent of the commission's rules," and "will preserve substantial justice."

The Nags Head Board of Commissioners, meanwhile, passed a resolution June 4 asking the North Carolina General Assembly to assist in finding other erosion-control measures, "specifically beach nourishment."

A request was also made to give certain property owners an extension for their sandbags until the town can fund a nourishment project, or up to five years.

Property owners face not only the hefty expense of having to remove the bags, which can each weigh more than 3 tons, but also the imminent demise of their homes, said Yogi Harper, owner of Erosion Control Specialists in South Nags Head.

"There's no way to put a price tag on how much it costs to remove them," he said. "It's going to cost some people their homes."

Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com