The Virginian-Pilot
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NAGS HEAD, N.C.
What was good for Sandbridge, Va., could be good for Nags Head, beach nourishment consultant Timothy W. Kana said.
A proposed project that would widen 10.1 miles of beach in South Nags Head shares common elements with two successful projects completed in Virginia, Kana said.
The Army Corps of Engineers recently released a draft environmental impact statement on the proposed project, which would use a hopper dredge on an offshore site during the summer to gather 4.6 million cubic yards of sand.
The scale and scope of Sandbridge is similar to that of Nags Head, said Kana, president of Coastal Science & Engineering in Columbia, S.C., who designed the plan with the corps.
Kana also said that the Outer Banks' high wave energy makes dredging in the winter dangerous, and summer dredging is complicated by the potential presence of sea turtles, a protected species.
The impact statement cites the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which said that the proposed project is not likely to jeopardize sea turtles or adversely affect their habitat.
Sandbridge is 50 miles away from Nags Head. The fact that no turtles died there during similar projects in 2002 and 2007, Kana said, bodes well for Nags Head.
Hopper dredges, which scoop material into a hold on the vessel, are more agile than pipeline dredges.
At a public meeting last week about the proposed project, Raleigh Bland, with the corps' Washington Regulatory Field Office, said that a permit is not necessarily a done deal, but that many of the difficult hurdles have been cleared.
"A lot of the things that are big-time monsters have already been tamed or put in the cage," Bland told the roomful of residents.
Permits are good for three to five years, Kana said, but dredging would not start until funding was in hand.
With north-facing beaches, South Nags Head suffers from severe erosion during nor'easters. The state has required that many sandbags that protect houses be removed, and town officials say nourishment is the only way to save the beach there.
Preliminary work began in 2000 on the proposed 14.2-mile federal nourishment project in Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head. When it became clear that Congress was not going to fund construction, state legislators in 2005 passed a bill permitting Dare County to charge a 1 percent sales tax to fund beach nourishment. But the following year, county voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum that rescinded the tax.
Then Nags Head hired Kana to design its own plan and in 2007 put a referendum on the ballot asking town voters to approve a bond to pay for most of the $32 million cost. Voters slapped it down.
Nags Head is now seeking an $11 million grant from the state Water Resources Development Projects and $11 million from the county Shoreline Management Fund. Town officials are developing proposals to get the remaining money.
"We must do something to preserve the infrastructure and the tax base in Nags Head," said Town Manager Charles Cameron.
Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com
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Make Some Sense
I do see where people would just prefer "to let nature run its course" and have everyone move away from the beach. What about the local business owners that depend on the beach to be there for a source of income? Do you tell those hard working folks, "tough luck, go get a real job?" How about the many others who depend on tourism for jobs? Many folks seem to forget that beaches are magnets and many, many of them are drawn to it every year. Sure there have been complaints associated with beach nourishment projects, but that's the case with everything. Some people just like to complain. Many of the folks who complained about the nourishment event were tourists and came back after the project. I don't recall many locals being terribly upset.
Dredging and beach nourishment does have short term impacts on ecology, however Dr. Van Dolah, Mark Burlas, and many others have studied these impacts tirelessly. The general consensus is that beach ecology recovers. Mr. Burlas did state that his research, on a NY nourishment project, had more of an impact on ecology than the beach nourishment project.
It should be important to point out that Nags Head has had ~46 nests in a 24 year
Beach Nourishment
Ok there are many things to be considered right now...Who has talked to the people of SANDBRIDGE...and asked them how they like what was done to their beaches. I have heard nothing but complaints from people in that area who come here because their beaches were ruined by nourishment.
POINT TWO and I think the most important one....we can't drive on our beaches right now because of protecting the birds and sea turtles in the chance they might get injured....but we know dreging disrupts the ecology of the beaches and the ocean in the area for many weeks....and yes sea turtles from what I heard ...no hard fast info on them were injured along with other important wildlife...South Nags Head has more sea turtle nests north of hatteras than any where else every summer. Contact N.E.S.T. they will tell you .
I am sorry those people are having to deal with their houses falling into the ocean...really ...but commonsense should tell any of us to research everything before you plunk the money down.
Party politics
If I'm not mistaken, Junk Yard; the Ray you might be referring to was a 60+ year registered Democrat, now voting as an Independant. Yes, "Virginia" there are conservative thinking, middle of the road voters in Dare County, even if there is no place for them in the "yellow-dog" OBX-Democratic party, or in that other party.
Beach Nourishment
come on Ray, its not just Dare County Politicians that suck up to each other. When your party was in, it was the same way with Louise, Mikey and the rest. Your views may be correct, put to try and pin this all down to politics, even lay persons see thru this bs.
Wake up Voters
Nags Head Mayor Pro-Tem Anna Sadler was correct when she said "I (meaning the entire Nags Head board) don't care what the voters think." (referring to two landslide referendums about beach nourishment). This matter will never be put to sleep as long as Sadler, Mayor Renee Cahoon and Dare Chairman Warren Judge remain in office. And, they have their "elected tag-alongs". It is totally amazing how politicans suck up to each other in Dare County. Wake up voters.
Perspective
Barrier island "erosion" is just a matter of perspective. If the houses weren't built right on the beach at high water, it wouldn't be an issue. Look at Assateague Island, with no development. Where it shrinks on one side, it grows on the the other, sandbars in the "unnavigable" channels come and go with each year, sometime they even become little islands. And it isn't an issue. Work with nature. Just like after Isabel, how ludicrous (and expensive) to fill the new channel that the hurricane created and that many boaters said was deeper, easier, and safer to navigate than Oregon Inlet. Time to work with nature instead of against it. Adapt and overcome instead of trying to control the ocean.
Where are the tree huggers?
This is NOT natural at all. There is NO WAY that anyone could make this statement, "The fact that no turtles died there during similar projects in 2002 and 2007, Kana said, bodes well for Nags Head." Was Kana out there with every turtle or every bird? He has no way of knowing is any of them died or not. Nature will determine if it wants to erode the beaches or not and for man to interfere by trying to stop the erosion is the same as SUV's driving on the beaches. It's not a natural event and by the reasoning of the tree huggers should not be done. It's time to step back and let mother nature take what is hers and control the environment. Government is trying to over-ride nature at VA Beach, Sandbridge, Nags Head and any other beach they are trying to replenish for commercial purposes. I no longer go to the beaches of NC or VAB and don't want my tax dollars going to try to divert nature. Come on tree huggers, band together and stop this abuse of nature.