Beach Hopes Renourished
Funds, sand coming for projects; it wasn't easy

By Gareth McGrath
Wilmington Star News
Staff Writer

Three for one. That's how many beach nourishment projects Southeastern North Carolina will be getting out of a single $8.2 million contract with Norfolk Dredging Co.

The projects - bundled together to get a better price - in Carolina Beach ($3.1 million), Kure Beach ($3 million) and Ocean Isle Beach ($2.1 million) represent an important victory considering the tough fiscal climate in Washington, said U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-N.C.

"It's always a battle up here, now more than ever, to secure funding for these coastal projects that are vital to our region," he said.

Still, officials admit the way most of the federal money was secured, coupled with the continuing general disdain for beach nourishment projects within the Bush administration, doesn't mean the beach-building business is suddenly getting any easier.

"Yes, the money did come through," said Rick Catlin, chairman of the New Hanover County Ports, Waterway and Beach Commission. "But I don't know if we can count on it to come through that way again."

"We got it done again, but that's no way of doing business."

Catlin, who doubles as chairman of the N.C. Beach, Inlet and Waterway Association, also cautioned that the recent spate of success in securing funds for local nourishment projects - with Wrightsville Beach's taking place this spring - doesn't mean getting money for future beach projects is suddenly a sure thing.

"Let's take each year at a time," McIntyre said, noting that almost all beach projects get zero funding in the administration's proposed budget, leaving it up to Congress to appropriate the money.

Wrightsville Beach, along with the three coastal communities covered in the Norfolk contract, are the only North Carolina towns guaranteed a periodic injection of sand from the federal government.

But most of the state's other beach communities are seeking federal nourishments of their own, including significant projects in Dare County, Topsail Island and Brunswick County.

That could mean more communities seeking money from the same federal pie, spreading the available funds even thinner, warned Catlin.

The Pleasure Island and Ocean Isle nourishments will take place between mid-November and May to avoid harming nesting sea turtles.

As with past nourishments, the funding breakdown for the projects is 65 percent federal, 35 percent state/local.

Catlin said roughly half of the federal portion of the project's costs came from money in a Congressional bill to help with the recovery from last year's spate of devastating hurricanes, including Ophelia, which raked the North Carolina coastline last September.

The rest of the money came from funds that the Army Corps of Engineers "reprogrammed" from other projects.

But Catlin said scraping together money isn't the to plan for these types of projects, especially as it becomes increasingly apparent that state and local governments will likely have to shoulder more of the financial burden.

Steve Ellis with Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington-based fiscal watchdog group, said his organization supported such a shift.

"If most of the benefits are generated at the local level then we feel most of the financing should also come from the local level," he said. "That just makes fiscal sense to us."

However the funding fell into place for the latest nourishments, town officials are happy to hear that the sand is en route - even if the beaches are for the most part in relatively good shape.

"It will be a welcome addition," said Tom Barber, beach nourishment coordinator for Kure Beach. "But generally our beach is pretty good as far as North Carolina beaches go."

Perhaps the biggest sigh of relief is on Ocean Isle Beach, where the town's beach was supposed to receive fresh sand two years ago.

But the project has been delayed for financial reasons, as bids have come in well over the corps' estimates.

McIntyre said that's not going to happen this time.

"We're comfortable that we have an ironclad commitment with the corps," he said.

Ocean Isle officials intend to piggyback on the federal project with a smaller town-financed project to nourish the island's badly eroded east end.

The beach area near Shallotte Inlet has been left out of the federal project because of its unstable nature.

In short, the corps can't guarantee any sand pumped there will remain on the beach very long.