7-8-2007: Officials to revisit relocated inlet

Officials to revisit relocated inlet

The tides of change could soon be sweeping Mason Inlet.
Five years ago, New Hanover County relocated the wandering inlet nearly 3,000-feet north, away from Shell Island resort and other threatened properties at the north end of Wrightsville Beach.
Next month, county officials intend to hold a work session to discuss the status of the inlet project and what to do about roughly $2 million in outstanding inlet-related expenses, and potentially revisit some of the requirements included in the project's permit.
Those discussions could include who should pay for ongoing inlet maintenance and whether regulatory conditions tied to the project permit, such as biological monitoring, should be modified.
The meeting comes as the inlet that separates Wrightsville Beach and Figure Eight Island is experiencing significant shoaling, although Assistant County Manager Dave Weaver said no major dredging projects are currently planned.
Bill Caster, chairman of the New Hanover County Commissioners, said it would be hard to argue that the inlet relocation hasn't been a success.
He said the project protected private property and valuable tax base, prevented a potential public relations disaster for the county's tourism industry, created a popular bird sanctuary and did so without costing county taxpayers money.
While certainly willing to listen to concerns, Caster said he wasn't willing to promise anything.
"Personally, I'm not too anxious to make any changes right now," he said.
When the inlet was relocated, 1,044 property owners on Figure Eight Island and the north end of Wrightsville Beach agreed to pay for all costs over the 30-year lifespan of the project.
To date, about $8 million has been spent on the inlet project, $6 million of which has been assessed to the property owners.
But the homeowners, who formed an umbrella group called the Mason Inlet Preservation Group, have grown frustrated in recent years over paying for ongoing environmental monitoring and management programs. They also have stated that the inlet relocation has been a boon for the whole county, not just for them, and thus maybe others should share in the financial costs of the project.
Friday Frank Pinkston, head of the property owners group, declined to comment beyond that he was looking forward to participating in next month's work session.
But any move to widen the financial net - or to just use room-tax funds to pay for the project - could run into opposition, including from state Rep. Danny McComas, R-New Hanover.
"I don't think that would be viewed in a positive light by the rest of the county," he said. "That's not what was agreed to."
Any attempt to waive or scale back biological conditions tied to the project also will be intensely scrutinized by environmentalists.
Tracy Skrabal, senior scientist with the N.C. Coastal Federation, said it's hard to talk about adding more flexibility to the permit conditions when there's never really been a review of how well the county has done in meeting them in the first place.
"In terms of permit compliance, we're not at all satisfied and that we haven't heard 'boo' about how well they've complied with their permit conditions," she said. "We simply want an accounting."
Conditions tacked onto the Army Corps of Engineers project permit included a management plan for the north end of Carolina Beach and the purchase of the remaining private lots on Masonboro Island, although that requirement was later dropped.
One of the conditions that has been met is the creation, management and monitoring of a bird sanctuary at the undeveloped north end of Wrightsville Beach, which largely sits on top of the old Mason Inlet.
Everyone agrees the sanctuary has been a success, with nesting and migrating shorebirds flocking to the area and numbers increasing every years.
The site also is part of the to the N.C. Birding Trail for coastal North Carolina.
But Walker Golder, deputy director for Audubon North Carolina, said the birds and visitors drawn to the reserve could evaporate if money for continued management washes away.
"In order to ensure it's a suitable habitat for birds, you have to implement the management plan to make sure people and dogs stay out," he said. "If you remove that, the birds are going to leave. The big picture is that everything we've done for the past five years then goes away."
The work session, which is open to the public, is scheduled for Aug. 9.
Gareth McGrath: 343-2384
gareth.mcgrath@starnewsonline.com