06-04-06: Stem the Tide (editorial)

Stem the tide: North Carolina's coastal counties are being spoiled by rampant development. Preventive measures need to be taken, soon

The potential flooding of North Carolina's coast due to global warming is scary, but there's another threat that's more immediate than any melting of the ice caps. The N.C. Coastal Federation, in its annual State of the Coast report, documents the furious development of North Carolina's Atlantic counties. It is a welcome and needed call to state and coastal leaders to finally take control of runaway growth.
There's more at stake from exponential growth in the 20 coastal counties than ecological harm. Picture the stunning color of Emerald Isle's surf when the sun hits it just right. Now envision the scene along heavily developed beachfronts in other states -- Virginia Beach or Myrtle Beach, for example. Massive development brings with it the human detritus called pollution -- of air and water. It's a threat to the environment and a damper on the enjoyment that the coastal experience offers.

The federation, a nonprofit, coastal protection group, notes that shrimp and fish landings are down, and oystermen find it harder and harder to ply their trade. Those troubles are tied to runoff that chokes sea plant and animal life. Sadly, that has meant the steady loss of a culture that links the state's present to its colonial birth amid the rivers and estuaries of the coast.

There's also the loss of Eastern North Carolina's rural tradition. The federation traces what used to be lightly populated counties that prior to the 1970s held a smattering of cottages near the surf, to towns built out with rental vacation homes in the '80s. Now vacationers in places like Dare and Currituck Counties see coastal castles, built shoulder to shoulder along the beach. On the central coast, Carteret County went from 80 percent rural to 30 percent between 1980 and 2000.

What also ought to worry leaders intent on protecting North Carolina's coastal tourist trade is that development is eating more and more deeply into coastal counties. Single homes, golf course developments and retirement communities now crowd virtually any waterway where developers can acquire access. A series of articles beginning today in The N&O takes a close look at this disturbing trend.

Encouragingly, local residents who once fought zoning to protect coastal areas now are asking governments to step in.

The federation offers reasonable recommendations to slow the development tide. For instance, lawmakers should study ways to encourage varied waterfront uses, such as fishing piers and commercial fish houses, and should consider allowing counties to give tax breaks to landowners so they aren't forced to sell to developers. North Carolina's coast has resisted overdevelopment better than other states' coastal regions because of protection laws enacted in the mid-1970s. That enlightened outlook needs to be renewed.