03-28-08: CRC sticks to its guns on sandbags (so far)

Kill Devil Hills -- Coastal regulators Thursday overwhelmingly voted down a proposal to allow sandbags in front of commercial structures to remain indefinitely.

It was the first salvo in what is expected to be a flurry of activity over sandbags ahead of the state's May 1 deadline for the removal of most of the state's exposed bags.

Landmark Hotel Group, which owns several hotels on the Outer Banks, said the intention of its rules petition was to offer relief to property owners facing an uncertain future.

Ted Simpson, speaking for the hotel group, said that the proposed rule wouldn't have allowed sandbags to remain permanently, but only while a structure was still "viable."

He also noted that this exception for commercial structures would have recognized the greater financial role hotels and other businesses play in driving coastal economies.

But Mike Lopazanski, Coastal Management's policy manager, said it would be a mistake for the state to start treating commercial properties by a different set of rules than those that govern non-commercial properties.

After Thursday's vote, though, several members of the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission expressed frustration about the limited options available to protect threatened oceanfront properties, because state law bans "permanent erosion-control structures" along the coast.

Aside from expensive beach nourishment projects, the only alternatives left are sandbags, which are subject to a time limit, or retreat.

"I'm frustrated, and I know others are also," said commission member Bob Wilson.

Already several coastal legislators, including state Sen. Marc Basnight, D-Dare, are hearing from worried property owners.

But other commission members said the CRC needs to keep in focus its big-picture perspective and position as protector of the coast for all North Carolina residents.

"We have a responsibility first and foremost, as I see it, to protect the natural resource," said Pender County's Joan Weld. "Of course you have to weigh other factors also. But I see that as our mandate."

The CRC set the sandbag removal deadline in 2007 after years of leniency in allowing sandbags to stay on the beachfront well past their intended pull-out dates.

Under state law sandbags are supposed to be limited in size and in place no more than two years in most cases, to buy time for development of more permanent solutions to protect threatened oceanfront property.

But a spate of hurricanes in the 1990s coupled with the lengthy planning and regulatory process needed for communities to get beach nourishment projects led the CRC to extend most sandbag permits.

The result, however, has been an increase in sandbags on the beach without a similar increase in permanent erosion solutions.

Frustrated by the proliferation of the fabric walls along North Carolina's beaches that can affect public access, wash away beaches and simply move erosion farther up the shoreline, coastal regulators last fall decided to get tough on the use of sandbags.

The May 1 deadline could force as many as 150 oceanfront property owners to pull out the only protection they have from the encroaching Atlantic.

In Southeastern North Carolina, substantial sandbag structures can be found near inlets in Ocean Isle Beach, Figure Eight Island and North Topsail Beach.

Gareth McGrath: 343-2384

gareth.mcgrath@starnewsonline.com