North Carolina Beaches

State gets tough on beaches' sandbags
By Gareth McGrathStaff writer
gareth.mcgrath@starnewsonline.com

Greenville They were supposed to be temporary measures, limited in size and duration on the beach, to buy time for development of more permanent solutions to protect imminently threatened oceanfront property.

But somewhere along the line, and sometimes aided by sympathetic officials, sandbags have morphed into de facto permanent structures - a supposed no-no in North Carolina where hardened erosion-control measures on beaches are illegal.

Case in point is The Riggings condominium complex in Kure Beach, where sandbags have helped hold back the Atlantic since the first Reagan administration.

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, the state agency that regulates the coast is now getting tough on sandbags.

Earlier this year, the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission rejected an application by Ocean Isle Beach to "supersize" the sandbags protecting homes and infrastructure along the Brunswick County island's badly eroded east end.

The decision, which is being appealed by the town, came even though the commission previously had given Figure Eight Island and Bald Head Island permission to exceed the 6-foot-tall, 20-foot-wide limit for their sandbag walls.

Thursday, officials discussed the difficulties of enforcing existing rules on sandbags.Jim Gregson, head of the N.C. Division of Coastal Management's Wilmington office, said regulators are "struggling" with what to do about sandbag walls that are taller than their permitted maximum and perpendicular instead of parallel to the shoreline.

The 6-foot-height limit is supposed to be from the beach. But as the bags settle and sink into the sand, more sandbags are often added by worried property owners - causing enforcement problems if erosion exposes the sunken bags.

Coastal officials earlier this year toured some areas along the Outer Banks where sandbag walls were 14 feet high.Spencer Rogers, a coastal engineering expert with N.C. Sea Grant, recommended that sandbag walls be limited to 6 feet, even if they sink.

"The key to limiting the impact is size limits," he said, noting that the 6-foot limit without exceptions was what the commission's Science Panel had recommended years ago.

Commission member Melvin Shepard added his support for reining in sandbags, noting that they weren't designed to be a final solution.

"They were never intended to stop erosion, but just to buy some time until the property could be moved or nourishment could take place," said the Sneads Ferry resident.

Courtney Hackney, chairman of the CRC and a biologist at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, also noted the environmental problems caused by torn or damaged sandbags.

"That's the No. 1 debris in the salt marshes," he said. "It's not Coke bottles or other trash. It's pieces of these bags."But Harry Simmons, mayor of Caswell Beach and executive director of the N.C. Shore, Beach and Waterway Commission, cautioned officials against thinking all sandbag applications are bad. He noted most of the problems with the bags occur around inlets, which are erosion hot spots.

In Southeastern North Carolina, substantial sandbag walls several hundred feet long can be found near inlets in Ocean Isle Beach, Figure Eight Island and North Topsail Beach.

Bald Head Island had its long sandbag wall buried after the Brunswick County island's South Beach was nourished as part of the Wilmington Harbor deepening project.To help stabilize and rebuild the beach further, the island also has rebuilt its groin system.

The network of large perpendicular sand tubes, spaced several hundred feet apart, that extend into the ocean is the only one of its kind in the state.

It's allowed only because it pre-dates the state's ban on hardened beachfront structures.

A bill in the General Assembly would allow North Topsail Beach to build another groin system, although the legislation doesn't appear to have a lot of political support. But officials admit a bigger sandbag problem could be on the horizon.

May 2008 is the deadline for exposed sandbags installed prior to 2000 to come out.

According to state law, only sandbags that are buried and have vegetation on them can stay in the ground.

Gareth McGrath: 910-343-2384
gareth.mcgrath@starnewsonline.com
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