BUXTON, N.C. — Buxton residents felt encouraged after leaving the public meeting on proposed repairs to the southernmost jetty on the oceanfront Wednesday night. This project could be vital to the area's fight against erosion.
Jeff Dawson is an eighth-generation native of Buxton, and his family history here goes back hundreds of years. In his lifetime, he’s worried about the future of Buxton, which is one of the most rapidly eroding shorelines on the Outer Banks.
“We've been asking them to be proactive instead of reactive for pretty much my whole lifetime," said Dawson.
Dare County and Cape Hatteras National Seashore leaders were present at the meeting in the Fessenden Center Wednesday night. Receiving support from leadership in the county is a special feeling for Dawson and fellow residents.
“Knowing that the Park Service, the county, the state, all these people are working together on this issue is probably the most encouraging thing that I could say in a long, long time; this never happens for us," said Dawson.
Brett Barley has lived in Buxton his entire life and has also made a living here as a professional surfer.
"It's super encouraging. Because for a long time, whether it was the obstinance with the National Park Service or just feeling left out by the county, it was kind of hard for many years. That doesn't go away overnight with a lot of people, but it's pretty clear that we aren't being forgotten anymore," said Barley.
The focus of the meeting was to hear public comment from residents about the proposed repairs to the jetty. The public comment period is currently open until the end of the month. It was pretty clear from the meeting that most, if not all, residents are in support of this.
“We can see through evidence and through data and all this stuff that what the Navy did by building those jetties and doing a nourishment project afterwards, worked," said Barley.
The U.S. Navy occupied the area for decades and built three total jetties. The southernmost one is the most intact and is where the proposed repairs will happen.
Dare County awarded a contract in August to Coastal Science and Engineering to lead the way on the repairs. CSE outlined what that repair will look like.
"Because it's been repaired and replaced incrementally so many times, there's a lot of stuff down there, a lot of different types of riprap, armour stone, sandbags, wood, everything imaginable. And so first we need to figure out what's down there a little bit, which will be one of the first steps of the contractor to clean up the site a little bit, get some of that junk, more or less out of the way," said Patrick Barrineau, coastal science and vice president at CSE.
Barrineau continued sharing they will be doing some replacement along the jetty.
"We'll actually pull the piles out of the water and replace them with new ones. So, we're not simply just patching the holes. We're fully removing sections at a time and putting in new hardware," said Barrineau.
For now, the hope is that this will allow the sand to start building up north of the structure and will be combined with beach nourishment projects focusing on the most fragile areas of Buxton.
“As the groin (jetty) sits, sand will hopefully accumulate and begin to actually build north to the tune of one to two thousand feet of the existing structure. Which means then we can kind of reformulate our nourishment design to focus more on the Highway 12 section from the hotels down to Tower Circle," said Barrineau.
The expected start for the repair project is late summer in 2026. Buxton also has a beach nourishment project coming in April 2026.
For Buxton residents, it’s encouraging to finally see something like this happen. But also an understanding that though help is on the way, an upcoming fall and winter season, where Mother Nature could continue to leave her mark.
“We have to get through this winter with the rest of hurricane season, and then we have nor'easter season, and the beach service doesn't start till April, so whatever's left in April, we'll pick up those pieces and soldier on, because we're island strong, and that's what we do," said Dawson.
The public comment period for the proposed groin (jetty) repair is open until September 29. Anyone interested in providing feedback can head to the NPS website here.
