BUXTON, N.C. — The final piece of the puzzle of this chapter of shoreline stabilization for Buxton is now in place, as this week the Army Corps of Engineers approved the permit for the upcoming single jetty repair project.
"We're just very, very relieved," said Wendi Munden, a member of the Buxton Civic Association, when asked what her reaction was to the news.
Munden grew up coming to Buxton and swimming right alongside the massive jetty. She has called Buxton home with her family for many years now.
"It's a place that I've been going to since I was a child, and now bringing my children there and continuing to surf there is just special," said Munden.
This week the Army Corps of Engineers gave the green light for the upcoming single jetty repair project. This was the final permit needed after the state and National Park Service gave the OK on it earlier this year.
"We only get one, but one's better than none. We'll take progress however it comes," said Munden.
The deterioration of the jetty over the years was a major cause of accelerated erosion on the oceanfront that led to 19 homes being taken by the ocean in 2025. Buxton neighbors know the repair of this jetty isn't going to solve all the problems, but it is a start.
"Accelerated erosion is what caused the 19 homes collapses. Now we understand that the jetty is not going to be a fix all to the solution. It's just one thing in our toolbox that we can use to slow us down, to help the nourishment hold longer, to help build the beach back out, to help Buxton Beach along with the private homes, but also Highway 12, because that's our main concern," said Munden.
For Dare County Manager Bobby Outten, it now looks like everything is going according to plan.
"Our goal was to have it where we could start on it and get it completed at or about the same time that we can complete our beach nourishment, and it looks like that can happen now," said Outten.
Bids are currently open for the jetty repair project with a deadline of June 4. Outten says they're already seeing interest from potential contractors.
For Wendi and fellow Buxton neighbors, it's a breath of fresh air and also hope that current legislation in Raleigh that would overturn North Carolina's ban on hardened structures will keep moving forward.
"I personally would love to see the hardened structure ban lifted, I don't feel that it's applicable to North Carolina anymore. It's not going to solve everything, but it opens up the possibility to do more. Jetties aren't the answer for everywhere. Jetties aren't the answer here, but that's what was here, and that's what we have to work with. The hardened structures opens us up to offshore reefs and just different types of stabilization for for the beach and breaking up the wave action, which is huge," said Munden.
Some backstory about the structures: Three jetties have sat on the oceanfront in Buxton since the 1960s when the U.S. Navy built them to protect its defense site from erosion. But for decades the structures have sat there deteriorating in the Atlantic Ocean, which has only accelerated the erosion year after year.
The southernmost jetty is hard to miss for anyone visiting the Buxton lifeguarded beach, but the other two can be seen underneath the waves at times throughout the day. North Carolina law allows for a structure that is 50% intact to be repaired, which is how the southernmost jetty is eligible for new life.
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