BUXTON, N.C. — The future of shoreline stabilization in Buxton was discussed Wednesday night with Dare County leaders providing updates on three projects in the area: beach nourishment in Buxton and Avon, along with the single jetty repair in Buxton.
"It sounds like things are moving along, and I mean, the sooner we can get this stuff in and get the jetty built, the better off we'll be next fall," said Brett Barley, who has lived in Buxton his entire life and is a member of the Buxton Civic Association.
The crowd of more than 40 people had a chance to hear what the current plans are for the three projects and also ask questions of county leaders. The presentation on the beach nourishment outlined that for the permitted projects in Avon and Buxton there will be:
• Placement of up to 2.8 million cubic yards of sand in Avon and Buxton
• Sand coming from state waters around 2 miles offshore
• Sand pumped from a dredge to the beach
• Dune construction in areas that currently don't have dunes
• Final placement and volume areas to be determined
"We're doing a beach nourishment project in Buxton, and that project affects a lot of people, not just the people that have property on the beach, but it affects the whole community," said Bobby Outten, Dare County manager.
The updates were welcomed in a community that has seen nearly 20 houses collapse into the ocean in just the last six months. But one concern from residents in Buxton is where the dune line will be established for the beach nourishment project, mainly because for some homeowners, their properties and lots remain on the shoreline.
"As we get closer to the project, we're going to have to settle on something. But until we kind of know what nature is going to do to us through February and early March, we don't know exactly what that's going to be. One, you want to have it as straight as you can get it, because that makes the best project. Two, you want to have it as landward as you can have it, so that it has the minimal amount or the least amount of impact that you can have from the current waves and things that are hitting it. Three, you want to have as minimal impact as you can have to the people that have structures on the ocean front. The consultant and the engineer's job is to come up with that alignment that meets all three of those goals," said Outten.
Hours before the meeting, the Buxton community received another piece of good news: the state gave the green light for the jetty repair project and beach nourishment. The North Carolina Division of Environmental Quality release said, "DCM (Division of Coastal Management) also issued a letter to the county affirming that the proposed work to rebuild one of three groins near the former site of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse qualifies as "repair" under the Coastal Area Management Act (CAMA) and the Coastal Resources Commission's (CRC) rules and does not therefore require a CAMA permit for the project to proceed."
"I was so excited. It felt like, to me, that was the biggest hurdle," said Barley.
Some of the project plans for the repair of the southernmost of the three jetties from the county include: a repair up to 640 feet and use of steel sheet pile, armor stone and/or concrete in the repair.
The two beach nourishment projects and jetty repair now have approval from the National Park Service and the State of North Carolina. The last piece of the puzzle is the permits from the Army Corps of Engineers.
"We don't have any indication that we have problems or that there are issues, it's more they just got to go through the process, and they are going to take a little bit longer to do that," said Outten.
Outten told News 3 that in a perfect world, all three projects would start in the May to June timeframe and be completed by the end of summer.
"They'll start as soon as the weather allows and all that, which is usually in a May timeframe, June timeframe, and then it'll take roughly 90 days to do the project. So the projects should be completed by the end of the summer. Weather of course changes everything, but that would be the goal," said Outten.
For Barley, who's spent his entire life in Buxton, being able to see everything coming together like this is a dream come true.
"It's basically all been shut down for a couple years due to petroleum leaking and house debris, and it'll be just so cool when it's all said and done, and we can have a beach and our economy back," said Barley.
The decision from the Army Corps of Engineers on the permits is expected in March.
