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Ocean Isle Beach approves CPE contract for 2025 beach management plan; resident asks about rebuild timeline
Summary
The Town of Ocean Isle Beach signed a service agreement with Coastal Protection and Engineering to prepare a 2025 beach management plan, which officials said will support documentation for recovery funding and require field surveys and vegetation-based setbacks; a resident asked about when a nonrebuildable lot might become buildable.
The Town of Ocean Isle Beach voted to sign a service agreement with Coastal Protection and Engineering to prepare the town’s 2025 beach management plan.
Town staff explained the plan will replace the earlier “static line” approach used after the town’s initial nourishment project and will document vegetation lines and annual survey results so the town can show losses after a major storm and pursue federal or state recovery funds. Staff said the plan will be submitted to the Coastal Resources Commission for review and that the town hopes to present it at the commission’s April 30–May 1 meeting.
During public comment, resident Tommy Arnold said he owns a lot at 419 East First Street (corner of Lumberton) that is currently nonrebuildable and asked how soon it might be considered buildable. Staff said the relevant measurements follow the vegetation line and that planted vegetation is typically considered natural and stable after a minimum of two growing seasons. Staff also said the town plans to construct a dune that will come in front of Arnold’s property and be heavily vegetated; that dune will extend to just west of High Point Street and up to Lumberton. Staff advised that any property owner actions to enhance vegetation could help but would still be subject to the Division of Coastal Management’s review.
Staff noted the dune project is under budget and that accommodation tax revenue will be used to fund the plan if federal or state funds are not available. A councilmember asked whether funds were within the budget; staff confirmed no budget adjustment was needed. The motion to sign the service agreement was moved, seconded and approved on a voice vote recorded as “Aye.”
Key technical and timeline points recorded in the meeting: the town’s initial nourishment project occurred in February 2001; the town obtained a static-line exception in 2010; previously the static line required reapproval every five years; coastal management rules have since changed and the town is preparing a beach management plan instead; planted vegetation generally needs two growing seasons to be treated as stable for measurement.
