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Owners of oceanfront homes upset about sandbag removal
Coastal commission will hear first appeals from 20 property owners
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Published: November 1, 2008
FIGURE EIGHT ISLAND
A fair shot at saving his property is all that Michael Hobbs asks. His oceanfront home on this private island is one of nearly 20 near the north end that rely on sandbags to hold back the encroaching Atlantic Ocean.
"We just want permission to spend our own money," said Hobbs, who has seen the beach and dunes come and go during the nearly 30 years he has owned property on Figure Eight.
But proponents of North Carolina's toughening stance on sandbags say that coastal regulators have been more than fair, even lax, in enforcing the rules for property owners who have used sandbags to stop the ocean's march.
"Every single person out there knew they couldn't keep their bags indefinitely," said Andy Coburn, the associate director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Western Carolina University.
This month, the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission will hear the first appeals from about 20 property owners whose sandbags have been deemed the worst offenders along the coast because of their size and time on the beach.
All together the state has identified about 150 sandbagged structures that have outlived their permitted lifespan, which was generally five years, and need to be removed.
Most of the targeted sandbags, some of which have been on the beach for more than 14 years, are on the Outer Banks. But Figure Eight Island and Ocean Isle Beach have their fair share, too, but none are in this first batch scheduled for removal.
For Hobbs, the issue isn't that homeowners aren't willing to work toward saving their threatened houses. It's that the state won't let them do it.
"If we want to spend our own private money to protect our own private property, why can't we?" he asked. "We're not asking for any help or special treatment. Just a chance to try and save our property."
The options for homeowners and coastal communities are mostly limited to sandbags, which are supposed to be a temporary solution, or expensive beach-nourishment projects that can take years to win regulatory approval.
That's because North Carolina has a long-standing policy, codified into law in 2003, against hardened structures along the coast. It's based on evidence that such structures merely shift erosion to nearby areas.
Hobbs, a Connecticut resident, said that the sight of homes falling into the ocean would be disastrous, not only for the affected property owners but for beach communities up and down the coast as tourists stay away and values of oceanfront properties tumble.
"I just can't see any kind of benefit to the state of North Carolina that is commensurate to the cost if they are removed," he said, adding that there's little doubt that property would be lost if the bags are removed.
Jim Stephenson, a policy analyst for the N.C. Coastal Federation, said that oceanfront property is unique because it borders on elastic public land -- the beach -- that isn't fixed by property lines. He said that, in most cases, homeowners have had ample time to develop solutions to their erosion problems. Yet their only answer in almost all cases was to ask for extension after extension for their "temporary" sandbags.
Stephenson agreed that there would be economic repercussions for coastal communities if homes started washing away.
"Having a house fall in the ocean is about the worst PR a beach community can get, so it's in their best interest to plan accordingly," he said. "But that doesn't mean they have to violate state law to do that."
Back on Figure Eight, the one-two punch of Tropical Storm Hanna in early September and a no-name storm that followed a few weeks later has made the erosion worse.
In several places sandbags have been overwashed, and scouring behind other bags is eating into the escarpment and exposing the foundation pilings of houses.
Island officials plan to put sand on the beach this winter as part of maintenance dredging of nearby waterways. But if recent history is any guide, the sand won't stick around long.
For a longer-term solution, Figure Eight would like to shift the main channel in nearby Rich Inlet to allow sand to start collecting on the north end's inlet-influenced beach.
But the proposed project is still a long way from winning regulatory approval.
Hobbs said he thinks that the island's homeowners should be allowed to keep their bags until that project comes along. "Who are we hurting if we do?" he asked. "More importantly, what other option do we have?"
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