Take the warranty
Outer Banks Pier | Pat Morris
The Outer Banks Voice
Does it bother you when you seal the deal on a new car or make a major
purchase, like that 52-inch HDTV, and the salesperson tries to persuade you to buy an extended warranty before you swipe the credit card?
It sure bugs me. What I want to say to the salesperson is, “Are you telling me your product is so shoddy I need to buy a warranty before I leave the store?” My wife, of course, calms me down and then tells the salesperson the exact same thing.
Like many of the Nags Head commissioners quoted in The Voice story on beach nourishment by editor Rob Morris Wednesday night, I have moved past the arguments that have dominated the discussion in the past.
Contentions by critics who pit oceanfront property owners against the
town residents, especially as it applies to South Nags Head, are beside the point. Many of the threatened homes there were three rows back when first built.
At least officials are holding open, frank discussions within full view of
the public, including financing options and asking for a considerable
contribution from Dare County.
The intentions and methods considered by the Town are certainly transparent. Conspiracy theorists take note.
Yet I am concerned that as we have moved on from the “us vs. them”
argument, science and fiscal calculus are also bypassed. The Nags Head
project, if supported by a bond referendum, considers a five-year payback for the project, which now exceeds $30 million.
As Commissioner Wayne Gray noted, if the sand is lost before the town can repay its investment, “we’ll be in trouble.” And he is correct. No matter how structured, if taxpayers sacrifice five years of town expenditures to replenish the
beach, we better get five years of sand retention. It doesn’t matter
whether we finance the project, pay cash or take county and state funds.
If the project fails to perform as advertised, in short order we will
have what car salesmen refer to as an “upside down” situation on our
hands. You can’t backfill a project for very long unless you operate like
the folks in Washington, D.C. I don’t want to owe $50 million on
nourishment while owning only $20 million of sand.
Thus, as discussions move forward, my humble request is we vet the science in
a vigorous public forum. What is the success rate of the private sector
firm we will hire to pump sand on the beach? Have they undertaken a
project similar to ours in size, scope and wave dynamics present on our
unique beach? Are there other firms and bids available? Why wouldn’t a
smaller scale project work as a way to “test” the project?
And most importantly, will this company offer an extended warranty or
money-back guarantee if their work fails to dovetail with the time
frame of our investment?
They should, and in this case, Nags Head should take it.
See what people are saying:
Join the discussion:
Ray Midgett says:
Please allow me to take issue with some points made in this commentary.
(1) the writer says “science and fiscal calculus” have been bypassed (by the town), yet the town has bought, hook-line-and-sinker into their paid engineer’s theory that the sand will stay on the beach for ten years.
(2) the writer says the town has exercised transparency in planning. Yet, the town, like Dare County has never held open community forums (except public comments at meetings) to gather detailed information on whether a majority of residents feel beach nourishment is feasible in the first place. And, apparently two separate referendums didn’t mean much to them.
(3)the suggestion that any dredging company could or should offer a warranty or money-back guarantee is a pipe-dream.
Finally, Commissioner Wayne Gray has it right. The residents of Nags Head are not affluent enough to take this $36 million gamble. They are sure to run out of money long before the ocean runs out of energy.
Will says:
Kevin Pain brought this up years ago. Is everyone deaf? Artificial reefs are working in many different parts of the world.
Will says:
http://www.asrltd.com
Perhaps the reason that no one is presenting other viewpoints at NH Commissioners meetings is the perception that the Commissioners are not listening to alternative plans.
wayne gray says:
I will be pleased to listen to another point of view. The only people that attend our meetings are pro-beach nourishment.
Ray Midgett says:
I have talked with commissioner Wayne Gray, one on one, many times about beach nourishment and have always found him to be willing to listen and open about his opinion of the subject.
Russ Lay says:
The warranty thing was satire! We know they won’t offer one. That was kind of the point . . .
Bob O says:
Open community forums – isn’t that a lot like public comments at meetings? How about the public workshop on Wednesday, January, January 20, 2010?
On a project like this, you get the best engineering advice you can. Measuring the amount of sand loss over ten years, putting that amount of sand on the beach, and expecting to get five years of life at a minimum makes sense to me. It’s adding sand to the system, which groins and offshore wrecks don’t do.
Two things are for sure – if we nourish the beach, we’ll have a lot more information about how that sand behaves over five to ten years, and we’ll be able to make better decisions in the future. And if we don’t, the beach will be at Jockeys Ridge sooner than we think.
Tim says:
Beach nourishment is the most important project that faces this community. The only reason people come to visit the Outer Banks is the beach. What a terrible environmental policy it is to let our infrastructure wash into the ocean. Of course the sand is going to wash back in the ocean. Then we just put it back. It is very simple and cheap compared to the alternatives.
Butch Stone says:
You take care of the beach, just like you take care of your home. If it needs painting every 5 years, you do it!!
Something has to be done. The beaches have never been taken care of.
Pump the the sand back on the beaches.
john says:
This sounds like left wing deal we must vote on this and push this thru now! House property taxes are at a all time high and won’t be revalued until 2013. Houses around me are selling for 665K and appraised over a million.Mine is appraised for 750K and the house 3 doors down is listed for 500K and has a pool and a extra bedroom. If you are going to shove this tax on us it should be for both the east and west side of the town of nags head as they benifit fron the use of the beaches also Or you gives a written guarantee from FEMA that they will replace it for free.One storm can come and wash it out in one year and we will be paying for this for FIVE years VOTE NO BEACH NOURISHMENT.