Kitty Hawk rejects Nags Head sand financing plan
Kitty Hawk has become the first town to challenge new plans for beach nourishment, saying it will not support Nags Head using another 1 percent of the occupancy tax to finance a loan for its project.
Kitty Hawk Mayor Pro Tem Gary Perry also told the Dare County Shoreline Management Commission that money from a county fund should be divided up according to how much a locality has put into it.
“In a sense of fairness to all of Dare County, the beach nourishment occupancy tax fund balance should not be depleted for the benefit of a single municipal project,” Perry said Tuesday, reading from a written statement.
The Shoreline Management Fund is made up of 1 percent of the 5 percent tax charged to visiting renters. Nags Head has asked for $20 million from the $24 million fund and wants to add yet another 1 percent to the occupancy tax that would be used to pay off a $16 million revenue bond over five years.
Related: Oakes takes plan to Kill devil Hills »
“If funds are disbursed to a town or unincorporated part of Dare, then do so in proportion to the occupancy percentage generated in that section of the Outer Banks,” Perry said.
Added to the Nags Head plan over the objections of Mayor Bob Oakes was a proposal to resurrect the 1 percent local sales tax for beach nourishment that was rescinded after a referendum in 2006. Perry said the tax “will be vigorously opposed” by the Kitty Hawk Town Council.
But Warren Judge, the chairman of the shoreline commission and the Dare County Board of Commissioners, apparently put the sales tax issue to rest when he said it was off the table.
The Shoreline Management Commission is an advisory group made up of representatives of the county and the six towns. The Dare County Board of Commissioners will decide how beach nourishment money will be spent, but it has already said that it wants a consensus from all of the localities.
Kitty Hawk’s position was another complication for the town of Nags Head, which was the first to come out with a new plan for nourishing the beach. Last week, Kill Devil Hills jumped into the competition for money with a plan that would draw as much as $18 million from the county fund with the expectation that the federal government would pay it back.
When that is coupled with the $20 million Nags Head wants, there is not enough money to go around. Oakes says that the extra 1 percent on the occupancy tax would more than replenish the fund over 10 years and pay off the $16 million bond that would cover the balance of its $36 million project.
Oakes said he was open to the idea of the two towns working together, saying there could be cost savings because Nags Head has almost completed the upfront work needed to get a project started. But he added that Nags Head was farther along in permitting and would move ahead without Kill Devil Hills if necessary.
Oakes also expressed concerns about whether Kill Devil Hills could count on being reimbursed under a section of federal law that allows for a payback if a project meets certain standards. Judge said receiving the money would require Congressional approval. Other projects elsewhere were successful years ago, “but all of that has kind of dried up right now,” Judge said.
Paul Buske, the Kill Devil Hills representative on the shoreline commission, was not at Tuesday’s meeting. The town’s planning director, Greg Loy, was available to answer questions, saying that the town would like to join with Nags Head but acknowledging that no discussions had taken place.
Skeptical leaders of the other towns questioned both plans. Duck Town Councilman Neil Morrison, citing maps that showed ancient riverbeds speeding erosion on a section of Duck’s beach and along the Kill Devil Hills and South Nags Head shorelines, questioned whether the sand would stay put.
“It’s going to continue to erode at a rapid rate,” Morrison said.
Manteo Mayor Jamie Daniels voiced concerns that the sand would be gone before the money could be paid back.
“That’s my concern, financing the sand instead of paying cash for it,” Daniels said.
“You don’t know how long it’s going to last until you put it out there,” Oakes said.
Other questions centered on discrepancies between the cost per cubic yard for Nags Head’s 10-mile project and Kill Devil Hills’, which would cover about 2.7 miles to the Kitty Hawk line. The Kill Devil Hills plan would cost almost as much as Nags Head’s. Last week, an engineer hired to put together the Kill Devil Hills proposal said the estimates were preliminary and probably overstated to be conservative.
The towns’ plans are actually two pieces of a federal project that was authorized by Congress and later approved by the U.S Army Corps of Engineers. But the federal project never received funding.
An assumption in the Kill Devil Hills plan is that the work that went into permitting by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could be used to speed up permitting for the local project. But that could still require the work to be done in the winter, when pumping sand on the beach is considered dangerous and less efficient.
Nags Head is trying to obtain a waiver to work outside of the winter months. The restrictions are in place to protect marine life.
If the work cannot be done in the spring, summer or fall, Oakes said, “we may as well not do the project.”
Related:
Kill Devil Hills wants federal payback »
County seeks sand consensus »
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newjake says:
It is refreshing to hear about a local leader who is thinking through the challenges logically. We may just arrive at a wise decision yet.
barbara says:
Horray for Perry, Morrison and Daniels! Maybe now some true alternatives to BN will be discussed. The county does have a nice chunk of money to utilize for shoreline management. Hopefully something other than beach nourishment for 2.7 miles will be discussed. Kudos to the mayors for standing up!
GB says:
The shoreline commission has an opportunity to show leadership on the issue of responsibly managing the beaches and mitigating erosion problems of Dare County.
At the meeting some members of the commission said that the money already collected should be available on a “first come, first serve basis.”
If the decision about how to spend the money will be based the timing of a town’s presentation rather than a realistic look at the costs, the financial risks, the need, and the likelyhood that a particular plan will actually work, then I have serious doubts about this process.
A comprehensive, countywide approach–including dune building, managed retreat in very high risk areas, and a close look at the benefits of offshore reefs–makes more sense to me than first come first serve.
Butch Stone says:
Shame on the town of Kitty Hawk!!
What are they going to use the money for?
They dont have any permits for nourishment.
Mr. Perry told me, he was the one that got sand fencing for Kitty Hawk
Is this what they are going to use the money for again??
What a Waste!!
Sand fencing in Kitty Hawk is only OCEAN TRASH, and polluting the ocean, just like when they pump the septic tank water back in the ocean,when they get ocean wash-over there.
If the beach were wider you wouldnt have this problem!!