Those of you familiar with the east end of Ocean Isle Beach are certainly also familiar with the toll that has been taken by the homes and the beach due to the effects of our many coastal storms. A few years back, amassive renourishment projecttook place in an effort to stem the tide (literally and figuratively) of the erosion and protect the now oceanfront homes which were formerly the 3rd ave homes. The $40M+ project which took a number of months to complete was a complete failure as the tides began their break over the new high water mark just a few short months after the project completion. It was all downhill from there and in a short time high tide once again reached up to the sand bags and up under some of the homes out at the point.
Earlier this year a controversial plan to build a terminal groin out on the east end to protect these homes was approved by the town and the Army Corp of Engineers with a construction start date of approximately November, 2017. Just this week however, the Southern Environmental Law Center filed suit against the town in an effort to force them to revisit their plans and implement other options.
According to the complaint, the town of Ocean Isle began pursuing permits to construct a terminal groin in 2011. The process yielded a draft environmental impact statement that identified five alternatives to be evaluated: no action; abandon/retreat; beach fill only; Shallotte Inlet Bar Channel realignment with Beach Fill; and the terminal groin. The complaint alleges that the Army Corps violated the National Environmental Policy Act by using an inappropriate model to evaluate alternatives and failing to include certain information necessary to evaluate alternatives. It also alleges that the Army Corps did not evaluate secondary effects of the terminal groin over the life of the project, failed to select an alternative that would be the least damaging to the environment and did not independently verify certain data in the environmental impact statement.
In an effort to keep you better informed and to try to consolidate information regarding this latest update to the project, I have included the background of the project and the details regarding the lawsuit. As more information/updates come available, I will add it to this article.
One piece of information I have not been able to locate is what specific alternatives the SELC would like the town and the Corp to consider. Personally, I have great regard for the SELC and the efforts that they have undertaken in the struggle to constrain any further oceanfront development on the west end of Sunset Beach. I’d love to hear what their options are in this particular case. We’d love to hear your input on this project. Please feel free to comment below or share to Facebook or other social media. If you’d like to keep up with any updates on this project, please either bookmark this page or sign up for email updates below.
8/18/2017 UPDATE
Just when you thought it was safe to go into the water! With homes on the east end ready to slip into the ocean….it is announced that 44 new homes are being proposed for farther down the east end.
Below you can read the release regarding the approval and the permitting of the groin by the US Army Corp of Engineers.
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