Posted on October 20, 2021
Southport looks to the state legislature for financial support as storms and boat wakes continue to batter its eroded shoreline
SOUTHPORT | Robert Smith has been coming to the public fishing pier that extends like a finger from the Southport waterfront out into the busy Cape Fear River since he was a much younger man.
Over the years the Columbus County resident has seen a lot of changes in the historic Brunswick County coastal town perched at the mouth of the river – more traffic, more tourists and more fishermen along the small city’s iconic waterfront.
But one thing has remained constant.
“They don’t stop coming,” Smith said, pointing to the wake from the passing pleasure craft that crashed into the rock revetment near the pier on this sunny, late September afternoon. “Wish the fish would bite as often.”
Like most coastal communities, Southport has been in a constant tug-of-war with Mother Nature since its founding in 1792. Without the river, there wouldn’t be a thriving community at the southeastern tip of Brunswick County.
But the water can sometimes be a dangerous neighbor as well as a vital link providing transport, jobs and — in recent decades — plenty of reason for visitors to flock to the popular tourist spot. Namely, decades of battling the erosion of its shoreline as storms, container vessels and even pleasure boat traffic have all increased.
Now, this city of roughly 3,800 is hoping positive political winds in Raleigh can help it secure money to stabilize parts of the city’s shoreline that remain under siege.
“We just need it,” said Mayor Joe Hatem. “And we’ve been trying for so long, talking about it for so long. But we just can’t afford it on our own, and it’s not getting any better.”
‘It’s not just for Southport’
City Manager Gordon Hargrove said that piece by piece, Southport has been making progress in recent years through infrastructure projects and post-storm emergency repair projects to stabilize its waterfront that stretches along the Cape Fear River on the east side and the Intracoastal Waterway on the south side.
Today, a series of rock revetments and bulkheads support much of the shoreline, which is in a constant state of being battered by natural waves from storm systems and manmade washes from the host of passing vessels, including gigantic Panamax container vessels headed to the Port of Wilmington to the ferries crossing the mouth of the Cape Fear to reach ritzy and isolated Bald Head Island.
Among the area protected by rocks is the shoreline in front of the city’s pump station at the foot of South Lord Street. A 2013 report by the Army Corps of Engineers found the shoreline in front of the pump station, which serviced about 150,000 gallons of raw sewage a day, had receded 88 feet in places between 1993 and 2011.
Stabilization work has taken place since then, but the grind of boat wakes, tides, and powerful tropical storms has continued to take its toll on the city’s shoreline — especially on the low-slung sandy beach area that extends west from the pump station toward the city’s Yacht Basin.
Hatem, who is up for reelection this fall, said the town’s shoreline has been receding for decades, noting that prior to World War II the area in front of Fort Johnston had a wide beach area that people used to flock to. Today, hardly any shoreline is visible even at low tide.
“It’s not just for Southport,” the mayor said of the proposed shoreline stabilization work. “It’s for the state, the nation and all the people that come to visit us because the waterfront is the main attraction.”
Clock is ticking
Hatem also noted that time isn’t on Southport’s side.
“If we don’t do it now with climate change and all the changes that’s going to bring, that alone could take over,” he said. “It’s just something we have to do, and the sooner the better.”
According to the Army Corps of Engineers’ environmental report associated with the proposed deepening of the Cape Fear River shipping channel from 42 to 45 feet, sea-level rise in Wilmington through 2077 could range from 0.34 feet under the “low” scenario to 2.57 feet under the “high” scenario.
Factor in storm surge from tropical weather systems and just general high lunar tides along with the rising water levels and it’s easy to see why something needs to be done, said Republican state Rep. Charlie Miller, who represents Southport in the the N.C. House.
“These ships are getting bigger, and we got a lot of money going into the ports so it just makes sense to get something in there for Southport’s waterfront,” he said, referring to the gigantic container ships that increasingly navigate the Cape Fear.
Miller said he worked with state Sen. Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick, who represents Southport in the N.C. Senate and is head of the chamber’s powerful rules committee, to get $5 million inserted into the proposed state budget legislation — running three months late, since the 2021-22 fiscal year started July 1 — now making its way through the General Assembly. While he didn’t know if $5 million would cover all of the work that’s needed, Mayor Hatem said, “if not, it would be a tremendous start.”
“It’s not just about putting sand on the beach,” Miller said, noting the expenditure appears to have strong bipartisan support in Raleigh. “We’re protecting infrastructure along that entire corridor — roads, water, sewer along with public and private property.”
Going green?
Marc Spencer, a member of the city’s board of aldermen who also is up for reelection this fall, said Southport has been grappling for years about what to do about its eroding shoreline.
But money, not a lack of political will, has been the biggest issue.
If the state funding comes through, Spencer said he expects city officials to revisit plans formulated last decade that included several stabilization options. Among those was using living shorelines rather than less aesthetically pleasing “hardened” options to maintain public access and the integrity of the waterfront’s beach areas.
Living shorelines use natural elements, such as plants and oyster shells, to stabilize shoreline areas. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), benefits of living shorelines include purifying water, buffering floods, reducing erosion, storing carbon and creating habitat for a host of marine critters. They also are widely viewed to be more flexible in responding to the environmental pressures a changing climate is increasingly placing on them.
Across the country and in North Carolina, the move toward more natural coastline protection comes as officials focus more on resilience as they plan for how communities will adapt to climate change. Federal and local studies have found evidence that shorelines with intact natural coastal habitats not only see less damage, but bounce back more quickly from severe storms.
Living shorelines also can move with the water, rolling inland as water levels rise. They also bounce back quickly, requiring little or no upkeep aside from removing trash and other debris that might harm the grasses and marine life or limit sunlight.
So will living shorelines or some derivative that doesn’t involve bulkheads or big rocks work for the active wave area along the Southport waterfront?
Officials said it could be a challenge, noting the high energy action the city’s shoreline faces.
“I think everyone would rather see a natural approach taken where we can integrate man with nature,” Hatem said. “But it has to get the job done.”
As he watched another boat wake crash against the rocky shore near the pier, Robert Smith took a drag on his cigarette.
“I don’t know what the answer is, or how it should be paid for,” he said. “But something needs to be done. Things can’t just stay the same.”
