Posted on March 30, 2021
CEDAR POINT — Cedar Point commissioners Tuesday night agreed to pitch in $2,500 to help pay for dredging in Bogue Inlet this spring.
The board met in the town hall, and agreed to the request from Greg Rudolph, manager of the Carteret County Shore Protection Office, which oversees dredging and beach nourishment projects.
Town Manager David Rief said the money was not included in the 2020-21 budget because it was adopted last June, long before Mr. Rudolph made the request. However, the manager said, “we do have some money in the budget left over from other expenditures.”
Mr. Rudolph also has asked Cape Carteret and Swansboro to pitch in $2,500 each, which the former has already agreed to furnish. He also asked Onslow County to contribute $47,000 and Emerald Isle to offer up $10,000. Emerald Isle agreed earlier this month to provide its share.
Carteret County will provide $35,000, and there’s $80,000 in a separate account left over from the previous Bogue Inlet dredging project. North Carolina will provide $200,000, for a total of close to $380,000.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has tentatively placed the Bogue Inlet dredging event on its schedule for late spring. The county has requested the ACE use a hopper-dredge, which hauls the material away, instead of a side-cast dredge, which merely tosses it out of the channel.
Bogue Inlet is the main passage to the ocean for most boaters in western Carteret and eastern Onslow counties, and this will be the sixth time since 2006 the local governments have pooled financial resources to complement N.C. Division of Water Resources funding to dredge the channel.
In other deliberations, Cedar Point commissioners turned down a request from neighboring Swansboro to put on a laser light show in lieu of traditional Fourth of July fireworks this year. Mr. Rief said Swansboro is planning to do two light shows and wanted Cedar Point to do one, too.
Cedar Point commissioners said the requested contribution of $7,350 was too high.
“I’ve seen laser light shows, and it’s not worth that kind of money,” Mayor Pro Tem Pam Castellano said.
Also during the meeting, County Sheriff’s Deputy Kurt Nakamura, who works for the town full time on a contractual arrangement with the county, said he increased night surveillance at Boathouse Creek Walking Trails Park and found most people in the park after dark were doing nothing wrong. Some people have complained those in the park after dark were up to no good, but the deputy said that doesn’t appear to be the case.
“Nothing I’ve seen warrants a high presence of law enforcement,” he said.
He added that as traffic picks up this spring on Highway 24, he’s going to get more help from the N.C. Highway Patrol and, in some cases, from the sheriff’s office to enforce traffic laws.
“Traffic is already picking up,” the deputy noted.
Contact Brad Rich at 252-864-1532; email Brad@thenewstimes.com; or follow on Twitter @brichccnt.
