Posted on May 18, 2020
The yellow numbers and arrows at the bottom of this graphic indicate the areas and amounts of sand in cubic yards tentatively planned for nourishment of Emerald Isle beaches in phase three of the county’s post-Hurricane Florence project on Bogue Banks. At the top are geographic descriptions of the areas.
EMERALD ISLE — Phase three of the county’s post-Hurricane Florence Bogue Banks beach nourishment project could cost as much as $45 million, paid for in large part by money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Carteret County Shore Protection Office Manager Greg Rudolph told Emerald Isle commissioners Tuesday night.
Mr. Rudolph, speaking during the commission’s monthly meeting conducted in town hall and aired live on Facebook for the public, said the project in central Emerald Isle, extreme western Emerald Isle and perhaps a portion of eastern Emerald Isle is tentatively planned for late 2020 or early 2021.
It would be a follow-up to two previous Bogue Banks nourishment projects. In 2019, phase one nourished beaches in eastern Emerald Isle, Indian Beach and most of Salter Path at a cost of $20.2 million, with money coming from the county nourishment fund and the towns. Phase two, completed last month, covered western Atlantic Beach, all of Pine Knoll Shores, a small portion of Salter Path and part of western Emerald Isle at a cost of $28.2 million, with about $15 million from the state and about $13 million from the county’s beach nourishment fund, which receives half the proceeds from the county’s tourist-driven occupancy tax.
Phase three would cover about the same linear footage as phase two, 9.5 miles. But much of phase two was in Atlantic Beach and Pine Knoll Shores, so the cost of transporting the sand by dredge boat from the dredge site off Atlantic Beach was lower than it will be for phase three.
In an interview Wednesday, after the Emerald Isle meeting, Mr. Rudolph said there’s no way to know how much a successful bid for the project will be, but the county has chosen $45 million as the upper estimate.
He said in the interview – and in the presentation to town commissioners – Emerald Isle won’t have to pay anything out of its own budget for the work because it’s basically money FEMA has reimbursed the town for sand lost during Hurricane Florence in September 2018.
Mr. Rudolph also noted he’s confident the project will come together, but admitted the financing is a bit trickier than in phase two because of cash flow.
The county, he said Wednesday, will have close to $30 million available in the beach nourishment fund, a mix of occupancy tax money, leftover state funds and FEMA money.
“That leaves a gap of as much as $15 million,” he said. “But it’s not really a gap. It’s really a question of when additional FEMA money will come in.”
The federal agency, he said, has been “great, basically giving us everything we asked for,” based on the estimate the county engineering firm, Moffatt & Nichol, provided of the sand lost during and immediately after Florence.
There’s still some FEMA money to come, however, and there’s no guarantee when, especially with the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic playing havoc with federal agency budgets.
So, the county, Mr. Rudolph told town commissioners Tuesday, is including in its bid document for the project a couple of items that could reduce costs and improve the likelihood of good cash flow during the project, if necessary.
First, there’s going to be an option to not do any work in eastern Emerald Isle, which would save about $400,000. Second, there’s to be a clause that delays from 30 days to 60 days the time period for paying bills submitted by the contractor.
Some have questioned why eastern Emerald Isle needs sand at all, since it got some in 2019, Mr. Rudolph told commissioners Tuesday. The answer is twofold: the county didn’t put as much sand there as it wanted to to conserve money and the area roughly between 10th Street and 20th Street is an erosion “hot spot” the county has identified and is trying to solve.
Town commissioners Tuesday night thanked the county for the work it has done so far on beach nourishment.
The Carteret County Beach Commission is expected to make a recommendation on how to proceed Monday during its 2 p.m. meeting in the Emerald Isle commission’s meeting room.
Contact Brad Rich at 252-864-1532; email Brad@thenewstimes.com; or follow on Twitter @brichccnt.
Source: carolinacoastonline
