Posted on March 1, 2018
By Lindsay Kriz, The Brunswick Beacon
Just a day before the Army Corps of Engineers’ hopper dredge Currituck made it to Holden Beach on Feb. 21 to begin the Lockwood Folly Dredging Project, the Holden Beach Board of Commissioners approved reimbursing Brunswick County for the project.
During their regular meeting Feb. 20, Christy Ferguson, the town’s shoreline protection and recreation manager, told commissioners shoaling continues to be a problem for those traveling in the Lockwood Folly Inlet.
Ferguson said the county secured the Currituck to both remove material and place about 40,000 cubic yards of sand in the close-by Holden Beach shore. Near-shore placement was done via a hopper dredge in 2015 and then in 2017.
Ferguson said this doesn’t put sand on the dry sand beach, but is near-shore replacement to about 10 feet deep.
As a result of the sand being put on the Holden Beach side of Lockwood Folly Inlet, Ferguson said it’s the staff’s opinion that Oak Island isn’t participating financially for this cycle. The county seeks a 50/50 split of the local share of the project with Holden Beach.
Ferguson said the estimated cost of the project is $504,000, with two-thirds of the project being paid for by the state’s Shallow Draft Navigation Fund. She said the county has already submitted the $168,000 local match, and requested the town reimburse the county $84,000.
Holden Beach has $100,000 budgeted for dredging. Ferguson said if the board chooses to reimburse the county in anticipation of another dredging event before the summer starts, the remaining funds probably won’t be sufficient for performing a 50/50 split without participation from Oak Island so a budget amendment might be needed later in the fiscal year.
The board unanimously approved reimbursing the county.
Source: The Brunswick Beacon
