Posted on July 23, 2025
SURF CITY, N.C. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has finalized a Chief’s Report for Surf City’s Coastal Storm Risk Management (CSRM) project, moving a 20-year project in the making one step forward.
Town leaders are calling this one of the biggest beach renourishment projects on the East Coast.
“The federal project, for which Surf City is a local sponsor, is a protection project where we will be placing sand on the six miles of oceanfront within Surf City. This will include a new dune system adding additional protection and resiliency to our beaches,” said Surf City Town Manager Kyle Breuer.
Surf City has never taken on a project this large before; the last being the Banks Channel Navigation Project, which placed sand from the Banks Channel onto the beach.
“That project was successful, it’s performing well, and we look forward to being able to get the entire oceanfront taken care of,” said Breuer.
Yet, as town officials share in excitement over the project, one neighbor is fearful the sand won’t be enough.
“It’s not a valuable solution, or a viable solution,” said Surf City homeowner Perry Green.
Green looks to North Topsail Island as proof that more sand is not the solution.
“Every year we bring more and more sand, and it washes out to sea…it’s going to be an astronomical cost to taxpayers, so I’m not pro-sand,” said Green.
WECT asked Breuer how the town is paying for this project, and he said costs have been factored in as early as 10 years ago.
“The Town of Surf City put in the foresight to start dedicating tax dollars towards our beach nourishment fund more than 10 years ago. $0.10 of our ad valorem tax has been put into that fund in anticipation of this project moving forward. In recent years, the town has also contributed to that fund through an additional accommodations tax, as well as all net proceeds from our paid parking program, to be able to afford this,” said Breuer.
But residents like Green aren’t convinced this solution will work.
“I think the town council needs to take a look at what the long-term solution is? Versus spending millions of dollars every year to bring in more sand, how can they spend the money to find a one-time solution so taxpayers don’t continue to get this bill and have to shell out cash that they can spend elsewhere in the town,” said Green.
A timeline for the project is unclear and is dependent on the internal processes of the Army Corps of Engineers, but the town has made efforts to move forward as they wait.
“Since the duration of this project and the town’s efforts to advance the project, a lot of the administrative tasks, securing easements, etc., have been completed. I think we have about 30 easements remaining out of more than 600 to obtain,” said Breuer.
To learn more about the Beach Nourishment project, click here to see the latest updates.
