Posted on January 17, 2025
KURE BEACH — A beach town’s shoreline renourishment project has been postponed after non-compliant parking regulations caused a delay in getting bids.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had planned for Kure Beach’s renourishment project to commence this year between November 2024 and April 2025. However, after only getting one bid price at $37.5 million — nearly double the town’s expected budget of $19.6 million — the USACE made the call in December to cancel the project and postpone it for next season.
The decision was announced Jan. 14 in a letter from Kure Beach Mayor Allen Oliver that called the situation “less than favorable.”
“ It’s not the most popular decision, but when the bids come in that much over budget and only one bidder, we’re better off postponing it to the next season,” Oliver told Port City Daily in a phone call.
The USACE now plans to aim for the project to commence sometime between Nov. 16, 2025 and April 30, 2026. The timeframe is an environmental window to protect coastal wildlife in the area, like sea turtle nesting season from May to August.
Oliver revealed issues with last year’s parking program were “a direct correlation” to the recent decision to postpone.
Previously, Kure Beach offered seasonal resident parking passes for $20 and non-resident passes for $225, which the town later found went against their renourishment contract with the USACE that requires equal access parking. This means locals and visitors alike have to pay the same parking fees — no resident passes.
The town council began considering changes to the parking program in November after the USACE suspended the renourishment project due to non-compliance. Solicitations were able to go out again after changes were made to meet USACE requirements, approved by the town council at their regular Dec. 16 meeting.
“When you bid something as late in the season as they did, most of the companies already had their work planned out for the year, so they’re not bidding on it,” Oliver said. “And [when] all their resources are tied up in [another] project, they can’t meet the environmental window.”
This year’s parking fees have been raised and resident passes are no longer an option. Paid parking season runs from March 15 to Sept. 30, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., with costs including:
- Hourly rates are $6, up from last year’s $5
- Daily rates are $25, up from last year’s $20
- Weekly rates were raised from $100 to $125.
The program also offers a tiered seasonal pass. Between Feb. 1 and Feb. 8, seasonal passes can be purchased for $50. And Feb. 9 through Feb. 28 prices increase to $100 per pass; March 1 is the last day the passes are available, costing $225. There is also a $75 parking permit for local business employees.
With parking affairs in order this year, Oliver said the USACE should be putting out solicitations in the spring, giving time for companies to bid and make the environmental window.
Oliver said most of the town’s beaches remain in “fairly good” condition and should hold up until next renourishment season as last year’s storms didn’t cause any major damage.
“If we don’t have a major storm, we should be okay,” he said.
