Picking a career as a City/Town manager in itself is a challenge to balance the needs and wants of a community while doing it in a fiscally conservative manner, but throw in the location of the Town next to the Ocean and the task can expand exponentially.
My first experience with coastal infrastructure was beach re-nourishment or erosion control was an eye opener. In other jurisdictions when a community spends 10 million or more on infrastructure, it typically has a useful life ranging from 30 to 50 years such as water system or sewer system improvements or facilities. Try a life time of 4 to 6 years barring any Hurricanes or winter nor’easters. The community I serve now had been saving for 10 years to do the first project.
This community had adopted a $.04 per one hundred dollar of evaluation tax to build funds for this type of project. Once the tax was in place within two years the entire board had been unseated. Through community efforts, round tables and working with several state agencies the nourishment program gained support.
The Town finished its first project in 2011 and began looking long term. Through another round of public meetings and with the help of Peter Ravella Consulting (PARC) the community gained an understanding of what a sustainable 30 year Beach Management Plan would require in the way of financial support. In June of 2011 the Beach Nourishment “Tax” was increased by $.08 to a total of $.12 per one hundred dollar of evaluation. Now when you take into consideration that the overall tax rate is $.295 per one hundred dollar of evaluation, it is very apparent that the tax payers place a high premium on maintaining the tourist infrastructure that makes Topsail Beach a vacation destination. Forty percent of the overall taxes collect goes towards Beach, Inlet and Sound Maintenance. With help from the State and County, the Town performs beach nourishment projects about every five years.
In addition to the funding mechanism the Town has a strong 30 year Beach Management plan that was originally put in place two weeks before Hurricane Irene and the Town was able to qualify for FEMA assistance to rebuild the loss of the beach since the completion of the project a few months earlier. Gahagan & Bryant Associates of Wilmington was the original firm that oversaw the first project and developed our 30 year plan. As is the course with businesses things change and now, our Town is served by TI Coastal of Wilmington to carry out the rest of the plan.
Midstream of this plan, the Army Corps of Engineers dropped inlet dredging as a priority. Well, in addition to a beach, a coastal community blessed with an inlet needs to have an inlet that is navigable. This fall we embark on the first ever combination project of inlet dredging and placement of sand on the beach accomplishing two things at once. An inlet that is 8’ deeper that it is currently and ranging from 80 to 150 feet wide in places allowing a much safer course through New Topsail Inlet. This project is slated to begin in November and finish in March just before tourist season cranks up. This effort required multiple permits and cooperation among state and Federal agencies.
The 30 year plan was initially supposed to transition into a 50 year Federal project that not only re-nourishes the beach, but also includes dune and berm construction for the added feature of Hurricane Protection. The Town is currently evaluating these plans to maximize protection and watch project costs to reduce mission creep. Also the Town has had to secure easements twice for projects and will be tasked with securing another round of “permanent” easements should the Federal Project receive funding. Hopefully, this has given readers insight to one of the challenges for beach managers and I hope to relate other challenges in the future.
Tim Holloman
