Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Newspaper Articles

Reprinted by permission of The News & Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina

November 20, 1998

The News & Observer

Cape Hatteras lighthouse plan challenged

By JERRY ALLEGOOD; STAFF WRITER

Page: A3

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH -- A Michigan man who says he could save the Cape Hatteras lighthouse without having to move it wants a showdown with critics of his method of controlling beach erosion.

Dick Holmberg of Whitehall, Mich., told the state Coastal Resources Commission on Thursday that his method of building concrete-filled containers along eroding shorelines could keep North Carolina's ocean beaches from washing away. He said the technique, which he said he had used successfully 100 times on beaches on the Great Lakes and in Florida, provides an alternative to retreat from the sea.

But Holmberg's claim that he can safely build beaches drew a sharp rebuttal from Stanley R. Riggs, a geology professor at East Carolina University in Greenville who said hard structures eventually harm ocean shorelines. He said Holmberg's system would function the same as groins or walls into the water that block the movement of sand to adjacent shorelines.

"What this whole issue comes down to is a very fundamental question," Riggs said. "Does North Carolina want to continue to open the door to hardened structures?"

Riggs, who has studied the coastal region for 33 years, said a major flaw in Holmberg's system is that most North Carolina beaches don't have enough sand to go on beaches because sand has been lost in deep ocean waters offshore.

"The bottom line is, if you don't have sand in the system, you can't trap it," he said.

Holmberg said his system should be given a chance and not simply attacked as unworkable.

"Either it's going to be successful and he's wrong, or I'm going to be a failure and he's right," Holmberg said, referring to Riggs.

Holmberg's method consists of fabric tubes filled with concrete that are placed perpendicular to the shoreline to slow currents and waves like speed bumps and cause them to drop sand. The length and spacing between units varies, but some are 100 feet long and cover 400 feet of shoreline.

Currently the state bans groins, seawalls or other so-called shoreline hardening structures on ocean beaches except for special cases. Exceptions have been made for a rock wall at the remains of Fort Fisher, a Confederate fort that defended Wilmington, and for a terminal groin to protect the Herbert Bonner Bridge and N.C. 12 at Oregon Inlet in Dare County.

An exception was also granted for an experimental project to use sand tubes at Bald Head Island.

The commission, a 15-member panel that regulates development in 20 coastal counties, would rule on any permit applications for erosion control.

Holmberg has no pending projects in North Carolina, but his approach was widely promoted by opponents of plans by the National Park Service to move the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse about 2,900 feet to save it from erosion. The lighthouse is scheduled to be moved early next year.

Holmberg also attracted interest from property owners in Pine Knoll Shores in Carteret County where erosion on Bogue Banks has threatened oceanfront homes.

Hugh Morton, a Linville developer and outspoken opponent of moving the Cape Hatteras lighthouse, said in an interview at the commission meeting that he believes Holmberg's method should be tried because it is safer than trying to move a historic structure.

In other action Thursday, the commission heard both support of and opposition to its proposals to expand regulations on development to shorelines along inland waters. Jacksonville Mayor George Jones, spokesman for a coalition of coastal cities and towns, warned that rules now being proposed would hamper growth and revitalization efforts. But representatives of environmental organizations said additional regulations were necessary to protect water quality along the coast.

Section: News
Edition: Final
Estimated Printed Pages: 2

Index Terms:
Cape Hatteras
NC
coast
Dick Holmberg

Copyright 1998 by The News & Observer Pub. Co.

Record Number: 1998323063