Shell Island Newspaper Articles

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

August 23, 1999

The News & Observer

Shell Island decides to try to move inlet

By The Associated Press

Page: A3

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH -- Owners of the Shell Island condominiums have decided to end their attempts to build a barrier wall to protect the resort from the advancing surf and instead concentrate on moving the encroaching Mason Inlet.

Members of the Shell Island Property Owners Association board of directors voted Saturday to drop an appeal of their lawsuit, which sought to force the state to allow the barrier wall. North Carolina bans hardened structures along the coast.

Instead, the group will throw its efforts behind a dredging project, headed up by the Mason Inlet Preservation Group, that aims to stop the erosion of land on the north end of Wrightsville Beach, said Frank Pinkston, chairman of the preservation group.

"We have been encouraging them to drop the lawsuit," said Pinkston, whose group of homeowner associations wants to move the inlet. "We feel like (moving the inlet) is the only way."

Forrest Deshields, president of the Shell Island Property Owners Association, called Pinkston on Saturday to tell him about the decision. "It had come to the point where it appeared the chances of success were not going to be any better at the next level of court," Pinkston said.

Deshields said the homeowners association would throw all its energy into moving the inlet. "Hopefully, it will be a benefit to all," he said.

The Property Owners Association sued the state after the state refused to allow a wall to be built to stem the movement of Mason Inlet. The lawsuit claimed that refusal amounted to an unconstitutional taking of property without compensation.

First, the District Court and then the N.C. Court of Appeals shot down the property owners' case. The judges said the state didn't have to compensate property owners when natural erosion took the land.

Mason Inlet's migration to the south threatens the foundation of the Shell Island Resort, a $22 million building on the northern end of Wrightsville Beach.

In April, the New Hanover County commissioners agreed to borrow money from a beach-preservation fund to pay the estimated $4.2 million it would cost to relocate the inlet 3,000 feet north.

The dredged sand would replenish Figure Eight Island's eroding beachfront. The county would be reimbursed over three years at 7 percent interest by the property owners who would benefit.

Tracy Skrabal, a senior scientist with the N.C. Coastal Federation, said she was glad her group would not have to continue its court battle against the Property Owners Association.

The federation provides advocacy and legal assistance to protect North Carolina's coastal culture and economy. It is made up of more than 5,000 organizations and individuals.

"They spent all of the effort in that direction, and now they are claiming that this is a crisis situation," she said.

Pinkston said the preservation group would finish its application in the next few weeks. The group hopes to start dredging in January.

Section: News
Edition: Final
Estimated Printed Pages: 2

Index Terms:
Shell Island
NC
coast
environment
Shell Island Property

Copyright 1999 by The News & Observer Pub. Co.

Record Number: 1999234085