Shell Island Newspaper Articles

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

September 21, 1996

The News & Observer

Coastal panel reverses policy, backs wall for Shell Island

By Todd Richissin; STAFF WRITER

Page: A1

In a major reversal of more than a decade of coastal management policy, appointees of Gov. Jim Hunt recommended Friday that an 18-foot-high plastic wall be buried along the Wrightsville Beach coast to protect a $22 million hotel and condominium complex.

The decision to support the wall, for the Shell Island Resort, is the first substantial exception to a state policy that forbids hardened structures from being used to prevent beach erosion. Such devices can cause serious damage to nearby beaches that are left unprotected.

In this case, scientists have warned that not only will a significant portion of Wrightsville Beach in front of the wall be lost, but beaches farther south on the island will be put at risk as well. The wall, most of which will be buried in the sand, is supposed to be removed within five years.

The recommendation was announced by the Division of Coastal Management. The Coastal Resources Commission will vote on the recommendation at a meeting next week, but Friday's announcement almost guarantees its passage.

"We feel like we've put enough provisions in there that the wall will indeed be temporary,'' said Alison Davis, the division spokeswoman. "If it starts to damage other beaches, they're going to have to take it out."

Shell Island Resort was built in 1985 in a "hazardous inlet area," so called because such inlets often shift in direction, posing hazards to nearby buildings. The purpose of the policy against the walls was to discourage developers from building too close to the water.

For environmentalists, Shell Island Resort has become an important symbol. They have been watching closely to see whether the state would cave in to pressure to save the building, or whether it would maintain its stance that overall coastal policy was more important.

To obtain clearance to build the complex, developers of Shell Island had signed an agreement that stated: "In signing this permit, the permittee acknowledges the risks of erosion associated with developing on this site and recognizes that current state regulations do not allow shore-line erosion control structures such as sea walls to be erected for developments initiated after June 1, 1979.''

Until Friday, the division steadfastly had held to that standard, with the exceptions of an experimental structure on Bald Head Island and a wall erected to protect Fort Fisher, a national historic site.

But on Friday, the coastal division announced that it would recommend that regulators make an exception to their rules for Shell Island partly because Hurricane Fran accelerated the erosion at the inlet.

Todd Miller, the lobbyist with the Sierra Club, said hurricanes on the coast are known hazards and that it is nonsensical for the state to reverse itself. Such walls were banned precisely because it was known that the coast was fragile, he said, and the state seems to be violating its own rules because the hazards it warned about came true.

"Conservationists fought very hard for our policy of protecting the public beach, and this is a major setback for that policy," Miller said. "You run the danger that this decision could set a terrible precedent for our beaches. Once you say yes to Shell Island Resort, it's more difficult to say no to the next high-rise condo that's about to fall down."

Friday's recommendation came as a surprise because the division twice had voted against barriers to protect the building.

The owners of Shell Island first proposed building a sea wall to protect the complex. The second time, just in July, New Hanover County stepped in to support a buried wall, with perhaps 2 or 3 feet of it above ground. Again, the division recommended against the request.

The third request was filed by both the county and the town of Wrightsville Beach, both of which benefit from the taxes the resort pays.

Friday's recommendation requires that the county and town post a performance bond to ensure the removal of the sandbags within five years. The recommendation also includes a provision that the wall must be removed if it causes the erosion rate to increase on beaches south of the resort.

While the exception was made under a provision for temporary sandbags, it is in fact a wall that will be built. It will be constructed of tube-shaped bags made of heavy plastic. The bags interlock to form a wall.

Steve Levitas, the assistant secretary Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources, said through a spokeswoman that the administration supports the decision.

"The bottom line is this is the kind of thing coastal management does," said Debbie Crane, his spokeswoman. "Nobody here has any problem with what they're doing.

Section: News
Edition: Final
Estimated Printed Pages: 3

Caption:
c photo; c map; Shell Island Resort; staff

Caption: Shell Island Resort at Wrightsville Beach has become a symbol for conservationists who feared that the state would allow the building to be saved at the expense of an established coastal policy.

Credit: Staff Photo by Chuck Lidd

Copyright 1996 by The News & Observer Pub. Co.

Record Number: RNOB96264061