N. Topsail Beach leaders hope to have more beach by summer

NORTH TOPSAIL BEACH, NC (WWAY) — North Topsail Beach leaders hope to have more of a beach before the summer begins.

Lisa Fitzwater calls Topsail Island home.

“It doesn’t get any more beautiful than this,” Fitzwater said.

Since she moved here in September, she said she has seen lots of change on the north end of North Topsail Beach.

“Every time I come to this beach here, it looks different,” Fitzwater said.

Last October, the north end parking lot had to close, because of advanced erosion.

“It’s just so devastating to see it, because we love it so much here,” Fitzwater said.

Mayor Fred Burns said sandbags were added in front of the parking lot in November and another project is on its way.

“The dredge is on its way here now,” Burns said.

Burns said the ICW/New River Navigation Project is a $2.4 million project that will be paid 66% by the state and the remainder split between the county and the town. He said contractors will dredge from the parking lot to Topsail Reef adding 130,000 cubic yards of sand.

“This sand will definitely help as far as actually having some beach area for the summer for people to walk on and use, because last year we didn’t have any,” Burns said.

“I do like to see everything that’s being done to try to save it,” Fitzwater said. “I just don’t know enough about that to know what’s really going to work.”

Burns said this project could also help the town get walk-overs for the Topsail Reef sand bags.

“CAMA would not allow us to put a walk-over there, because it would be going into the ocean, but after this next re-nourishment project they will re-consider,” Burns said.

Burns said the project should be done before this summer. That is something Fitzwater is looking forward to.

“It’ll be fun,” Fitzwater said. “It’ll also be fun in the fall when we get the beach back to ourselves again.”

Burns said the project should only take about 30 days. He said the town is also working on adding more beach accesses, parking lots, and a bike path on the north end.