NC Coastal Resources Commission meeting in Ocean Isle Beach draws big crowd

OCEAN ISLE BEACH, NC (WWAY) — Several Ocean Isle Beach property owners attended a North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission meeting in the Brunswick County town on Thursday, February 23.

The hot-button topic, the state proposed updates to inlet hazard area guidelines.

More than 40 years ago, the state’s inlet hazard areas were established at developed inlets along the North Carolina coast.

The Coastal Resources Commission meeting drew a large crowd, with many people hoping to learn more about the state’s proposed updates to the inlet hazard area guidelines.

“I’m here to try to understand what they’re doing right now, with respect to the rules that are going on, that’s going to affect all of the different beaches that we have, or setbacks we have. We, as you know, –have terminal groin, here at Ocean Isle Beach. It’s been something they’ve worked for a long time, and it’s done just a phenomenal job, and so they’ve been able to see the terminal groin firsthand, and see how it’s affecting our beach, and how it’s been such a great asset the beaches at Ocean Isle Beach. I’m glad they’re here locally,” said Marty Cooke, Brunswick County Commissioner.

The guidelines can impact what can be built or rebuilt on property considered an inlet hazard area.

It also places rules on the size and location of buildings allowed in areas where shorelines are at risk of erosion and flooding.

Several Ocean Isle Beach property owners expressing their concerns at the meeting, they’re asking the CRC to consider erosion reduction projects that have been completed since the newly proposed IHA’s were drawn, before deciding on changing inlet hazard areas.

“The maps that are being proposed –2019 or older, and they don’t take into place those new projects, which would drastically reduce the amount of erosion in that area, and should drastically reduce the size of the proposed inlet hazard area,” said Mark Robertson, Ocean Isle Property Owner’s Association president. “Which, as you hear earlier today, has some potential economic impact. Not just on the property owners in that hazard area, but also everybody in the municipality that pays taxes to that municipality.”

A Brunswick County realtor says if approved, the new IHA’s could impact property owners, saying in another Brunswick County town, oak Island, some of its most expensive homes are in the proposed updated inlet hazard areas.

“These homes that are on the inlets on the other islands, –again reflect that. That they’re the most expensive homes, and what you’ll see is if this home is damaged at 49% or above that, –above 49% of its value in a hurricane, even a house fire would cause that home to not be re-buildable. They would have to take that insurance check and find land elsewhere to build their home on,” said Peter Key, realtor with Keller Williams Realty: Hank Troscianiec & Associates.

If updated, ten of North Carolina’s 19 active inlets would be impacted by the changes. Nine of them are in Brunswick, New Hanover and Pender Counties.