Town of Topsail Beach – Alternate Beach Project – Topsail Island Real Estate

Topsail Island is a 26 mile long island located about 25 miles north of Wilmington on the southeast coast of North Carolina. Topsail is known for beautiful Caribbean like clean waters where people enjoy boating, fishing, scuba diving, shell and shark teeth hunting, history or just relaxing on our sandy shores. For Map Buffs, Topsail Island can be found at Latitude 342541.44 and Longitude 773250.05 . Most visitors choose to stay in Vacation Rentals and also find great investment opportunities in Real Estate

Spoil islands behind Topsail might yield more sand at a lesser cost for an interim beach project, according to the engineering firm GBA. In addition, sand from shoaled areas might be able to be used to maintain the project. (Image courtesy of Topsail Beach)

TOPSAIL VOICE

By Connie Pletl

Published: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 9:35 AM EDT

TOPSAIL BEACH – The beach town has taken a turn away from seeking sand at offshore borrow sites and set its sights on inland sand sources for its interim beach nourishment project.
Mayor Pro Tem Julian Bone and Commissioner Grier Fleischhauer said the offshore sites and proposal by Coastal Planning & Engineering are not completely off the table but it appears as if another sand source could be preferable.
The town has hired Gahagan & Bryant Associates to investigate the spoil islands and shoaled areas behind Topsail Island for the amount of compatible sand needed to do the interim project.
“In his report, Chris (Gibson, from GBA) said that there appears to be enough material in both sites,” said Bone.
Two spoil islands – one at the south end of the town near Topsail Creek and the other just north of Harvey’s Cut – have been identified by GBA as potential sand sources.
The town had previously contracted to get sand from offshore sites; however, Bone said by using the spoil islands the town would get more sand at a cheaper price.

“We need sand on the beach and we need it to be affordable,” said Bone.
The cost difference comes mostly from the mobilization of equipment. The logistics of offshore dredging is more costly than that of dredging inshore.
At a meeting in March, Gibson told the board the cost would be about $10,382,850 if it used the spoil islands compared to $13,007,750 using sand from the offshore borrow sites.
In addition to saving money, the town also wants to keep the interim project on schedule and have construction begin in the winter of 2010-11. Bone said Gibson has stated that the work could be done within that time period.
The town had previously formed a citizens’ roundtable committee to gauge interest in the interim beach nourishment project.
The results of the roundtable were that the citizens wanted the interim project, wanted it done in a cost effective manner, wanted to stay on schedule and wanted to obtain oceanfront easements as soon as possible.
Bone and Fleischhauer said that more information came from the citizens of the roundtable – the need for a maintenance program for the project.
The solution, according to Bone and Fleischhauer, is to dredge the shoaled areas of Topsail Creek and Banks Chanel on a regular basis after the interim beach nourishment project is complete and pump the sand onto the beach as maintenance for the project.
Shoaling in that area can be problematic for water navigation. The US Army Corps of Engineers currently dredges the channels to keep them navigable.
Bone and Fleischhauer also contend that by increasing the width of the inlet from 80-feet to 150-feet and the depth from 8-feet to 14-feet, enough sand can be retrieved to maintain the beach project.
Much of the sand in the backwaters migrated there from the beach, said Bone.
“We are not a sand starved beach, we have plenty of sand, we just need to relocate it,” he said.
Bone and Fleischhauer said there are also other benefits to using sand from the backwaters.
Fleischhauer said that by using the alternative plan instead of getting sand from offshore, it would better benefit the oceanfront property owners, the boating community and the sound side residents.
Bone agreed.
“This situation would help more than the oceanfront homeowners in Topsail Beach,” he said.
One of the main goals, according to Bone, is to keep costs down and eliminate assessing the oceanfront property owners to help pay for the project.
Bone said the town has also been keeping cutting costs in other areas and that Interim Town Manager Rickey Smith has been instrumental in the cost cutting while still increasing employee benefits.
Another concern, according to Fleischhauer, is ensuring that nothing is done to jeopardize the regular beach nourishment project, which is slated to be done in the future and financed partially with federal funding.
He said he traveled to Washington, DC with the Topsail Island Shoreline Protection Committee and talked to area representatives and lobbyists.
He said the federal beach nourishment project is the ultimate goal and that he feels positive about it.
“I have high hopes we will get the federal funding,” said Fleischhauer.
He said the town has one more year of engineering and studies. If the funding comes through, he said the project should be “shovel ready” by the end of fiscal year 2011.
According to Fleischhauer, talking to the representatives and using the lobbyists is vital to getting funding for the federal project.
At this time, Fleischhauer said the next step is to formulate a financial plan for alternative project and then have the town board of commissioners vote on it.
Before any beach project can be done, easements need to be obtained from the oceanfront property owners. At a special meeting earlier this month, the board of commissioners worked on creating an easement letter to be sent to property owners.
The town attorney took the suggestions and will present the document to the board at its town meeting tonight, April 14, at 7 p.m. at the town hall.

Topsail Beach, Topsail Island, Beach Project, Topsail Island Real Estate

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