Wrightsville Beach could get sand in its stocking this Christmas.
The Army Corps of Engineers in Wilmington awarded a more than $20 million contract Monday, Nov. 23, to a company now tasked with a contingent of enormous dredging projects on Ocean Isle and New Hanover County beaches, including Masonboro Island, authorities said.
With the contract now in place, the possibility exists for work to commence by mid-December, authorities said, providing sufficient time for dredging and placement before the environmental window closes in the spring.
Because of the potential threat to wildlife nesting, specifically sea turtles, all renourishment projects are required to cease on Masonboro Island at the end of March; the other beaches have until April 30, said Bob Keistler, the corps project manager.
An exact schedule of which beaches are going to be renourished when should be available by mid-December, Keistler said.
The company, Great Lakes Dredge and Dock, is stipulated to lay about 450,000 yards of sand on Wrightsville Beach; and another 550,000 on Masonboro Island—all of which will be dredged from Masonboro Inlet and the Banks Channel area, Keistler said.
Authorities are confident that enough sand exists to finish all of the projects.
This renourishment cycle has been punctuated by budgetary wrangling and confrontations between the county, state and property owners on Wrightsville Beach.
A majority of official concerns have been calmed and dealt with in an expedited manner, but there is still some unease hovering around an injunction being sought by Rhett and Julie Taber.
The residents of Wrightsville Beach have called into question the Coast Guard’s dredging practices, specifically its sand borrow sources.
Wrightsville Beach town manager Bob Simpson was unable to comment Wednesday, Nov. 25, saying that attorneys were now involved in the discussions.
At a board of aldermen meeting in early-November, Simpson warned of a very real possibility that if the Tabers’ injunction comes to pass, the town’s beach renourishment plan may be in jeopardy.
Simpson said the corps could pull the project and redirect its efforts elsewhere.
The Tabers are contending the borrowing of sand from Banks Channel has caused adverse impacts to the beaches in front of their house.
Despite the hurdles, officials in the corps have applauded the governments’ ability to initiate what has been considered a much-needed project.
“There was a lot of coordination between the communities and the state and federal government to get this work awarded,” Keistler said. “There’s a lot of demand for dredge companies and this contract is probably our largest beach renourishment contract.”
When it comes to the cost of renourishment projects, the federal government covers 65 percent, with the remaining share split evenly between the state and county, authorities said.
Keistler said the county and state had entered a memorandum of agreement that contributes up to $3 million from the two entities combined. But as the project stands, the corps may need only $1.6 million of that.
