Wrightsville Beach is still hoping that its beaches might be nourished before Masonboro Island’s as Great Lakes Dredging begins phasing in equipment Dredge and Dock for stage one, of a two-stage program to nourish the barrier island beaches.

Chairman of the Wilmington-New Hanover Port, Waterway and Beach Commission, Rick Catlin, thought he made that point clearly when he endorsed the spending of state and county room occupancy tax money to offset the deficit of the federal government’s share of the project.

As of Jan. 6, Catlin, who last appealed to the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) on Dec. 22 to nourish Wrightsville ahead of Masonboro had not heard any new news.

"I’m not surprised that we haven’t heard but we are getting down to the eleventh hour."

"It’s going to be very, very disappointing and discouraging as far as future relationships go with the Corps if we don’t get some consideration from them or at least some justification for why they can’t."

The Masonboro/Wrightsville Beach renourishment is a complex project, said project manager Robert Keistler, ACOE.

"There’s the O and M (operation and maintenance) work for the Masonboro Inlet sand bypass and that’s money we get from federal dollars every cycle which is every four years."

The O and M project replaces sand that is taken from Masonboro and Wrightsville beaches due to the effectiveness of the Masonboro Inlet jetty project. Simultaneously, the Corps conducts the beach renourishment project which helps offset expenses for both. This year when the federal government experienced a budget shortfall, the state and county stepped in to provide funding to complete both projects.
The amount of sand, 120,000 cubic yards, to be borrowed from Banks Channel is not considered to be a major part of the Wrightsville/Masonboro project; however, the dredged sand must be removed from a nearby source and must be compatible with the existing sand on both barrier island beaches.

During the last renourishment cycle in 2006, Wrightsville received its sand after Masonboro and the project was never fully completed due to the inferiority of dredged material that included mud balls and shells.

The Wrightsville Beach and Masonboro Island portion of the total $22.7 million project to renourish all of New Hanover County beaches, including Carolina and Kure, represents $10 million. As much as 65-75 percent of the project is funded with federal money. Separate from the inlet maintenance and sand by-pass project, funded with federal dollars, the beach renourishment portion of the total project equals 35 percent and is funded by state and local dollars.

This year, when the federal government was short funded to maintain the inlet, Catlin took the recommendation of the Port, Waterway and Beach Commission to the county commissioners to offset the shortfall with room occupancy tax dollars. He said he made the recommendation on the condition that Wrightsville Beach would be the first to receive its sand.

"We didn’t make it a deal killer but we did ask for it and we’re asking for that now," Catlin said. "We assisted the federal navigation O and M project with room tax dollars and state dollars so we’re basically contributing to something that we don’t normally contribute to. In return for that we ask that Wrightsville Beach be renourished first."

Mike Vukelich, Wrightsville Beach Public Works Director said, "It’s not 100 percent certain that they’re going to do Masonboro first, but they’re setting up that way."

The first three pieces of heavy machinery, two bull dozers and a front-end loader, were delivered to Wrightsville Beach on Wednesday, Jan. 6, and parked near Johnnie Mercer’s Pier. The machinery will be deployed to the south end of the beach as soon as the delivery of pipe is confirmed. If the renourishmen begins on Masonboro, the equipment will be barged across the inlet to the island.

The project is scheduled to proceed to Wrightsville Beach from the south end as far north as Moore’s Inlet near the Holiday Inn Resort and then taper off up toward Sand Dollar.

The Wrightsville/Masonboro project must be completed by the end of March to avoid a conflict with wildlife nesting practices, specifically sea turtles.