LEGAL 



TIDES 



Repair and Rebuild 



After the Storms 



By Pam Smith 



T 



-Lhe evacuation orders went out and 

 Oak Island residents responded to the need to 

 leave. No one wanted to stare down their late 

 summer, unwanted guest. Floyd wobbled 

 just off the coast, threatening to strike with 

 Category 5 deadly force. 



By the time he made landfall, Floyd's 

 wind force had been downgraded. But, as 

 the storm made its way inland, it was clear 

 that the toll would be high for the Brunswick 

 County community of 7,000, Oak Island 

 Mayor Joan Airman recalls. 



The beach town took a direct hit from 

 a powerful storm surge and a continuous 

 pounding from high tides, torrential rains 

 and flooding. 



The sandy beach and man-made dunes 

 along four miles of its 10-mile oceanfront 

 were decimated. Precious beach sand 

 washed across the ocean road and was 

 deposited onto second- and third-row lots. 



Floyd destroyed 50 homes. None are 

 likely to be rebuilt on their prestorm sites, 

 Airman says. Waves demolished some of 

 the older cottages and washed away their 

 building lots. 



Some newer homes, built according to 

 wind-resistant standards on required deeper 

 pilings, withstood the onslaught. They 

 appear to be intact, but their building lots, 

 septic systems and septic fields now lie under 

 the surf. Relocating these to new lots could 

 be the only option for homeowners. 



Others are in what could be called 

 recovery limbo. Some houses that 

 sustained more than 50 percent damage 

 may meet a Coastal Resources Commis- 

 sion (CRC) litmus test for repair or 

 replacement. But, if Floyd has moved 



the shoreline landward and erased the 

 vegetation line originally used to deter- 

 mine the setback line, it may not meet 

 the new setback requirement. 



There is little chance that the sand- 

 starved beach will soon recover through 

 the natural erosion-accretion process. And 

 Oak Island is not due for a major beach 

 renourishment project until 2004, when the 

 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is slated to 

 pump tons of sand to widen the beaches and 

 construct and vegetate protective dunes. 



THE SANDY BEACH AND MAN-MADE 

 DUNES ALONG FOUR MILES OF 

 ITS 10-MILE OCEANFRONT WERE 

 DECIMATED. PRECIOUS BEACH SAND 

 WASHED ACROSS THE OCEAN ROAD 

 AND WAS DEPOSITED ONTO 

 SECOND- AND THIRD-ROW LOTS. 



Though erosion is a way of life for 

 coastal communities, Airman says, "It is still 

 sad. This represents a major loss to our 

 families and to our community." Many of 

 the lost cottages had been in families for three 

 generations. Others were second homes. 

 Some were rental properties. 



Hurricane Floyd has presented recovery 

 challenges for state regulators, local govern- 

 ments and private property owners alike, says 

 Walter Clark, North Carolina Sea Grant 

 coastal law and policy specialist. Telling 

 property owners that they cannot rebuild is 

 never an easy task, he adds. 



From the start, the CRC attempted to 

 balance redevelopment in ocean hazard areas 

 with safety, social and financial consider- 

 ations. Commission members recognized that 



North Carolina's coast is subject to annual 

 threats from storms, shifting coastlines and 

 the natural erosion-rebuilding cycle. 



"The CRC understood that they could 

 not remove all risks associated with living 

 along the coast, so they tried to reduce the 

 dangers by implementing stringent manage- 

 ment policies and standards," Clark explains. 



Setback restrictions are most significant 

 The CRC rules require that a setback be 

 established at a minimum distance from the 

 first line of stable, natural vegetation depend- 

 ing on the size of the structure. For a single 

 family residence and other structures 5,000 

 square feet or less, the setback is determined 

 by multiplying the annual erosion rate by 30. 

 The setback line must be at least 60 feet from 

 the first line of stable, natural vegetation. 



Because large structures pose increased 

 risk to life and property, structures with more 

 than 5,000 square feet require twice the 

 setback — no less than 1 20 feet from the 

 first line of vegetation. 



Shorelines can erode significantly during 

 hurricanes. When the storm passes, property 

 owners, such as those at Oak Island, may 

 have to deal with a variety of situations. 



The structure or vacant lot may fall 

 landward of the vegetation line, but within 

 the minimum setback area. If the structure 

 has sustained damage less than 50 percent 

 of its value, the homeowner can institute 

 repairs without a permit However, if the 

 damage is more than half its value, the 

 property owner must obtain a permit from 

 the N.C. Division of Coastal Management 

 or local government before rebuilding. 



Vacant lots may be developed if the 

 development is set back from the ocean the 



22 EARLY SUMMER 2000 



