Duck Replenishment Article in Outer Banks Voice

Duck given legal tool for access during beach nourishment

By Sam Walker on July 30, 2014

Erosion was evident today from the Corps of Engineers pier.

The Town of Duck can now use eminent domain powers during its future beach nourishment project to allow work on areas considered private property.

A bill finally passed the General Assembly last week allowing Duck to join other towns with the legal alternative if a property owner fails to give written permission to pump sand onto the beach.

Generally, private property extends to mean high water, or the wet sand beach. When Nags Head widened its beach, it received easements from most owners.

Duck is joining Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills in planning a beach nourishment project.

Town leaders are considering a plan for a 20-foot-high and 20-foot wide dune line with a berm width of 60 to 80 feet along 2.5 miles of beach.

That plan would need about 1,050,000 cubic yards of sand.

Coastal Planning and Engineering is leading the project, which is scheduled to start in 2016 in conjunction with those planned in Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills.

The Duck project would cost $14.4 million, Kitty Hawk’s, $16.5 million, and Kill Devil Hill’s, $10.9 million, according to early estimates.

Dare County’s Shoreline Management Fund would provide much of the funding with the rest coming from property taxes and municipal service levies in each of the towns.