NC - BHI asks voters to support up to $18M for S. Beach nourishment project
BALD HEAD ISLAND — Bald Head Island is planning its next beach nourishment project, which requires a vote from the public and could include an impact on property tax rates.
The Village Council is proposing a town-funded sand placement project along South Beach. The planned project is a two-pronged solution, which would add up to 100,000 cubic yards of material from the Jay Bird Shoal borrow site onto South Beach.
The east end of BHI’s South Beach — specifically the last mile — has seen very little sand since 2000, according to town manager Chris McCall. It also faces more significant erosion than the west end of South Beach. Each fall and spring surveys are taken of the beaches for the town engineer to determine where the most sand is needed based on erosion and accretion.
The first section would place 500,000 cubic yards from BHI’s terminal groin eastward about 7,500 linear feet to Muscadine Wynd. It also replaces 13 soft-tube groins, made up of a geotechnical material. This portion of the nourishment is estimated at $13.5 million.
The second section would dredge 500,000 cubic yards of sand and place it in the Flora’s Bluff and Killegray Ridge area eastward 6,500 feet to the Point at Cape Fear, where the Shoals Club is located. This would cost $4.5 million, significantly less than the other portion since mobilization costs would only have to be paid once and the projects would be done simultaneously.
On the March 5 primary election ballot, Bald Head Island voters will have the opportunity to decide if they want to fund one of the two projects, or both.
If only the $13.5-million bonds are approved for issuance, BHI would likely see no impact on taxes, finance director Zachary Hewett said at a town hall meeting Monday. This is because BHI’s debt service obligation from its $13.2 million 2018 to 2019 nourishment for 1 million cubic yards of sand would be paid off by 2025, the anticipated start date of the next nourishment.
If the $4.5 million bonds are also approved, totaling $18 million in general obligation bonds, town residents would likely see a spike in property taxes. A conservative estimate, Hewett said, would be a 3.5-cent increase island wide. However, the town applied for a federal grant to cover the $4.5 million and is confident it will receive it. Approval should be announced by February.
“The Village always has to work under the assumption we didn’t get the grant,” Hewett said when asked by a few board members why the town would include the second bucket of money on a referendum.
