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Home My WebLink About2026-05-13 Minutes 18Sept2024 PostTS8, DRGFall 2023 DRG Port, Waterway, & Beach Commission Meeting May 14, 2026 Davey Resource Group 3/13/26 Meeting was held in Conference Rooms 137-139 at the New Hanover County Government Center, 230 Government Center Drive, Wilmington, North Carolina, and was called to order at 4:00 p.m. by Vice Chair Neal Andrew. Members present: Commission Vice Chair Neal Andrew, New Hanover County Board of Commissioners Chair LeAnn Pierce, Town of Wrightsville Beach Alderman Todd Schoen, City of Wilmington Councilmember Salette Andrews, Kure Beach Town Councilman Byron Ashbridge, Kerri Allen, Ben Cherry, David Kellam, Wayne Richardson and Todd Walton. Members absent (excused): Chair Dennis Barbour, Eric Credle, and Eve Phillips. If you are a PWBC member, please notify Bryan Hall in advance if you are aware you will have to miss a meeting. CONTINUED Vice Chair Andrew led the introductions. The 3/11/26 PWBC minutes were unanimously approved (David Kellam motion, Todd Schoen seconded). No April meeting was held. Rick Catlin passed away in April. He served in multiple capacities such as Representative in the NC House, former New Hanover County Commissioner, former PWBC chairman, former NC Water Resources Congress Chair, former NC Shore and Beach Preservation Association chair, former Coastal Resource Commission member, and more. Vice Chair Andrew stated Rick was heavily involved in coastal issues and did a lot for the region in multiple ways. •Dredge Charleston placed 887,990cy within template on Carolina Beach •Dredge Delaware finished dredging in Carolina Beach Inlet and placement on Kure Beach around April 15 •As of April 15th -~846,000cy placed within template on Kure Beach •Carolina Beach, Kure Beach, New Hanover County, and USACE have a scheduled After-Action Review meeting to debrief on project Carolina Beach and Kure Beach FY26 Coastal Storm Risk Management (CSRM) USACE Plans –Historical borrow area highlighted in red Notes/Discussion: Norfolk was able to pull all material from within Carolina Beach Inlet. The box outlined in red is the historical borrow area. The other boxes are areas where USACE and Norfolk worked to authorize and use additional beach compatible material. Overall, the project seemed to have moved quickly with little downtime for mechanical issues or weather (since Norfolk was able to work within the inlet and did not have to work offshore). Councilman Ashbridge expressed how smoothly placement went on Kure Beach. Contract cost (following project adjustment): ~$26.2M (Carolina Beach: ~$10.7M & Kure Beach: ~$15.49M). Final financials will be relayed once available. Carolina Beach and Kure Beach FY26 Coastal Storm Risk Management (CSRM) Golden Sands looking S Davis Rd. looking S Taken 5/1/26 about 1’ below MHW Notes/Discussion: Carolina Beach and Kure Beach FY26 Coastal Storm Risk Management (CSRM) Camp Wyatt Ct. looking N Camp Wyatt Ct. looking S Taken 5/1/26 about 1’ below MHW Notes/Discussion: Feb 27 Carolina Beach Inlet Maintenance Dredging •Merritt mobilized to inlet on March 10th and worked the outer bar from March 11th to March 25th •Moved an estimated 22,900cy •USACE targeting a late June/early July Merritt event •USACE announced at NCBIWA Spring Conference that they have received approval for design of Currituck replacement USACE Survey 1/8 and 3/28 Notes/Discussion: Note of thanks to USCG for being able to relocate the #1/#2 outer buoys immediately following dredge event. AIWW Crossing was dredged by Southwind as part of USACE AIWW Maintenance Contract and material was placed on Freeman Park. Feb 27 Mason Inlet Relocation Project •GBA survey efforts preliminarily verified that shoaling volume threshold has been met for a winter 2026/2027 maintenance event Dredge Volumes AEA - Monitoring 2026 Reach Grade (CY) OD (CY) Total (CY) AIWW (70+00-100+00) 30 2,889 2,919 Widener (55+32-58+69) 9,279 4,584 13,863 Mason Inlet (4+00-55+32) 272,271 86,881 359,153 Total 281,580 94,354 375,934 •NCDWR Shallow Draft Navigation Fund Grant approved, and contract signed for 2026/2027 MIRP event! •Davey Resource Group continues bird monitoring and GBA has begun to prepare plans and specs based on surveying GBA 2025 MIRP Monitoring Report Notes/Discussion: Note that the volume shown is for west of the COLREGS. The AIWW volumes were taken immediately following Southwind’s work within the AIWW Crossing. Expect shoaling volume to increase. Feb 27 Shoreline Mapping Program •Geodynamics will mobilize to New Hanover County shortly and begin surveying efforts •Had to wait until the Carolina Beach/Kure Beach CSRM project wrapped up •Still working to create a shortened, digest-able summary for the public •Draft will be shared for PWBC review and thoughts Notes/Discussion: Feb 27 S.B. 1009 •Title -“AN ACT TO ELIMINATE THE BAN ON HARDENED STRUCTURES AND TO REQUIRE THE NORTH CAROLINA COLLABORATORY TO UPDATE THE STATE'S BEACH AND INLET MANAGEMENT PLAN AND TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS FOR THAT PURPOSE” •Includes language to direct NC Coastal Resource Commission to adopt rules to regulate hardened structures •Does not appear to include language to eliminate permitting process •Includes language to move funding for the NC Beach and Inlet Management Plane from a named item in the state budget to S.B. 1009 •$850,000 to update the NC Beach and Inlet Management Plan by no later than December 1, 2027 •Link to proposed bill linked in the slide title Notes/Discussion: Link to S.B. 1009. Senator Brinson, Senator Lazzara, and Senator Hanig are primary sponsors with Senator Moffitt as a co-sponsor. Discussion around how long the hardened structures ban has been in place. Vice Chair Andrew stated that NC Division of Coastal Management Science Panel has been working on a study regarding hardened structures and hoping to finalize soon. Next Meeting: June 10th Public Comment/Open Discussion Public Comment: Vice Chair Andrew adjourned meeting.