City of Jacksonville recently issued the following announcement.
A shoreline project in North Topsail Beach that was interrupted by Hurricane Florence is now set to begin within the next month.
The town’s project to haul in sand to repair some of the beach and dune system that has been battered by hurricanes is expected to begin by the end of November, said Town Manager Bryan Chadwick.
Progress on efforts to restore the beach in the area of the Phase 5 Beach Restoration Project after Hurricane Matthew in 2016 was destroyed by Hurricane Florence in 2018.
“About a week before Hurricane Florence we got the bid specifications for the Hurricane Matthew project, and once Florence hit we couldn’t do anything at that point,” Chadwick said.
Now, he said, the contractor is getting ready to haul in sand for the beach from their sand mine in the Wilmington area.
“They’ll bring in about 156,000 cubic yards of sand for a cost of about $5.4 million dollars,” Chadwick added.
The project will stretch from the Surf City limits north about 3.5 miles along the North Topsail Beach shoreline.
The project cost is covered by Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Another project that is expected to begin soon to bring additional help for the town’s shoreline restoration efforts is a federal dredge project at New River Inlet. Chadwick said sand pumped to clear out the inlet will be pumped onto the north end of the beach.
An overview of the various shoreline protection projects in North Topsail Beach was given during a special meeting of the Board of Aldermen on Thursday, Oct. 17.
Chadwick said the board also discussed how best to use approximately $1.6 million is state funds received after legislation was passed in July diverting $5 million in funds to be split evenly among the Topsail Island towns for hurricane recovery.
During the meeting, the board approved the staff’s recommendation to apply the $1.6 million appropriated by the state to haul sand for shoreline projects Phase 2-4.
In other action the board appointed Susan Meyer as the town’s at-large representative on the Topsail Island Shoreline Protection Commission and directed staff to proceed with a grant application for funds from the Coastal Storm Damage Mitigation Fund.
The board also directed staff to prepare and present a formal proposal for a shoreline protection officer.
Reporter Jannette Pippin can be reached at 910-382-2557 or Jannette.Pippin@JDNews.com.
Original source: https://www.jdnews.com/news/20191020/ntb-shoreline-projects-proceed
Alerts Sign-up