Rt 12 is Back, and Serendipity Must Go!
Two excellent pieces of news for the OBX!!!
The Island Free Press has reported (scroll down a little bit on the page) that yesterday Rt 12 has opened to all traffic! The NCDOT has done an excellent job to get the area back in action for access to Rodanthe and points south.
Additionally, the Island Free Press reports that the Nights in Rodanthe house, Serendipity must go! Dare County will declare the property a public nuisance with choice for the owners to either move it or remove it. Excellent news to help save more construction debris from endangering our beaches and inshore waters. Hopefully, this is only the beginning and all "lost cause" ocean front properties will be "forced" to take action to prevent more property waste from polluting our beaches and coastal waters.Oh yea, and Andy at Lost in Hatteras reports excellent wavesailing at the Lighthouse yesterday!! Killer shots of Keith M lined up and then eaten by a big one!! Fun times!!
PS: You all wondering where I was at, especially since I have a brand new Quatro Tempo 92 PVC waiting to get wet?! Well, I am finally in the final stages of a SW application construction/deployment which I have been working on since mid-summer. The effort has cut into much of my windsurfing time this Fall as I have missed a number of days over the past month or so (really bummed I missed that Cove Sesh!)... Friday is the rollout, and though work will continue, perhaps I may be able to slip down to Avon to catch a few more sessions once into the operations and maintenance phase...
4 Comments:
I was a bit surprised by your tone on the demise of Serendipity until I read the Island Free Press discussing how the northern properties and their driveways act as permanent dune breaches. While it would just delay the inevitable and probably not help in severe storms like this one, perhaps the owners could be required to make their driveways something like the beach access ramps. A sand dune with wooden rip-rap on top. That would allow them a few more years (months?) of ownership while protecting island access. I don't have a suggestion for flooded septic systems and house parts killing surfers!
Yea, the biggest issue is the "lost cause" properties. Unfortunately, ocean front on a sea level, sand-based spit of land is a risk over the term of a typical mortgage. Here on the OBX, unfortunately we do not have the luxury of sitting atop extinct volcanic rock bluffs or other rocky cliffs. Once these properties get into the position in the ocean wash, as is the case with Serendipity, there is no solution other than moving it or demolishing it.
I believe that an interesting aspect of this entire issue is the lack of flow plains on the islands. We have only two inlets (Oregon and Hatteras) which join the ocean and sound. Prior to heavy vacation development on the OBX, natural inlets formed all the time. The fringe areas of local towns and villages were spots where these inlets formed, as well as along undeveloped areas of the islands.
Today, there is a constant battle to prevent these natural inlets from forming. I believe this is the root cause of the lost beach sand as well as problems on the islands. If natural inlets were allowed for form, the water flushing between the sound an ocean would occur and likely sand redistribution would naturally "nourish" the beaches. I have no evidence, but logically and pragmatically it makes sense.
Villages and towns have existed on the OBX for a long time. However, the fringes where "recent" development has occurred/is occurring are where I believe, the cause of the problem resides.
The Rt 12 breakthrough last week is a perfect case in point. What if the money spent to "rebuild" was rather spent on building a raised flyover roadway? Sure it may cost more in the beginning, but over the course of a few years, the solution would surely pay for itself, along with letting a natural inlet form. Perhaps "beach nourishment" would happen as well, saving from that additional expense proposed to dump thousands of tons of sand on the beach.
All in all, we are at a breaking point on the OBX for doing something. Hopefully money and the final plan will be pragmatic, logical, and sound with a "forward thinking" mindset for the solution. The answer is not something that will last 20 years, but rather something that will last permanently.
If only that were the case..."pragmatic, logical, and sound with a "forward thinking" mindset for the solution" doesn't happen when gov't, lobbyists, and environmental action groups are involved.
Amazing and sad that you are likely correct Mac!
Strange how these things are done, and how these decision makers come up with their "solutions."
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