THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 9, 1994 TAG: 9412090582
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: OCRACOKE LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
When state transportation workers cleared sand off a stretch of N.C. Route 12 on this Outer Banks island after Hurricane Gordon, they appeared to have damaged some sand dunes - violating state coastal regulations, a North Carolina coastal official said Thursday.
Transportation officials said they certainly didn't intend to damage the dunes. They were just trying to clear the only route onto Ocracoke Island as quickly as possible.
The issue raises the question about whether transportation needs should trump coastal environmental concerns.
A team of investigators with the Division of Coastal Management met with transportation department officials Thursday and visited sites along N.C. 12 where crews had cleared sand from the road.
The investigators are trying to determine if the transportation agency violated state regulations.
State workers apparently damaged some of the dunes along a 36-acre stretch of land near the highway on Ocracoke Island and harmed some of the vegetation on those dunes. The workers had not received permission from state regulators to do so, said Preston Pate Jr., an assistant director with the Division of Coastal Management.
After Hurricane Gordon sent high winds and waves across Outer Banks beaches late last month, transportation workers pushed sand from the Ocracoke roadway, across a grassy area and into a line of dunes. That action increased the dunes' height and damaged some of the natural vegetation.
The workers also are said to have excavated sand from the sound side of the roadway onto the sand dunes, Pate said.
``We will be treating that as a violation,'' Pate said in an interview from his office in Morehead City. ``And we will initiate enforcement procedures.''
The apparent violations were spotted by Division of Coastal Management inspectors during a routine trip through the area last week, Pate said.
Normally, DOT workers remove sand from the road and deposit it along the highway right-of-way after a storm and do not need a permit from the Division of Coastal Management to do so. But in the latest cleanup, the DOT appeared to have pushed the sand farther from the road and into the line of dunes east of the highway.
Sand dunes are protected under state the Coastal Area Management Act as an ``area of environmental concern,'' so the DOT would need a permit before any activity that may disturb the dunes can go ahead. For its latest cleanup, the DOT did not obtain one, Pate said.
If the transportation department is found to have violated state rules, the agency could face a fine ranging from $350 to $2,500 a day, Pate said.
For more than two days in mid-November, Gordon stalled off the North Carolina coast before turning south and dissipating. Waves from the storm washed across sections of the roadway on Hatteras and Ocracoke islands, deposited sand and blocked traffic for a three days last month.
DOT began removing sand from the highway almost immediately after it washed onto the roadway, starting in Kitty Hawk and continuing to other areas, said Transportation Department Assistant District Engineer Allen Russell.
Russell said Thursday that state transportation officials don't think they violated regulations with the cleanup.
``Our intentions were not to violate the law or any rules or regulations,'' he said. ``Our intentions were to protect the road.'' by CNB