THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 28, 1995 TAG: 9501280203
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ATLANTIC BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
A coastal panel on Friday backed away from a controversial rule-change after the governor's office said it would weaken a ban on seawalls, bulkheads, jetties and other hardened structures on North Carolina's beaches.
Members of a subcommittee of the Coastal Resources Commission that considered the change said it was not intended to weaken the ban.
But Jonathan Howes, secretary of the Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources, said the change was perceived as a weakening of the rule.
Howes told the subcommittee that easing the restrictions would be a mistake, and asked the panel to affirm the state's ban on hardened structures.
After an hourlong review and discussion of the rule change, the committee agreed with Howes and substituted more specific language with only two dissenting votes.
``Throughout the discussion we've had at the committee level, there was no discussion about weakening the ban on hardened structures,'' said Ray Sturza, Dare County planner and a member of the committee considering the rule change.
``We just wanted to provide the opportunity for the commission to exercise more flexibility as new situations occur or as new technologies are developed.''
Howes, meeting with the committee Thursday, said many citizens, scientists, Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. and members of his administration saw the proposed change ``as a potential weakening of the commission's policy.''
``I'm not arguing against a flexible approach,'' he said, ``But I am arguing in favor of making it harder to change the policy.''
``The rules that the commission created 10 years ago have worked as models for other states,'' Howes said.
On Friday the Coastal Resources Commission approved the committee's decision and voted unanimously to substitute a more restrictive wording-change for the one that had concerned Hunt and others.
The action by the commission ``reinforces the existing policy and makes clear the state's stand on hardened structures, whereas the language that was on the table would have weakened it,'' said Todd Miller, executive director of the N.C. Coastal Federation. ``This Hunt administration should be credited for its efforts.''
Division of Coastal Management officials said the proposed change that caused public concern was supposed to clarify that replenishing beaches with sand is an acceptable response to erosion.
But the proposal also included a provision that says hardened structures would be allowed if there is an ``overriding need to protect the public interest.''
Opponents of the change, including about four dozen people and organizations who wrote the Division of Coastal Management, said that word change would weaken the rule.
They said the wording was ambiguous and could allow politics to play too heavy a hand in coastal regulation.
At Howes' urging, the committee on Thursday adopted a modified wording-change that would allow bulkheads, jetties and the like only in specific circumstances as outlined in Division of Coastal Management rules.
The current rules stipulate just three circumstances where hardened structures can be installed: To protect a bridge that provides the only mainland link for a substantial number of barrier island residents; to protect a historic site of national significance and to maintain an existing commercial navigation channel of regional significance.
The commission could change this list of cases when hardened structures could be used, but to do so, it would have to change coastal management rules and hold public hearings. This would involve protracted debate and make any changes in state policy difficult, according to committee discussion Thursday.
After the committee vote, Howes said the substitute wording meets the need for the commission to be more flexible but also fulfilled Hunt's wished not to weaken the rule.
The vote came 10 years after the commission enacted the ban on hardened structures - a regulation that has since become a cornerstone of the state's coastal policy.
On another beach-protection issue, debate on rule-changes governing the use of sandbags to preserve the state's beachfront homes and businesses was postponed until March after a committee considering the rule-change found on Thursday that it could not agree on many of the proposals. by CNB