THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 3, 1996 TAG: 9604030400
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBBIE MESSINA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines
Sandbridge's beach keeps shrinking, so the cost to widen it keeps growing.
The price tag for establishing the controversial sand replenishment program has increased by 58 percent because three times as much sand than what was originally thought is needed.
The first six years of the 50-year project, scheduled to begin next spring, will now cost $38.4 million. The original amount was $24.2 million.
The Army Corps of Engineers will pay for 65 percent of the project, and 35 percent will be paid by the city.
Greater-than-average erosion rates over the past four years and reliance on outdated erosion trends resulted in the Corps underestimating the scope of the project.
How the price increase will be covered is undecided.
The City Council already has rejected pouring any general tax revenue into the project, and instead has placed tax surcharges on Sandbridge property owners to pay for the sand.
City staff may recommend that Sandbridge residents' taxes be raised again to help compensate for the shortfall. It's unclear, however, whether that will generate enough money.
Two years ago, Sandbridge property owners authorized the city to raise their real estate taxes by up to 12 cents, and their lodging tax by up to 5 cents.
Based on the original cost estimates, the council raised the real estate tax by only 6 cents and the lodging tax by 2 cents starting in 1995, then 4 cents thereafter.
``We still have some flexibility there,'' said Councilwoman Barbara M. Henley, one of the architects of the funding plan. ``We've got a cushion.''
Because Sandbridge residents already agreed to the higher taxes, it's unlikely they will object to an increase.
``I don't think there will be any resistance in Sandbridge at all,'' said Thomas E. Fraim, president of the Sandbridge Coalition. ``We entered into the special tax district with our eyes open. It was the only way we were going to get the city to sponsor the project.''
Phillip J. Roehrs, city coastal engineer, said the additional revenue will fully cover the initial sand replacement and at least two subsequent replenishments at two-year intervals.
Beyond that, it's not clear whether the taxes collected can keep pace with the program costs. City staff members have been too busy formulating next year's operating budget to crunch all the numbers, Roehrs said.
This problem arose because the feasibility study, conducted in 1992, relied primarily on historic erosion rates over the past century.
``The previous 100 years are not reflective of the last four years at Sandbridge,'' Roehrs said. ``There was a large gap between assumptions and reality.''
It was believed that an initial 972,000 cubic yards of sand would be needed to construct a 50-foot-wide beach berm along five miles of beach. Now, 2.7 million cubic yards are needed.
That means the start-up cost would increase from $9 million to $19 million.
The city can't afford the costlier initial outlay, so the Corps and the city staff members will recommend that the additional placement of sand, and the additional costs, be spread out over the next six years.
Under this plan, the first phase of the project (1.5 million cubic yards) would cost $12 million. The city's share would be $4.2 million.
And three subsequent replenishments, at about two-year intervals, would cost $9 million each, as opposed to $5.1 million. The city's share of that would increase from $1.8 million to about $3 million.
The rest of the replenishments would continue on the original schedule, at a cost of $5.1 million ($1.8 for the city).
In effect, it will take six years instead of one year to achieve the same beach profile.
``This does diminish the storm-protection benefit,'' Roehrs said. ``We still desperately need the project. One of these years, we're going to start seeing a lot of (property) damage.''
But some council members are not sympathetic to Sandbridge. They are not inclined to spend taxpayers' money on sand for Sandbridge. They say dumping sand on the badly eroding beach is tantamount to throwing money into the ocean.
And they are not willing to bail out private property owners who voluntarily assumed the risk of oceanfront living.
Sandbridge is a private beach, but the city is seeking easements that will grant the public legal access.
In a related matter, the City Council agreed Tuesday to advance the corps $100,000 to finish the design work on the Sandbridge beach replenishment project.
The corps came up short on funding for the design because it had reallocated some money to other projects. The corps asked the city for an advance to keep the project on schedule. The money is expected to be repaid when the project begins construction.
The vote on the additional funding was 9 to 2, with Nancy K. Parker and Robert K. Dean dissenting.
KEYWORDS: SANDBRIDGE SAND EROSION SAND REPLENISHMENT by CNB