State: Examine moving The Riggings

KURE BEACH -- Revisiting the potential for moving The Riggings condominium complex away from the encroaching Atlantic was among the latest recommendations state officials have given to the Kure Beach complex's homeowners association.

The recommendations from N.C. Division of Coastal Management (DCM) staff, sent earlier this month to state regulators and the homeowners association, are merely the latest in a series of back-and-forths between state regulators and the complex over the use of sandbags to protect the buildings from erosion since 1985. The wrangling has seen state orders, deadlines, lawsuits and the continued use of large "temporary" sandbags on the oceanfront property.

State law says sandbags are to be used on a beach for a two-to-five year window until a more permanent solution, such as a beach nourishment project or relocation of the threatened structures, can be developed. As a condition of a five-year variance granted in 2015, the homeowners' association is required to submit an annual report about its sandbags, which it did in December, in which the association said it continues to pursue a formal beach nourishment project to protect the complex.

"Nourishment is the most environmentally acceptable means of shoreline erosion control and the preferred approach to erosion at the local, state and federal level," the association wrote to the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission (CRC).

Previous efforts to include the area in beach nourishment projects have been hampered by an outcropping of coquina rock, which is federally protected. The Army Corps of Engineers has stopped beach nourishment projects about 1,500 feet north of The Riggings to avoid the risk of burying the outcropping, which is identified on the N.C. Registry of Natural Heritage Areas.

DCM staff, in a follow-up letter sent Feb. 1, recommended that the homeowners examine whether "trucking-in sand for a site-specific nourishment designed to avoid impacts to the coquina" could be a solution.

But the state's recommendation to move The Riggings from its current location to another resembles an effort made a dozen years ago. In 2006, the state was awarded a $2.7 million Federal Emergency Management Area (FEMA) grant that would have covered $2.7 million of the estimated $3.6 million cost to demolish The Riggings' existing structure and rebuild on land across U.S. 421 the homeowners already own and that is used for a parking lot.

The homeowners ultimately turned that deal down -- something former U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre, who helped secure the grant, called "disappointing."

Reporter Tim Buckland can be reached at 910-343-2217 or [email protected].

History of The Riggings

1985: The Riggings is built just north of Fort Fisher and just south of the coquina rocks in Kure Beach. Kure Beach immediately protects the vulnerable site with sandbags.

1992: N.C. Division of Coastal Management (DCM) begins to issue permits for the sandbags

2000: In a letter to Rep. Mike McIntyre, the Army Corps of Engineers says the coquina rocks rule out any beach nourishment project in front of The Riggings. N.C. Coastal Resources Commission (CRC) begins granting variances to keep sandbags in place

February 2002: 1-year variance granted

May 2003: 2-year variance granted

April 2005: CRC grants another variance request tied to a FEMA grant that would have relocated the property

May 2006: Riggings HOA denies the FEMA grant and relocation

March 2008: CRC denies a variance request, starting a lengthy court battle

December 2014: N.C. Supreme Court sides with HOA in court battle

April 2015: CRC issues another five-year variance, requiring The Riggings HOA to submit an annual report about the sandbags.

February 2018: DCM provides new recommendations, including revisiting the idea to move the complex.