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CALVIN R. PECK, JR.
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Tab 9
StarNews (Wilmington, NC)
December 29, 2010
Bald Head Island sues feds over beach erosion
Author: Shelby Sebens
The village of Bald Head Island filed a lawsuit Tuesday claiming the Army Corps of Engineers
has not lived up to its end of the deal to keep the island safe from nearby dredging.
The 83-page lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court alleges the corps has not fulfilled its
commitment to protect Bald Head Island from erosion caused by the agency's dredging of the
Cape Fear River's shipping channel.
Village Manager Calvin Peck said the issues stem from the start of the project in 2000 when
Bald Head officials warned the dredging would negatively impact the island.
“We told them then it wouldn't work, that there were going to be problems,” he said.
Corps spokeswoman Susan Clizbe said the agency has not yet been served with the lawsuit so
she could not comment.
Meanwhile, the towns of Caswell Beach and Oak Island planned to file a motion to intervene in
the lawsuit, Caswell Beach Mayor Harry Simmons said Wednesday. The towns are not opposing
the lawsuit but rather looking for a seat at the table, Simmons said.
“We are, at this point, just keeping an eye on things,” he said.
Simmons said the towns want to make sure that whatever agreement Bald Head Island and the
federal government might come to on the channel issue does not negatively impact Caswell and
Oak Island's beaches.
“We need to find a solution that resolves it for everybody, not just one community,” he said.
Erosion on Bald Head occurs every time the corps dredges the shipping channel, which was
relocated closer to the Brunswick County island a decade ago, the lawsuit alleges.
And the problem was exacerbated in 2009 when the dredged sand wasn't placed back on the
island. Instead, it was pumped over to Caswell Beach as part of a sharing agreement, according
to the lawsuit.
Some areas lost several hundred feet of beach and dune, and by late summer several homes and
at least one street were relying on sandbags to hold back the encroaching waves. Overwashing
also was common during storms or higher-than-normal tides.
The village has its own $17 million sand project, but Peck says that it's not enough and that a
lack of funding from the federal government is pouring salt in the wound.
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