Groups Call For Development Moratorium On NC Coast

(24 September 2003 — Raleigh)  Three environmental groups today called on North Carolina officials to start following long-standing recommendations made by a panel of experts that are designed to guide recovery efforts following hurricanes.  Environmental Defense, N.C. Coastal Federation and the Southern Environmental Law Center urged Gov. Mike Easley and the N.C. General Assembly to enact recommendations made in 1997 by the N.C. Coastal Disaster Recovery Task Force.  Until then, the groups said that all permits for new development projects proposed within the 100-year floodplain should be placed on hold.
 
The groups said lawmakers have ignored three key task force recommendations: a requirement for full disclosure and “hazards notification” to people buying property on barrier islands, restrictions on future state subsidies that support development in designated high-hazard areas, and establishment of a state program to acquire property in those areas.

“Nature has told us again and again that our coastline is a danger zone,” said Todd Miller, executive director of the N.C. Coastal Federation. “Hurricane Isabel was only a Category 2 storm, and it was devastating.  We can’t afford to wait until a Category 4 or 5 storm comes along and kills thousands of people.”

“The moratorium is needed to stop new development and should not prevent anyone from repairing properties damaged by Isabel,” said Trip Van Noppen, director of the Carolinas Office of the Southern Environmental Law Center.  “After hurricanes there is typically a frenzy of new development, with more and more people and property put in harm’s way.”
 
The groups described efforts to rebuild N.C. 12 as temporary, stop-gap measures and said a decision to fill in the new Hatteras inlet, which is already widening and deepening, should not be made without considering alternatives. 

“Scientists agree there’s a high likelihood that the sand and road will simply wash away with another big storm,” said Jane Preyer, director of the North Carolina office of Environmental Defense.  “North Carolina decision makers must think beyond short-term fixes and focus on protecting coastal communities for the long-haul.”

Noting the importance of re-establishing a transportation link to Hatteras Village, the groups said that the N.C. Department of Transportation’s Outer Banks Task Force has already developed an Inlet Response Plan for situations when inlets are created by storms.  “Rather than following the Inlet Response Plan, the federal Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are now calling all the shots about how to deal with the new inlet,” said Van Noppen.