Woodard Sends Urgent Letter to Raleigh Calling for State Funding and Hardened Structures – Will Lawmakers Finally Listen?
MANTEO – Dare County just turned up the heat on Raleigh like a nor’easter in January. At the December 1 Board of Commissioners meeting, Chairman Bob Woodard laid out a powerful letter he’d already fired off to Governor Josh Stein and every single member of the North Carolina General Assembly – an all-out plea for statewide help as coastal erosion chews through Hatteras Island faster than ever.
The letter, dated mid-November and shared publicly at the meeting, doesn’t pull punches: repeated home collapses (15 in Buxton alone over six brutal weeks this fall), N.C. Highway 12 hanging by a thread as the only lifeline for island residents, and locals pouring over $275 million into beach nourishment while the state sits on an empty “Beach Nourishment Fund” created years ago but never funded.
Woodard’s asks are straight fire: Capitalize that dormant state fund annually to back up local efforts. Dust off the N.C. 12 Task Force recommendations for long-term fixes. And – the big one stirring whispers – reconsider the decades-old ban on hardened structures like groins where pumping sand alone just isn’t cutting it anymore.
“Dare County has always taken care of its own,” Woodard hammered in the letter and again from the dais. But with storms intensifying and the ocean marching inland, it’s time for the whole state to step up – especially since OBX beaches pump millions in tax revenue back to Raleigh every year.
County officials are already planning trips to the capital once the legislature reconvenes, ready to meet lawmakers one-on-one and show them the scars firsthand.
But whispers are swirling harder than overwash: Will inland legislators finally open the checkbook? Is the hardened-structures ban – sacred since CAMA days – actually on the table? Who’s lobbying against more state cash? And with another storm season looming, how many more homes slide into the surf before something real happens?
We’ve heard from frustrated oceanfront owners, from Hatteras locals tired of fighting alone, from commissioners vowing not to let up.
What have you heard about the letter’s impact – any lawmakers responding yet? Seen early signs of state money moving? Got thoughts on hardened structures saving (or changing) the OBX we love?
These local heroes on the Board aren’t backing down – they’re demanding Raleigh join the fight to save our barrier islands, our highway, our way of life. But is this urgent call the turning point… or just another letter lost in the legislative wind?
Stay tuned – the short session fires up soon, and Dare’s voice is getting louder. And if you’ve got acorns to stash on erosion funding battles, hardened structure debates, lawmaker reactions, or anything else churning in OBX or NC politics, the burrow’s deep, safe, and anonymous.