First, do no more harm! Topsail Beach has a chance to mitigate certain, future storm damage by doing nothing.

The Topsail Beach commissioners are considering a rezoning request for an area at the southern end of the island, immediately adjacent to New Topsail Inlet. I can’t comment on the emotional or recreational value of that area to residents and visitors. Those are considerations for others to express and for the commissioners to weigh.? I can address the inherent vulnerability of the area from a scientific perspective.

I am a part of a team that has developed a coastal hazards vulnerability assessment tool for the United States Department of Interior. We are in the process of assessing the vulnerability of every bit of infrastructure in every coastal, national park in America. In North Carolina, this includes everything from the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse to the Wright Brothers Memorial.

The site under consideration for development and rezoning in Topsail Beach would rank as extremely high in every single category we evaluate for coastal hazards. Don’t be misled by the fact that the spit is currently growing. It is still highly storm vulnerable. Land adjacent to inlets can change rapidly and the area will experience extreme storm surge and significant wave impact during storm events. If you approve building here, you may as well eliminate all restrictions and pretend that we have learned nothing about coastal processes and coastal hazards over the last few decades in North Carolina. It is as simple as that. The property lies within the Coastal Barrier Resource System. A very wise federal policy over 40 years old now that bans the use of federal funds for most purposes within highly exposed, undeveloped coastal areas. Please understand that if you approve development here, the citizens of Topsail Beach will be responsible for most future costs related to that development (including post-storm liabilities). There are many examples of municipalities trying to walk away from maintaining services to properties in hazardous areas. They have lost in court. You must consider the long-term liabilities you will be committing future Town officials to fund. It would be supremely ironic for the Town of Topsail Beach to take any future, federal resilience funds if you cannot meet this simple challenge: avoid placing new infrastructure in areas where that development will immediately be extremely vulnerable to coastal hazards. The best approach to securing the long-term resilience of a community is to avoiding creating new problems in areas where problems do not currently exist. New Hanover County is in a similar quandry over Point Peter.

The Topsail Beach commissioners are holding a workshop to discuss how the development proposal might be altered to make the project acceptable. Let me be clear. No project in an area this exposed to coastal hazards should be acceptable. This is the low hanging fruit. If you ask what we can do to make Topsail Beach more resilient, I will always say, first do no more harm. Avoid creating new problems. The good news is that the area is currently appropriately zoned. The commissioners should do the citizens of Topsail Beach a favor— don’t change it.