TOPSAIL ISLAND — A coalition of beach town representatives is pushing for legislation to encourage sustainable development in coastal communities and thinking ahead to adapt for climate change.
READ MORE: Beach towns gear up for ambitious state and federal lobbying effort, firm on $9K monthly retainer
ALSO: Pender launches new $42K lobbying program, legislative priorities include PFAS regulation
The Topsail Island Shoreline Protection Commission is a group composed of representatives from Pender and Onslow counties and local municipalities — Topsail Beach, Surf City, and North Topsail. It’s focused on lobbying for state and federal policies to preserve shorelines and benefit coastal towns.
The group held a meeting on Monday to discuss its 2024 state and federal legislative agenda, established in the group’s January meeting. Committee members and TISPC lobbyists discussed recent developments on the agenda, including assistance with beach renourishment and storm mitigation projects, redesignating local Coastal Barrier Resource Act areas, and various efforts aimed at environmental conservation.
“With sea level rise and all the building that’s going on, you have to be more concerned about runoff into the townside waters coming from the mainland,” TISPC Chair and Topsail Beach Mayor Steve Smith told PCD Wednesday.
Unlike other local communities, Smith said TISPC’s clean water concerns do not focus on PFAS because studies haven’t shown the island’s chemical concentrations to be as high as other Cape Fear region communities. Instead, the commission is pushing for regulation and oversight to ensure development does not cause runoff pollution that could harm Topsail Island’s waters and shellfish farms, citing contamination in Wilmington’s shellfish areas.
Last month, UNCW Geography professor Roger Shew told PCD runoff from development can contribute to high levels of fecal coliform bacteria, which he believes has contributed to local shellfish water impairment:
“This has not always been the case but has been for the last couple of decades with greatly increased development [and] population,” he said. “I think this is a sad commentary on the amount of stormwater runoff from all of the development [and] impervious surfaces and contaminants on these surfaces that enter our coastal waters. Once in the water it is very difficult to remove the contaminants, so we need to have better methods to prevent or reduce the runoff into these important bodies of water.”
The chair noted TISPC is also charged with education and keeping local municipalities up to date with legislation and ordinance changes. He said the severity of climate change’s long-term environmental consequences is a subject of debate, but believes current data proves the tangible impact for coastal communities.
“For climate change and the heavier rain falls, we need to make sure that normal infrastructure is designed and built for the future,” Smith said.
TISPC is looking into funding sources for stormwater infrastructure, as TISPC estimates sea levels have risen a little over six inches in the last 25 years. The group is also lobbying to maintain affordable coastal insurance rates, projected to continue increasing in anticipation of climate changes.
In February, insurance commissioner Mike Causey rejected the North Carolina Rate Bureau’s request for a 99% coastal insurance rate hike request after pushback from local officials and around 25,000 state residents. The NCRB cited storm risk and climate data from Moody’s and Verisk credit services for the increase, which is trending upwards. If the NCRB and department of insurance do not reach a settlement for new rates, a court hearing will take place in October on the issue.
“Anybody that’s lived on Topsail Island — they won’t debate you that sea level has risen over the last 20 years,” Smith said. “People who have built docks or whatever, they know where it was 25 years ago because they had a mark on it and they know where it is today.”
At the state level, the commission is pushing for $10 million in yearly funds from the Coastal Storm Damage Mitigation Fund to mitigate and remediate storm damage to beaches and dunes.
For state lobbying at the general assembly, TISPC hired lobbyist Dave Ferrell of Maynard Nexsen — who is also leading Pender County’s new lobbying initiative — for $4,000 a month in January. Ferrell replaced retired state lobbyist Constance Wilson of Connie Wilson Inc, who TISPC paid $60,000 in 2023 according to state disclosures.
Chase Horton, who works with Ferrell at Maynard Nexsen, presented state lobbying updates at Monday’s meeting. He said the group is anticipating more activity soon as committees have just begun meeting for the 2024 session, but noted he met with Rep. Carson Smith (R-District 16) to discuss TISPC’s agenda and is scheduled to meet with Sen. Brent Jackson (R-District 9) later in the week.
Mike McIntyre of Ward & Smith, who served as representative for North Carolina’s 7th district from 1997 to 2015, is TISPC’s federal lobbyist. In January, TISPC bumped its monthly retainer with Ward & Smith by $250 per month to $9,225.
On Monday, Stephanie Missert of the Ferguson Group — a Washington D.C.-based lobbying firm that works with Ward & Smith on TISPC’s lobbying efforts — spoke on McIntyre’s behalf.
She said the group is waiting to hear back from FEMA on methods of improving coordination on Topsail’s post disaster response. The group is also waiting on an update from the House Natural Resources committee on the budgetary impact of H.R. 2437, a bill to remove CBRA-designation from an area in North Topsail Beach introduced by Representatives Greg Murphy and David Rouzer last year.
CBRA prohibits federal funding of projects that extract sand from CBRA-designated protected zones to protect environmentally sensitive areas. TISPC believes the North Topsail mapping was made in error and the bill would help facilitate beach renourishment efforts without environmental consequences. Although some infrastructure in the area was built before being CBRA designated in 1982, property owners who built after the designation cannot participate in federal programs like the National Flood Insurance Program.
Disclosures show the Ferguson Group lobbied for Ward & Smith on behalf of TISPC for $10,000 in the first quarter of 2024, although federal lobbying disclosures are rounded to the nearest $10,000.
“They provide very in-depth information about pieces of legislation — why it was written the way it was, what might be the roadblocks or what might be the way forward,” Smith said.
The Ferguson Group has also lobbied for Ward & Smith on behalf of other local governments in recent years, including in Brunswick County, Carolina Beach, and Holden Beach.
Smith said TISPC paid Ferguson Group around $40,000 in 2023, making last year’s total lobbying spending add up to over $207,000.
He estimated TISPC’s annual budget to be around $130,000 in January, but told PCD Wednesday he expected TISPC to spend closer to $150,000 to $168,000 in 2024. Expenses fluctuate year to year depending on the need for legislative expertise on current issues.
The chair attributed TISPC’s lobbying efforts to victories last year, including legislation granting local authority to remove deserted vessels and banning non-encapsulated polystyrene foam in docks for environmental preservation.
Smith cited TISPC’s recent letter in support of the conservation of Jockey’s Ridge in Dare County — among the tallest sand dunes on the East Coast — as an example of the commission being at the forefront of local environmental issues.
“We are trying to be ahead of the curve,” he said. “That’s been our history in terms of how we’re trying to protect this resource that we have. Because if you’re not planning for it now, it might be too late.”
[Ed. Note: This article has been updated to change the date of the original Topsail Island CBRA designation and specify that it does not apply to all property owners. Port City Daily regrets this error.]
Tips or comments? Email journalist Peter Castagno at peter@localdailymedia.com.
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