The Town of North Topsail Beach Mayor and Board of Aldermen would like to hear from North Topsail Beach property owners about the subject of Beach Nourishment. Please submit your comments here. Thank you. Carin Z. Faulkner, Town Clerk
The idea that this has been resurrected after being voted down, being scientifically questionable, and being outrageously expensive seems to be at least strange. I assume developers in the COBRA zone are driving this. Everyone who has bought on the island has been warned not to buy in the COBRA zone.At least the N Topsail council should put the hearings on Skype or some other media since the vast majority of home owners in N. Topsail cannot vote here.I assume with all of the foreclosures and property values dropping like a rock, that council knows that this additional tax burden will further erode the property values. Given the amount of additional tax burden, on top of the outrageous taxes from Onslow county, we as well as many others will sell their homes at a loss. Since I assume everyone on council is not insane, I assume that there is a subtext involving developers and land value manipulation. It is a great American traditon but if this is passed I will no longer play at this game. Enough is enough.
While I realize beach nourishment must be done, it must be funded on an equal basis. Do you think the people on 2nd and 3rdrow come to beach just to look across the street. Every one uses the beach yet you expect front row to fund 80 % of the cost.Also- if beach is not protected- the 2nd row,etc will be damaged and the infrastructure to all wiped out in a storm. It is as important to someone across the street as it is to oceanfront. Also you propose billing each owner a set percentage. The condos have an oceanfront footprint of no more than a couple of cottages yet you will assess all owners the same- exampleif their is 100 units you will assess each the same as one cottage pays- these people are already paying taxes for 100 unitsto NTB and Onslow and getting no more services than one cottage. Come up with a fair way to fund this project- and letall property owners vote on something of this magnitude.
I agree with Stuart. It is way to expensive and asks way too much of the NTB taxpayers. We are in a recession. People have lost their jobs, housing values have decreased 50% or people have lost their houses completely, people have lost their health insurance, retirement funds have been decimated. In spite of this the board is already proposing to increase taxes by 70% this year. We can not take anymore tax increases.This seems to me to be nothing more than a taxpayer bailout of COBRA zone ocean front owners. People who built in the COBRA zone knew of the risk. People have to be responsible for their own actions and not depend on other taxpayers to bail them out. In addition, beach nourishment is not going to protect us during a major storm. It is just not going to happen. All the sand will be washed away, yet we will still be on the hook for paying back the millions of dollars owed.As a comment if you look at the proposal the COBRA zone beach owners are getting 75 feet width of sand while the non-COBRA zone beach owners are getting 25 feet. One third of the sand but asked to pay for the full amount. How is that fair?As Stuart noted Beach Nourishment has been voted down decisively before. If oceanfront owners want to replenish their beach property they should do so with private funding not relying on the taxpayers of NTB. Owner funded sand replenishment was done recently at the Shell Island Resort in Wilmington.We can not afford taxpayer funded Beach Nourishment. It is to expensive and it does not work.
Stuart is right on. This expensive experiment is obviously driven by developers but just why the board is allowing it is more than strange. Use your imagination. Property values continue to drop like a rock but when word is out that phase one people are being hit with a huge, forever tax bill to fund this, their property will be worth nothing. Oceanfront people will be paying an extra 90 cents per $100. Their entire town bill this year will be around 24 cents. Then add 90 cents per year for the next four years. After that, they will still need to pay for the continued renourishment and we have no clue what that will add on to the bill. This is an unimaginable burden. Non-Of, will be adding some 34 cents per $100 to their tax bill. No buyer will touch properties with these ridiculous taxes and north end property will be worth nothing. We have a far better chance with mother nature, and as we have seen over the last thirty years in the north end we have lost few properties. The board must stop this destruction of our town. Do not sacrifice the property values and the homes of the citizens for the sake of developers, who will buy the foreclosures and cheap properties this boondoggle will create, and then erect McMansions and Condos. We have said we don\’t want this before. The board must call a halt now.
he amount asked from the 76 condos is unreasonable. The assessment must be made in direct proportion to the amount of beach footageper owner. The current calculation provides about $110,000 from the condos, whereas the same amount of beach, if cottages were built there instead, would provide $7,000 (for five cottages) to $14,000 (for ten cottages). I think that the condo owners would be willing to pay between $92 to $182, using the above figures, and it would be equitable.Nini
I agree with Willis\’ statement on May 29th., Willing to pay, but it must be fair. All use the beach, and the front line is already, and will continue to pay higher taxes, based on a higher value of property. That is why people buy 2nd, and third row, for lower taxes. not for no taxes.
The reason people buy small condos, like Topsail Reef., which are cheaper, is so that they have less beach per perspective person, than an expensive house. so their tax should be lower, just like the second, and third rows are cheaper.,
but yes, we all use the beach., So if people in the second and third row do not want to fund the beach nourishment accordingly, then the beach should just be private to the front line. Obviously that would not fly, right? The value of the front line houses, and condo is what sustains the value of the 2nd and third rows.
I am for beach nourishment, but only to the extent that the NR INLET is repaired. If the entire coast of NC is lost to nature, then so be it. Nature wins. But in the case of the northern point of the north topsail beach, this, ( as far as my understanding the inlet was dug out my man, and not by nature, thus causing an erosion, or a change in the natural structure, (albeit for the ships to pass through, which is a good thing, i am pro supporting our troops, and our freedom).
continued….This change in structure has allowed, the northern point to be lost, due to the change in the water flow of the inlet. Since this is man caused, then it should be man corrected. I am all for the turtles, and nature, but lets fixed what we started. Lets fix the inlet, and stop throwing sand in the ocean.
The first step is seeing the results from the survey. Then see if the area gets out of CBRA. Until then, these numbers should stay flexible so that all the property owners have a chance to respond.
If you aldermen would stop blocking a trial of the Holmberg system, it would have cost you only $2M dollars and you would be looking at beaches stretching hundreds of yards out into the ocean. Beaches that would NEVER need any further effort to maintain them. I can’t believe people keep reelecting you so you can see that the beaches are destroyed. Some day enough people will wake up and throw you out so new people can get on with the job of saving the ebaches.
The idea that this has been resurrected after being voted down, being scientifically questionable, and being outrageously expensive seems to be at least strange. I assume developers in the COBRA zone are driving this. Everyone who has bought on the island has been warned not to buy in the COBRA zone.At least the N Topsail council should put the hearings on Skype or some other media since the vast majority of home owners in N. Topsail cannot vote here.I assume with all of the foreclosures and property values dropping like a rock, that council knows that this additional tax burden will further erode the property values. Given the amount of additional tax burden, on top of the outrageous taxes from Onslow county, we as well as many others will sell their homes at a loss. Since I assume everyone on council is not insane, I assume that there is a subtext involving developers and land value manipulation. It is a great American traditon but if this is passed I will no longer play at this game. Enough is enough.
While I realize beach nourishment must be done, it must be funded on an equal basis. Do you think the people on 2nd and 3rdrow come to beach just to look across the street. Every one uses the beach yet you expect front row to fund 80 % of the cost.Also- if beach is not protected- the 2nd row,etc will be damaged and the infrastructure to all wiped out in a storm. It is as important to someone across the street as it is to oceanfront. Also you propose billing each owner a set percentage. The condos have an oceanfront footprint of no more than a couple of cottages yet you will assess all owners the same- exampleif their is 100 units you will assess each the same as one cottage pays- these people are already paying taxes for 100 unitsto NTB and Onslow and getting no more services than one cottage. Come up with a fair way to fund this project- and letall property owners vote on something of this magnitude.
I agree with Stuart. It is way to expensive and asks way too much of the NTB taxpayers. We are in a recession. People have lost their jobs, housing values have decreased 50% or people have lost their houses completely, people have lost their health insurance, retirement funds have been decimated. In spite of this the board is already proposing to increase taxes by 70% this year. We can not take anymore tax increases.This seems to me to be nothing more than a taxpayer bailout of COBRA zone ocean front owners. People who built in the COBRA zone knew of the risk. People have to be responsible for their own actions and not depend on other taxpayers to bail them out. In addition, beach nourishment is not going to protect us during a major storm. It is just not going to happen. All the sand will be washed away, yet we will still be on the hook for paying back the millions of dollars owed.As a comment if you look at the proposal the COBRA zone beach owners are getting 75 feet width of sand while the non-COBRA zone beach owners are getting 25 feet. One third of the sand but asked to pay for the full amount. How is that fair?As Stuart noted Beach Nourishment has been voted down decisively before. If oceanfront owners want to replenish their beach property they should do so with private funding not relying on the taxpayers of NTB. Owner funded sand replenishment was done recently at the Shell Island Resort in Wilmington.We can not afford taxpayer funded Beach Nourishment. It is to expensive and it does not work.
Stuart is right on. This expensive experiment is obviously driven by developers but just why the board is allowing it is more than strange. Use your imagination. Property values continue to drop like a rock but when word is out that phase one people are being hit with a huge, forever tax bill to fund this, their property will be worth nothing. Oceanfront people will be paying an extra 90 cents per $100. Their entire town bill this year will be around 24 cents. Then add 90 cents per year for the next four years. After that, they will still need to pay for the continued renourishment and we have no clue what that will add on to the bill. This is an unimaginable burden. Non-Of, will be adding some 34 cents per $100 to their tax bill. No buyer will touch properties with these ridiculous taxes and north end property will be worth nothing. We have a far better chance with mother nature, and as we have seen over the last thirty years in the north end we have lost few properties. The board must stop this destruction of our town. Do not sacrifice the property values and the homes of the citizens for the sake of developers, who will buy the foreclosures and cheap properties this boondoggle will create, and then erect McMansions and Condos. We have said we don\’t want this before. The board must call a halt now.
he amount asked from the 76 condos is unreasonable. The assessment must be made in direct proportion to the amount of beach footageper owner. The current calculation provides about $110,000 from the condos, whereas the same amount of beach, if cottages were built there instead, would provide $7,000 (for five cottages) to $14,000 (for ten cottages). I think that the condo owners would be willing to pay between $92 to $182, using the above figures, and it would be equitable.Nini
I agree with Willis\’ statement on May 29th., Willing to pay, but it must be fair. All use the beach, and the front line is already, and will continue to pay higher taxes, based on a higher value of property. That is why people buy 2nd, and third row, for lower taxes. not for no taxes.
The reason people buy small condos, like Topsail Reef., which are cheaper, is so that they have less beach per perspective person, than an expensive house. so their tax should be lower, just like the second, and third rows are cheaper.,
but yes, we all use the beach., So if people in the second and third row do not want to fund the beach nourishment accordingly, then the beach should just be private to the front line. Obviously that would not fly, right? The value of the front line houses, and condo is what sustains the value of the 2nd and third rows.
I am for beach nourishment, but only to the extent that the NR INLET is repaired. If the entire coast of NC is lost to nature, then so be it. Nature wins. But in the case of the northern point of the north topsail beach, this, ( as far as my understanding the inlet was dug out my man, and not by nature, thus causing an erosion, or a change in the natural structure, (albeit for the ships to pass through, which is a good thing, i am pro supporting our troops, and our freedom).
continued….This change in structure has allowed, the northern point to be lost, due to the change in the water flow of the inlet. Since this is man caused, then it should be man corrected. I am all for the turtles, and nature, but lets fixed what we started. Lets fix the inlet, and stop throwing sand in the ocean.
The first step is seeing the results from the survey. Then see if the area gets out of CBRA. Until then, these numbers should stay flexible so that all the property owners have a chance to respond.
If you aldermen would stop blocking a trial of the Holmberg system, it would have cost you only $2M dollars and you would be looking at beaches stretching hundreds of yards out into the ocean. Beaches that would NEVER need any further effort to maintain them. I can’t believe people keep reelecting you so you can see that the beaches are destroyed. Some day enough people will wake up and throw you out so new people can get on with the job of saving the ebaches.