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Dare County’s Capital Improvement Plan Committee will recommend to the Board of Commissioners that the beach nourishment projects for Buxton and Avon be moved to fiscal year 2026.

The action means that Buxton and Avon will have beach nourishment projects one year sooner than originally planned.

The move will have no impact on projects planned for Dare’s incorporated towns. And, the coverage rates all work, reported county manager Robert L. Outten.

Committee members considered leaving Avon in 2027. However, mobilization costs run at 20 to 25% of the total project cost, so it did not make sense not to move both projects forward.

Commissioner Rob Ross made the motion to move Buxton and Avon to fiscal year 2026. It was unanimously adopted at the July 8, 2024 morning meeting.

The committee also considered beach nourishment for 14,000 feet in critically eroded area in Rodanthe. A study, called Rodanthe Sand Needs Assessment published May 2023, calls for filling a 2.3 cubic yard sand deficit and seeking enough sand for five years of erosion, making a total sand needs at 3.8 million cubic yards. The study, completed by Coastal Science and Engineering, of Columbia, S.C., estimated the cost in 2023 at $40 million.

Outten said that the county “can’t make Rodanthe work.”

Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairman Robert L. Woodard asked for an update on existing projects.

Dustin Peele, the county’s special projects and purchasing manager, reported that the Emergency Medical Services Station 1 in Kill Devil Hills will be open to the public Aug. 5 at 3 p.m. On that occasion, the first phase of updating all Dare County’s Emergency Medical Services facilities will be complete.

In the second phase, the Manns Harbor station is on scheduled to be completed in May or June. The youth center in Manteo is expected to be finished in January or February 2025.

Outten reported on the soccer fields at First Flight Middle School where grass is starting to spread. He anticipates fields and dugouts to be ready by school opening for the 2024-2025 school term.

Woodard asked about the promised a recreation master plan. The request for qualifications should go out next week.

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