By Connie Leinbach
The North Carolina legislature late Tuesday afternoon approved an additional $7 million for the Ferry Division.
Hyde County Manager Kris Noble told the news to the Ocracoke Civic & Business Association at their meeting Tuesday night.
In the newly passed Senate Bill 449, $3 million will go toward operations, which includes personnel and fuel, and $4 million for dry dock operations to overhaul the long-route ferry “Sea Level,” which will undergo a complete overhaul, Noble said.
The additional appropriation will allow the ferry division to continue its current level of service without reducing ferry runs and brings the Ferry Division’s total budget to about $70 million.
Gov. Josh Stein has to sign the bill for it to take effect. Tolls on the Hatteras Ferry, as was proposed in the Senate version of the overall budget back in June, are not a part of this appropriations bill.
The N.C. legislature still has not passed an overall budget because the chambers cannot agree on it, but has approved a continuing resolution for funding state operations the same as last year and has also passed some “mini” budgets, such as this one.
Noble said the Ferry Division informed her in September that its available budget of $62.2 million would not be sufficient to maintain the posted ferry schedules and was looking at significant reductions in ferry runs statewide.
“We begged them to hold off because we knew the General Assembly was coming back into session this week and we begged them to hold off until we were able to try to lobby for that money to be put into a mini budget,” she said.
The vote was to be taken Wednesday morning.
“But at about 5:30, Representative John Torbett texted me that they decided to push it through, and it’s done,” she said.
“This is a major win for Ocracoke and every ferry-served community in North Carolina,” said Justin LeBlanc, executive director of the Ocracoke Access Alliance. “We deeply appreciate the General Assembly’s commitment to the Ferry Division and to the coastal residents and visitors who depend on this essential service.”
This funding ensures the “Sea Level” will return to service next spring and that vital ferry routes will continue to operate at full strength.
“The state’s ferry network is not only a lifeline for residents but also a cornerstone of the coastal economy, supporting tourism, small businesses, and year-round access to jobs and services,” LeBlanc said.
Among the advocates for the additional funding, LeBlanc said, were Representatives Keith Kidwell and Senators Bobby Hanig and Norman Sanderson and Senate President Phil Berger.
The Hyde County commissioners at the Oct. 6 meeting approved a resolution supporting this additional funding.
“(Resolutions) go a long way in Raleigh,” she said, adding that other coastal counties also sent resolutions. LeBlanc met with the Speaker of the House Destin Hall’s staff twice.
“Every bill needs a champion,” she said, “and Rep. Ed Goodwin (a former director of the Ferry Division) was that champion for us and got that (additional funding) included in this bill.”
Noble said that she and Hyde County Commissioners Chair Randal Mathews met with Hyde County’s Congressional Representative Greg Murphy, who visited Ocracoke on Sept. 10 after visiting Buxton where several houses collapsed during Hurricane Erin’s passage along the Outer Banks.
She said he toured the sandbag area and met with some local business owners and LeBlanc.
“He’s very supportive of our efforts,” she said. “I work with his staff pretty much on a weekly basis and I get a 15-minute Zoom call with him once a month.”
The relationship is not at the point to make a “real ask, but we’re keeping him informed and engaged.”
As for the continuing overwash at the sandbag area at the north end of Ocracoke Island, Noble said that NCDOT is continuing to replace sandbags and are extending the bags south.
She said they are using a new type of sandbag that locks together and that will allow less seepage and provide better protection.
The county is actively seeking a mid-term solution of beach nourishment, she said, but needs funds to complete a study.
Because Ocracoke does not have beachfront housing, we have a different situation that is better suited for nourishment projects to last longer than in places where there’s beachfront development.
In a meeting with NCDOT, Noble learned that the agency typically does not seek beach nourishment except when it’s paired with a long-term solution, such as in the Rodanthe area where beach nourishment occurred while the jug handle bridge was being built.
The beach nourishment study would be used to apply for construction funding (for $200,000 to $500,000), she said.
OCBA chair Bob Chestnut noted that for businesses, it’s getting hard to plan.
If successful, the beach nourishment study could be done in a year, Noble said, and actual nourishment could begin two years from now.
She said she has identified some hazard mitigation funding she can apply to for the beach nourishment study.
Concurrently, the county, (as stated in its May 2024 resolution) will ask to partner with NCDOT to get to work on long-term roadway alternatives. The 2024 resolution is the road map, Noble said.
The resolution will be updated at the November 3 commissioners’ meeting to include the beach nourishment study and subsequent beach nourishment.
The resolution also will ask that the stabilization of South Dock study include the north end as all one transportation corridor. Now, the Ferry Division is looking at South Dock while NCDOT is looking at the sandbag area.
“It’d be hard to fund as one project,” Noble said, “but I want to encourage them to study it together because it will save a lot of money.”
The National Park Service’s 2021 environmental impact statement provided a streamlined framework for sediment management in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, which includes beach nourishment, dune stabilization, emergency breach repair and habitat restoration.
“When we are able to move forward with beach nourishment that shouldn’t be a challenge,” she said.
As for dredging this winter in the Hatteras and Ocracoke inlets, Noble said Murphy’s office said the federal government shutdown should not affect that.
