Erosion, Storms, Taxes & Strategic Retreat: Managing Developed Shorelines
Andy Coburn, Research/Graduate Faculty & Associate Director
Ting-Ting Zhou, Stanback Intern
Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines (PSDS)
Western Carolina University (http://psds.wcu.edu)
Exacerbated by...
Real
This is a huge problem.
Huge
These are existing management strategies:
Questionable Benefits
Expensive
Habitat degradation
Inequitable Distribution of Costs & Benefits
Availability of beach-compatible sand
Over 2000 Episodes
Cost: $3,087,512,514
2010 Cost = $5,114,032,122
Beach Nourishment
Availability
of
Funding
Opportunity Costs
Temporary
and
unpredictable
Since 2001, over $80 million has been spent nourishing the beaches of Bogue Banks, NC. During this time only one storm - Ophelia, a category 1 hurricane – has come within 40 miles of the island.
Traditional erosion response measures - along with archaic public policies, subsidies and development incentives – encourage hazardous development, artificially increase the value of high-risk property, reduce the resilience of shorelines, damage coastal ecosystems and are costly, unfair and counterproductive.
BOTTOM LINE:
Problems facing developed shorelines are blamed on erosion (and storm processes).
Development vulnerable to natural coastal processes is considered so valuable, it should/must be protected at all cost.
“Shore protection” is about protecting buildings, not beaches.
WHY?
BUT...
Problems facing developed shorelines are NOT due to erosion (and storm processes).
Development vulnerable to natural coastal processes is NOT as valuable as perceived, and does not warrant protection.
“Shore protection” efforts ARE about protecting buildings, not beaches.
Development vulnerable to natural coastal processes is NOT as valuable as perceived, and does not warrant protection.
The planned, equitable and systematic removal of vulnerable coastal development.
Removal
(Re)development
Relocation
To reduce hazards and risk, increase shoreline resiliency, enhance coastal economies and ensure the long term sustainability of the public trust beach.
The Goals of Strategic Retreat
Will help resolve the environmental, economic, legal, social and political conflicts and problems facing developed shorelines.
Everything this promises...
AND MORE
At Risk Properties
85
Total Assessed Value of Properties (10 Years)
$102,324,835
% of Municipal Tax Base
3.31%
% of County Tax Base
0.58%
*Total Annual Revenue Loss
Yearly Tax Increase to Pay for B.N.
$666,963
$31
NPV Revenue Loss Over 10 Years
$7,412,119
Cost of Beach Nourishment Project
$36,000,000
Factors such as distance/travel time, beach width, public parking/access and community/ environmental amenities have a greater impact on tourism and spending than the protection of oceanfront structures.
Scarcity: If the market supply of a good in demand is reduced, value & price (i.e. tax revenue) will increase
Loss of the front row = loss of least valuable row due to transfer of amenity value
Apprehension of the unknown
Human desire for the status quo
Belief that retreat is un-American
“Given the ever increasing demand for beach vacations and second homes on the coast, it is not likely that the loss of properties would lead to any net loss in visitation…”
Barriers to Retreat!
A fundamental shift in how developed shorelines are viewed. We must move away from a policy of artificial stabilization and protection and toward a policy of adaptation and sustainability.
SOLUTION
Yearly Tax Increase to Replace Lost Tax Revenue
Town of Ocean Isle Beach in Brunswick County
At Risk Properties
85
Total Assessed Value of Properties (30 Years)
24
% of Municipal Tax Base
% of County Tax Base
*Total Annual Revenue Loss
*Includes Property, Occupancy, & Sales Tax
Cost of a Terminal Groin
NPV Revenue Loss Over 30 Years
Yearly Tax Increase to Pay for
Yearly Tax Increase to Replace
$25,069,000
0.95%
0.08%
$122,191
$54,900,943
$5,005,080
$73
51¢
$123
$2,569,000
0.10%
0.008%
$512,906
$12,522
IPCC (2007)
Knutson & Tuleya (2004)
IPCC (2007)
Reality of Retreat
The amount of property vulnerable to coastal processes is ALWAYS presented in
MARKET OR ASSESSED VALUE
As a result, this gives the (mis)perception that:
Much more development is at-risk (than really is)
More municipal/county tax base and ad valorem tax revenue will be lost (than really will be)
Occupancy and sales tax revenue from tourism will be lost
The benefits of protecting at-risk development are greatly inflated
For Every $1 Spent on a TG,
the Town Receives
Less than 1¢
Terminal Groin
Lost Tax Revenue
For every $1 spent on Beach Nourishment,
Nags Head receives
20.5¢
OIB
NH
Total Assessed Value
*Total Annual Revenue Loss
Revenue Loss as a % of Value
% of County Tax Base
% of Municipal Tax Base
$2,569,000
$12,522
0.48%
0.008%
0.10%
$102,324,835
$666,963
0.58%
0.65%
3.31%
--US Army Corps of Engineers: Appendix H-42, Dare County Beaches FEIS, 9/00
Strategic Retreat
The Benefits of Strategic Retreat
Such As...
The average width of a beach under a strategic retreat strategy may exceed that of a nourished beach.
The average long term erosion rate of a beach under a retreat strategy may be less than that of a nourished beach.
Fewer vulnerable structures means less need for expensive protection efforts.
Global Warming, Sea-Level Rise, & Storms