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Officers with the Buxton Civic Association said “it’s huge news” and called the announcement “a big win.”

On Monday, March 3, 2025, toward the end of the Dare County Board of Commissioners meeting, finance director David Clawson and county manager Robert L. Outten made a startlingly announcement.

“We have a path forward that for the longest time we didn’t have. We have a funding source,” said Outten.

Outten and Clawson delivered huge news: that the three groin system in Buxton could be repaired, pending permits from Coastal Resources Commission and National Park Service.

For years, the county and others had relied on a report that said a groin was more than 50% destroyed and therefore under a Coastal Resources rule could not be rebuilt. Buxton Civic started lobbying for fixing the groins to hold the sand pumped on the Buxton beach with Dare County’s beach nourishment projects.

Coastal Science and Engineering discovered more structure under the sand floor. The percentage of the original structure still surviving is over 60%.

Meanwhile, Clawson met with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials about sand loss from unnamed Potential Tropical Cyclone #8, Sept. 15-17, 2024. Sand loss surveys were a year apart. Coastal Science and Engineering engineer Patrick Barrineau very conservatively calculated a sand loss of 175,000 to 200,000 cubic yards. Then, FEMA adjusted for the long-range erosion rates.

FEMA took into account named and unnamed storms to determine a very long-term erosion rate. FEMA officials said sand loss was 1,351,000 cubic yards of sand. Dare County had already moved up the renourishment of the Buxton beach to 2026. With FEMA contributing dollars to the 2026 project, Clawson announced a $3.5 million savings that could be spent to repair the groin system.

The Dare commissioners unanimously authorized Outten to “begin work to repair the groin system.”

At the Feb. 3, 2025 commissioners’ meeting, Buxton Civic Association officers delivered a report titled “Eroding Trust. Building Resolve.” The report detailed the association’s concern about the Navy and U.S. Coast Guard facilities at Buxton and concluded with a plea to fix the groins.

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