New Topsail Inlet dredging to cost more

The price tag to dredge New Topsail Inlet has increased, prompting the small town spearheading efforts to deepen the badly clogged waterway to fork out significantly more money.

Topsail Beach commissioners recently agreed to contribute $175,000 to the project. That’s $75,000 more than town officials initially anticipated paying.

A majority of commissioners agreed they had no choice but to pay the extra money after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers upped the initial price quote of $400,000 to $450,000.

The corps surveyed the waterway in early July and determined that only four feet of water stood in the inlet at low tide. Shoaling has made it difficult and dangerous for most boaters trying to navigate the waterway, which is Pender County’s only marked inlet.

Local business owners – from charter boat and head boat owners to fishing tackle suppliers – are seeing their profits decline as a result of the shallow inlet.

Topsail Beach officials have been working on ways to get the inlet opened back up, initially planning to pay out two installments of $50,000 for a two-phase project. The first phase would be to dredge two areas of the inlet with the heaviest shoaling. The second phase included deepening the remainder of the inlet and storing freshly pumped sand for emergency beach nourishment.

The corps informed the town it wants to clean out all 11,000 linear feet of the inlet using a side caster dredge within a 30-day window.

Topsail Beach has commitments from Surf City and Pender County, which will pay out $25,000 each for the project. The town anticipates the state will pick up the rest of the tab – $225,000.

Topsail Beach Commissioner Jac ReVille voted against funding the project during the board’s Aug. 10 meeting, saying he had too many questions about the proposed project.

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