North Carolina’s longstanding prohibition of hardened structures like jetties and seawalls to control coastal erosion appears to be washing away in the waning days of the 2026 legislative session.
On Wednesday, members of the Senate Agriculture, Energy, and Environment committee advanced legislation that would eliminate the ban on such structures, and require the North Carolina Collaboratory at UNC-Chapel Hill to update the state’s beach and inlet management plan.
Sen. Bob Brinson (R-Beaufort), a lead sponsor on Senate Bill 1009, said policy made 40 years ago to protect North Carolina’s shoreline should not be immune from review.
“Erosion rates have increased. The number of threatened structures has grown. Technology and our understanding of engineered stabilization have advanced,” said Brinson.
Brinson said the legislation was in no way an effort to let every property owner build a seawall or fast-track them for widespread construction.
If the bill passes, Brinson said, the Coastal Resources Commission would be tasked with adopting rules to regulate the placement of future seawalls or similar structures.
Homes collapsing into the ocean in Buxton, N.C. in September 2025. (Photo: Cape Hatteras National Seashore /National Park Service)The debate over upending a policy that has been in place since the late 1970s comes after 32 privately owned structures have collapsed along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore over the past six years. Homes in Rodanthe, North Topsoil and Figure Eight Island are also threatened.
Sen. Jay Chaudhuri (D-Wake) questioned whether the bill sponsors had explored other options that would not involve repealing the hardened structure ban, like beach nourishment..
“Beach nourishment is not appropriate in all situations,” Brinson said. “Beach nourishment also is getting more and more expensive and not lasting as long.”
Major beach nourishment projects are taking place this summer in Avon, Buxton and Nags Head. While tens of millions of dollars will be spent to stabilize the coast and widen those beaches, experts say the renourishment effort is only designed to last about five years.
Sen. Julie Mayfield (D-Buncombe) said the problem with allowing seawalls is that stopping erosion in some places worsens erosion in others, so some coastal properties will win and others will lose.
“That’s just science. I don’t know how the Coastal Management Commission is going to thread that balance in developing these rules,” said Mayfield.
Sen. Michael Lazzara (R-Onslow) told Mayfield what they were seeking for homeowners was not dissimilar to what property owners in western North Carolina requested in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
“Are we saying that we should not allow those structures to go back up in the way that they were because of what took place? It’s the same thing on the coast,” said Lazzara. “You know, we’re losing a lot of homes due to erosion. Anything that we could do to mitigate that is just responsible.”
Mayfield said while she could appreciate Lazzara’s analogy, the reality is that thousands of homes in western North Carolina will not be rebuilt post-Helene because the land that they were on doesn’t exist anymore.
Mayfield reminded her colleagues that Mother Nature remains undefeated. And just like in western North Carolina, she said it would be more appropriate to create a permanent buyout fund.
“The ones whose houses are literally standing in the water right now and at risk of falling in, this conflict between insurance won’t pay to move and the state won’t buy out,” said Mayfield. “Those folks are completely left in limbo. I don’t think that’s fair either.”
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Brinson said a state buyout fund for property owners would not address the erosion problems that plague Highway 12 and ferry infrastructure. NCDOT has spent $17 million on routine maintenance of Highway 12 in Dare County since 2010, with an additional $51 million more for storm repairs.
Rob Lammé, representing the North Carolina Coastal Federation, urged lawmakers to put the legislation on hold until the long session next year when there would be time for more deliberative debate. The N.C. Coastal Resources Commission’s science panel is scheduled to present its findings on oceanfront hardened structures at a meeting on Thursday.
But Sen. Tom McInnis (R-Moore) saw no reason for delay. McInnis said in his 50 years as a real estate auctioneer, he was struck by the lack of action on coastal erosion.
“This is what it takes. Take a different look at a different idea on a different day,” said McInnis.
Senate Bill 1009. along with Senate Bill 1001, which includes an $800,000 appropriation for terminal groin permitting, construction or repair costs, goes next to the Senate Appropriations committee.
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