NAGS HEAD, N.C. — A dispute between two North Carolina state agencies is threatening a key designation for a beloved state park on the Outer Banks.
For decades now, Jockey's Ridge State Park has been declared an Area of Environmental Concern (AEC). That means there are a lot of protections in place to preserve its unique features.
The North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission has gone to court to keep that rule and others in place, rules that another agency said are “unclear” and “unnecessary.”
“Each year, over a million visitors come to visit Jockey's Ridge, and we really want to ensure we can protect it for future generations,” Park Superintendent Joy Greenwood said.
It’s the tallest dune on the Atlantic coast, but shifting winds can make maintaining it a challenge. One of the rules the CRC has in place is a requirement that any sand that moves away get replaced.
“The designation is extremely important to how we manage Jockey's Ridge,” Greenwood said. "It is very important for us to keep the sand within the park boundaries."
But those rules and others were put into question by another state agency, the North Carolina Rules Review Commission.
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Tucked into the budget bill passed by the North Carolina General Assembly last year was a provision giving the commission new powers to strip rules from state law.
And the commission acted quickly to remove CRC rules regarding Jockey’s Ridge and other coastal interests, calling them “vague and circular” and “unnecessary.”
“It is a probably a combination of a lot of things. It is probably partly political and partly technical,” Nags Head Mayor Ben Cahoon said. “They are trying to make sure that rules are consistent and clear. But there’s also a certain pushback on development rules in North Carolina in general.”
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Cahoon testified at a recent Coastal Resources Commission public hearing as it works to put the rules regarding Jockey’s Ridge back on the books permanently. They’re currently in place on an emergency basis.
In the meantime, the CRC has taken the Rules Review Commission to court to settle the issue. In response, the commission has denied it’s acting without authority or in an unlawful manner.
The CRC has extended its public comment period on the rules until Feb. 22. it's unclear how permanent the new rules will be until that legal battle is settled.
