An endangered Rodanthe beachfront home comes down

By Kip Tabb | Outer Banks Voice on November 16, 2023

Removal of House at 23292 East Beacon Road, Rodanthe. (Cape Hatteras National Seashore video)

UPDATE on Nov. 16: According to reporting by the Island Free Press as of Thursday afternoon, November 16, both oceanfront homes on East Beacon Drive in Rodanthe that were purchased by the Cape Hatteras National Seashore (CHNS) have successfully been demolished, with no incidents resulting in excessive debris polluting the local shoreline, per multiple reports.

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The first of two endangered Rodanthe oceanfront homes purc, hased by the National Park Service in October was demolished and removed on Wednesday, Nov. 15.

The homes, located at the end of East Beacon Road, were purchased for a reported $749,000 with funds provided by the Land and Water Conservation Fund and the National Park Trust. National Park Service funds were not used for the purchase of the properties.

The goal, according to Outer Banks Group Superintendent Dave Hallac, is to bring the beach back to its original condition. “Ideally, when this project is completed, this will be a pristine restored natural beach,” he said.

The east or oceanfront pilings of the homes are within the boundaries of Cape Hatteras National Seashore (CHNS), but the west side of the structures are likely still on private land. “When we went into acquiring them, they were partially within the boundary of the Seashore,” Hallac explained. “The Seashore’s boundary is always from the low water to mean high water.”

Although the mean high tides have increasingly reached the dune line to the west of the homes, that is not necessarily the mean high tide line. Both homes were built in the 1980s and at the time they were built, they were well back from the high tide line and behind protective dunes.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore Superintendent Dave Hallac talking about the demolition of the two houses in Rodanthe. (Photo credit: Kip Tabb/OBV)

This was not the first time the National Park Service (NPS) had removed a structure at the CHNS. Hallac pointed to the Frisco Pier project that began in 2017 and took almost two years to complete. Hallac wasn’t sure, but it is possible that the purchase and demolition of the homes is a first for the National Park Service. “I’m not aware of other parks that have done this, but I cannot speak on behalf of [them],” he said. “We have 425 national parks.”

The actual process of removing a building goes surprisingly quickly. According to contractor Mike Dunn, owner of W M Dunn Construction in Powells Point, demolishing a house is fast work.  “Once we get it set up, we’ll have it down within 30 minutes…I’m hoping we can get the majority of the debris loaded tonight. If not, we’re going to get it as high and dry [on the beach] as we can,” he said.

With the homes so close to the ocean, demolition work can only be done at low tide. The construction crew also can’t work at night. Nonetheless, Dunn and Hallac felt the project would be completed within the 30-day window called for by the contract, although there are provisions for weather events.

Dunn has also worked with CHNS before. It was his company that helped when the Rodanthe homes collapsed onto the beach over the past year.

Taking the building down begins with an excavator ripping the outside stairs from the structures, then workers notch the piling under the house so it will fall landward. A cable runs through the upper and lower floors and is attached to another excavator that pulls the house down. After the house is down, the first excavator goes to work, tearing the rest of the house apart.

Everything is loaded onto a truck, hauled away and after the house is demolished, the septic systems are removed—Dunn explained that in older beachfront homes there are often more than one—and the sand is raked and cleaned.

In remarks to reporters, Hallac stressed that purchasing the properties was a mitigation program and not a buyout. “In a typical buyout program, the purpose is to assist the homeowner to get out of a very difficult situation they’re in. In this case, we are happy to help the homeowners, but the primary purpose is to protect the resources of Cape Hatteras National Seashore and the visitors that are here,” he said.

The two homes at the end of East Beacon Road being demolished are the first two properties that have been purchased for that purpose. Questioned if there is interest from other property owners in the program Hallac said that “We’ve heard from multiple homeowners.”

Asked by the Voice how much the demolition project cost, Hallac said the total cost was $72,000 for both houses.

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