CRC meets amid debate over NC’s hardened shoreline structures ban

By Mark Jurkowitz | Outer Banks Voice on August 23, 2026

The original footprint of the southernmost Buxton groin.
(File photo-by-D-Giles-NCDEQ)

By Mark Jurkowitz | Outer Banks Voice

The debate over whether to repeal or amend the state’s ban on hardened structures for shoreline protection resumes this week when the North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission (CRC) meets on Aug. 26 and 27 at the Dare County Government Complex in Manteo.

A major catalyst behind the effort to re-examine the ban is the crisis on Cape Hatteras National Seashore, where 32 privately owned oceanfront houses have fallen into the ocean since 2020—with 20 of them in Buxton collapsing since September 2025, generating national headlines.

According to the meeting agenda, the CRC will hear a report from its Science Panel on hardened oceanfront structures.  On June 18, the panel presented a 47-page report recommending that the state “maintain a cautious approach to any expansion of the use of hardened structures along its sandy, open-ocean coastline.”

It also advised that before changing its oceanfront management policies, the state should “include a broad assessment of the benefits, costs, limitations and distribution of effects” arising from an expanded use of hardened structures. The Outer Banks Voice – CRC panel report recommends ‘cautious approach’ to use of hardened structures

In 1985, the CRC banned hardened structures through regulatory action, followed 15 years later by a ban approved by the state legislature, unless a groin was less than 50 percent damaged. Along with its Buxton beach nourishment project this summer, Dare County is also conducting an $8.6 million project to repair the Buxton terminal groin, work allowed under the state exemption. More Beach to Love | Dare County, NC

In the past year, there has also been a flurry of advocacy to revise or repeal the hardened structure ban coming from Outer Banks communities and officials.

In October 2025, the Buxton Civic Association asked residents to contact state officials to lobby for an “immediate exclusion of CAMAs hardened structures law” for Buxton. A month later, Dare County Commissioner Chair Bob Woodard sent a letter to North Carolina legislators asking them to take action to combat coastal erosion, a request that included reconsidering the ban on hardened structures.

In May 2026, the Currituck County Commissioners approved a resolution supporting state legislative efforts—NC Senate Bill 1009—to repeal the hardened structures ban. The resolution noted that “North Carolina is one of the only U.S. coastal states with a long-standing ban on hardened structure.” That ban, it added, leaves beach nourishment, which the resolution characterizes as “a costly and temporary solution to erosion…as one of the only tools available to counties to combat coastal erosion.” A committee of the North Carolina Senate approved that legislation to repeal the ban in June.  Senate Bill 1009 (2025-2026 Session) – North Carolina General Assembly

Asked about the repeal of the hardened structures ban during a visit to the Outer Banks in late June, Governor Josh Stein said solutions to beach erosion need “to be based in science. There [are] clear emotions that are flying here…We want people’s homes to be preserved. But we have to do it in a way that will make long-term success possible.”

The North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission (CRC) will meet Aug. 26-27 at the Dare County Government Complex, 954 Marshall C. Collins Drive, Manteo. Members of the public may attend in-person or join the meeting online.   Click here for Agenda. Items on the August 26 at 10 a.m. agenda include: in-person only report from Science Panel Report on Hardened Structures on Oceanfront; Online meeting begins at 1 p.m. The meeting resumes at 9 a.m. on August 27, agenda include: Oceanfront Erosion Discussion.