The CRC, on Thursday, "showcased some real frustration over sandbags," according to the Wilmington Star-News.
"Sentiment ranged from making the bags biodegradable, which would limit how long they'd stay on the beach, to completely outlawing them."
Under North Carolina law, sandbags are supposed to be temporary erosion-control measures to buy time for property owners until a longer-term solution such as relocating threatened homes or a beach nourishment can take place.
But in many cases the "temporary" nature of the fabric bags, which were supposed to be limited to two years in the ground, has been lost.
Case in point is The Riggings in Kure Beach, where sandbags have protected the condominium complex from the encroaching ocean for more than two decades.
Now a deadline of May 2008 is looming for most of North Carolina's sandbags to be pulled.
Few expect a mass removal of the protective structures next summer, especially considering the amount of coastal property that could be put at risk.
State regulators agree that there are aesthetic issues with the sandbags, though the main problem is they don't solve the erosion problem "but simply shift it to another spot along the beach."
While any policy change or push to have bags removed is likely leading to a tussle with the General Assembly, which has overruled unpopular CRC decisions in the past, [CRC Chairman Courtney] Hackney said the sandbag issue is really a fundamental question of what North Carolina wants for its coast.
"We have been treating sandbags as hardened structures in everything but name," he said. "So the real question is, 'Do we want seawalls or beach?'
"And if the state wants beach, then we're going to have to come up with money to renourish the beaches. It's that simple."
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