Cape Carteret pond work underway

By BRAD RICH

Tideland News Writer

After months of discussion and behind-the-scenes activity, there was finally a visible sign of things to come last week at the troubled drainage ponds in front of Cape Carteret Baptist and Presbyterian churches.

Dr. Lexia Weaver, coastal scientist for the N.C. Coastal Federation in nearby Ocean, said surveyors were out in a canoe, taking depth and other measurements necessary to develop the cleanup plan.

The goal, Weaver said Thursday, is to have two or three possible design concepts ready for consideration by the two churches by the end of May. Once a plan has been chosen, work can begin to return the ponds to their wetlands function as storm water retention and filtration areas.

A conservation easement allows the churches to install benches, walkways, bridges, plantings and other amenities that would make the pond areas suitable for worship and other passive uses, but still maintain the former pond sites as natural areas capable of handling the significant storm water runoff from the properties and other hardened surfaces, such as adjacent N.C. 24.

Longstanding problems with the ponds were exacerbated in November 2012 when a water control structure failed and the water drained into Deer Creek. Cape Carteret officials contacted the federation to see what could be done, and the organization suggested that the ponds be turned into wetlands.

The state Division of Water Quality had surveyed the larger pond but said it would not take responsibility to help restore it. The state DOT also declined to help, despite having four pipes that bring water into the pond from N.C. 24. The Army Corps of Engineers said that the pond predated its permitting process, but if the Corps become involved in fixing the pond, a permit would be needed before any work is done.

At one point, all involved envisioned seeking a 60-40 percent state grant, meaning the two churches would each have to supply 20 percent of the project bill. The town agreed to act as a fiscal agent for the grant, but would assume no fiscal responsibility or liability for the project itself; the churches costs were expected to be $20,000 to $25,000 each, and a total cost of $200,000 or so was envisioned.

That was a viable solution, but because of the high cost to the churches, was not optimum. And even that fell through when the federation learned that the project no longer qualified for the federal Environmental Protection Agency grant.

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Cape Carteret pond work underway