North Carolina local officials are examining closely new maps of the nation’s Coastal Barrier Resource Act areas. The federal government created CBRA zones more than 25 years ago to try and minimize loss of life and property by placing unstable areas of undeveloped barrier islands off limits to any type of federal funding, including participation in the National Flood Insurance Program. Officials on all levels stress that the maps are still in draft form, meaning there’s still time for boundary lines to be tweaked. And a lot of what can and can’t be done in the zones – beside granting federal flood insurance – is open to interpretation.
“That’s one of the main problems with this is that it’s not clear what impact this will have,” said Spencer Rogers, a coastal engineering expert with N.C. Sea Grant.
Another issue is that the draft maps, which were prepared partly using aerial photography, lack the precision usually found in land surveys done by local officials or regulators. The new lines could make it more difficult for private property owners to develop or rebuild their homes and for towns to build public waterfront access areas or find sand for beach nourishment.
Excerpted from StarNewsOnline.
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