THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 2, 1996 TAG: 9610020594
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 61 lines
The state has 60 days to remove a sandbag barrier along a 3 1/2-mile stretch of North Carolina Route 12 in the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, a federal district judge has ruled.
U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle granted the federal government's request for a preliminary injunction requiring the state to get the bags off the beach.
However, the court also gave attorneys for the United States government and North Carolina 30 days to respond to a motion by Dare County to intervene in the dispute.
Dare County officials oppose the removal of the barrier. If the sandbags are removed, they say, the only highway linking Hatteras Island with the mainland will be in jeopardy.
Attorney H. Al Cole said Tuesday that the county will file a motion today seeking an emergency stay of the sandbag removal order until the county's motion to intervene can be heard.
``Obviously we're not happy with the ruling,'' Cole said. ``With the way that the two parties were aligned, it was like having two foxes guarding the hen house. We do plan to file an emergency motion of stay to postpone the sandbag removal until our motion to intervene can be ruled upon.''
Cole said the safety of Dare County residents is at stake.
``I think in the last storm, the sandbagged area was one of the few areas where the water did not come through. In the interest of public safety, those sandbags need to stay in place.''
Attorneys for the government contended that the continued presence of the artificial barriers will hasten deterioration of the coastal environment.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Kocher said she was pleased with the ruling, but did not elaborate.
``The judge did what we asked him to do,'' she said. ``The county has to do what it feels it has to do.''
In January, Superior Court Judge Jerry Tillett granted the county's request for a temporary restraining order blocking removal of the artificial barrier. North Carolina officials said the only reason the sandbags have not been removed is because of that preliminary injunction. They supported the federal government's request for removal of the bags.
Boyle's ruling is the latest salvo in the legal wrangling over the artificial barriers. In February 1992, and again in May 1995, North Carolina obtained a federal permit to use the bags to protect a portion of North Carolina Route 12 that runs through the Pea Island refuge. Under terms of the permit, the sandbags were to be removed by June 16 of this year.
But the Dare County Superior Court ruling on March 4 prohibited the state from removing the bags. In August, the Department of the Interior filed motions to require the state to remove the bags from the federally owned land in keeping with the 1992 permit.
Both the federal and state permits granted for the construction of the new stretch of the road required the removal of the 4,000 sandbags. The U.S. Department of the Interior required that the sandbags be removed one year after construction began on the roadway. State permits required removal 60 days after completion. The new stretch of highway opened last December.
The sandbags line the seaward side of the only direct route between Hatteras, Ocracoke, and Dare County. Some 5,000 year-round residents live on Hatteras. by CNB