Taking a Proactive Approach to Working Waterfront Development

Requests for new (or expansion of existing) working waterfront locations from of out-of-state restoration, repair and boat building companies are pointing out the hard cold truth that NC coastal locations are becoming "permit-challenged" and expensive. This is equally true for existing NC business expansions and especially difficult in locations where a sufficient number of existing boating businesses are already a draw for boating enterprise, such as the Wilmington, Beaufort, and Wanchese areas. Push comes to shove on these projects when major money decisions need to be made before permits have had time to run the course of research, preparation, submission, exchange, and successful granting (or resubmission, exchange, denial, appeal, and granting or denial). There is no real rub with the system (OK, there is - not with the objectives, but only in the complex and often ambiguous path to fulfill these objectives), as we have to do what it takes to keep our waters as pristine as possible.

An issue arises when a company wants to invest a few million dollars to build or expand at a site which is in established working waterfront area or a former working waterfront. Working waterfront in this case means where the work being conducted at the site is responsible for the cash flow, debt service, and profit of a business that employs a true trade workforce. There is a strong inclination by those who are about to invest big money to purchase these sites (often overvalued and "condo high") to make the wrong assumptions about the ability to gain the needed permits, let alone understand the timeframe needed to gain permits for a marina, to cut in a basin, dredge a lift area, etc. The chicken-and-egg analogy comes into play: either pay for a costly option of multi-million dollar property for 8-15 months during the permit assessment, or buy the property on a best guess assessment and pay the debt load for the permit play-out time and hope you haven't wasted your money. This is a tough decision and one that often kills good projects that would be approved if we could provide the right information to the prospect in a timely fashion.

The hope is that state regulators, folks like Jack Morrow and I from Boating Industry Services, and others from the economic development arena, can start a process where we identify property characteristics associated with adjacent water characteristics in demand areas and be ready for permits on properties which hold potential for working waterfront sites. We could work out some of the scenarios that are likely to fit the business requirement we are trying to address.

In the meantime, the General Assembly's Waterfront Access Study Committee (WASC), organized to assess a number of issues including the working waterfront ones addressed here, will be putting the final touches on its report to the legislators. To see the issues being addressed by this committee, click here. Pay close attention to those topics found under the November 20, 2006 - Pine Knoll Shores section labeled Final Reports with a 2007 date.

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