Beach Management Plan
Currituck County commissioned this Beach Management Plan (Plan) to serve as a framework for the management, protection and restoration of the County’s 22.6 miles of oceanfront beaches and dunes. The Plan addresses various coastal hazards including long-term erosion, storm impacts, and sea-level rise. The Plan provides a long-term vision for Currituck County to sustain the beaches that support a significant portion of their local economy and maintain the tax base located along the County’s beaches.
The Plan recognizes that beaches are a critical economic asset, supporting tourism, property values, and the County’s tax base. The overarching goal of the Plan is to preserve tourism-driven revenues while improving coastal resilience. To achieve this, the Plan specifically aims to:
- Reduce risk to oceanfront development from storm impacts
- Mitigate long-term erosion risk
- Prevent dune breaching and coastal flooding
- Protect critical infrastructure and evacuation routes
- Maintain sufficient recreational beach width
- Sustain ecological resources, including shorebird and sea turtle habitat.
The Plan includes an in-depth evaluation of Coastal Hazards and Vulnerability (Section 2) and introduces a number of general management concepts that could be implemented by Currituck County (Section 3). Through the Feasibility Analysis (Section 4), four (4) separate Reaches along the Currituck County oceanfront were identified for active beach management. Alternatives were developed for each of the Reaches and the feasibility of each of the Alternatives were weighed against each other to determine a recommended alternative for each. Following the public engagement conducted during development of the Plan, detailed in Section 5, the Beach Management Plan (Section 6) presents recommended actions for each of the four Reaches, as well as volumetric thresholds to be used with the County’s annual beach monitoring to identify areas that may require future actions. Additional recommendations for comprehensive beach management of the County oceanfront are provided in Section 7.
See the below files for the Final Beach Management Plan as well as the Appendices.
FINAL Currituck_Beach Management Plan 2026-10-28_SS
Appendix A – 1D Cross-Shore Profile Plots for Hurricane Matthew
Appendix B – Impact Line Maps for 3 Simulated Storms
Appendix C – 1D Cross-Shore Profile Plots for Storm Scenarios
Appendix D – 2D Initial and Final Topobathymetric Model Surfaces
Appendix E – 2D Patterns and Dune Crest Elevations
Appendix F – Public Comments Received on the Draft Beach Management Plan
