The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Savannah District team identified the former heating oil plant as a secondary source of petroleum contamination at the Buxton Naval Facility Formerly Used Defense Site.

An unoccupied, privately owned house in Buxton that Dare County was attempting to purchase for removal collapsed into the Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday night in amid hazardous coastal conditions.

Dare County and the Town of Nags Head are making significant investments in beach nourishment projects this year.

Nine unoccupied oceanfront houses on Hatteras Island collapsed last week, and officials and residents expressed concern over this week’s forecast bringing the potential for more destruction. Dare County increased its storm fund as a precaution.

The consultant for a company that proposed a zoning text amendment to remove the 1988 multifamily density cap for a roughly 7-mile-long area of Frisco and Buxton said the plan is to wait, even though the Dare County Board of Commissioners’ tabling of the amendment Monday for 90 days does not prevent the applicant or anyone else from building in the “Zone of Influence” area in question, according to county staff.

The Buxton FUDS Restoration Advisory Board, during the first of what will be quarterly meetings, expressed appreciation for the work done so far at the site and hopes that remaining contamination will be addressed.

Eleven people were selected to the Restoration Advisory Board for the Buxton Naval Facility FUDS. The first meeting is Thursday, April 10.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Oct. 2 began removing petroleum-contaminated soils from the former Buxton Naval Facility site.