‘I’m very optimistic’: Coastal Land Trust shares how it plans to reach fundraising goal to acquire ‘The Point’ in Topsail Beach
TOPSAIL BEACH, N.C. (WECT) - After years of attempted private development in the area, a 150-acre property known as “The Point” in Topsail Beach could be acquired by a conservation group instead.
Coastal Land Trust has already signed a contract to purchase “The Point,” but will have to raise $8 million by March 2025 to finalize the acquisition.
“We actually have applied for several grants already,” Coastal Land Trust Executive Director Harrison Marks said. “I’m very optimistic about them.”
One of the grants could come from the North Carolina Land and Water Fund. That would bring in $3 million. Another grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Federation could bring in an additional couple million.
Marks says the group will also be relying on private fundraising to reach their goal.
“There is great interest and love for this property because it’s a very iconic piece of Topsail Island,” Marks said. “Just without anything other than the press release, we’ve had close to 50 contributions and the amount is more than $10,000 so far.”
Marks said the donations are coming from people who live in the area or who vacation there.
Many residents were opposed to private development on “The Point,” especially one proposal to build a family compound that didn’t work out in 2023.
Topsail Beach Mayor Steve Smith says he’s not surprised Coastal Land Trust has received so many donations so far, as the feedback he’s heard from the community about the conservation of the property has been positive so far.
“People are pleased that this is the outcome at this point in time,” Smith said. “It’s part of our history. It’s part of the island and we’re very happy for that piece of property down there.”
Marks said he’s confident the group will be able to reach the goal by its deadline.
“We expect that we’ll be able to do that or we wouldn’t have started on this initiative,” Marks said. “In this instance, this project was important enough for us that we made it a deposit that’s at risk. If we are unsuccessful, we will lose the deposit money on this project. We’ve really staked ourselves out, and we wouldn’t have done that unless we had high confidence in success.”
You can learn more about Coastal Land Trust’s efforts here.
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