no insult intended.
towns allow additional building of homes, tourist attractions and malls in order to reduce the taxes for existing homeowners. each time anything new is built, it reduces the amount of naked earth, sand, grass or trees available to absorb rainwater. any new paved area, such as parking lots or driveways create a new space that water runs off and where trees, which used to absorb water through their roots, no longer exist. a double whammy. of course everyone pays taxes and nobody wants to pay more taxes, but you have to balance what the price will be in a sensitive area like the shore. dh and i had a second home in cape may and we watched the expansion on the outskirts of town in both homes and stores, the tearing up of forested areas and the wash-out on the old roads. that was why we sold.
imo, it's not worth the few dollars per household that gets saved in taxes. that's the taxes part.
the paving takes place in every town, but it's devestating near the ocean or any other water. blaming a hurricane alone for what is also the fault of bad planning is self-deceptive. the ocean wants to advance and recede. laying asphalt in it's way and then being surprised when the ocean ruins it doesn't seem realistic. the same is true of boardwalks and breakwaters. again, in cape may they kept building breakwaters (rock piers) to hold the sand in place to hold down houses that were built on sand. what a joke! the water takes the sand where it wants the sand to go.
the ocean goes where the ocean wants to go. i don't think there will ever be a permanent way to confine it, especially now with the level of the oceans rising. and i don't think it should be confined since no one knows what the end result of that will be.