The snowy setting this morning on a frozen canal just north of the Dick White Bridge on East Dogwood Trail was serene and calm.
Southern Shores Town offices will remain closed tomorrow, and trash and recycling will be picked up on Friday, according to an announcement issued this morning by the Town.
THERE WILL BE NO TRASH PICKUP TOMORROW, and the Town’s plan to collect trash and recycling on Friday is subject to change. The Beacon will notify you if the Town reschedules the collection.
We should have mentioned earlier that although the Town does not plow secondary roads, Town Public Works crews are clearing some roads for essential services. Please use extra caution in those areas.
FOURTH HOUSE COLLAPSES; BUXTON OCEANFRONT IS CLOSED
While we were writing our earlier post today, another unoccupied oceanfront house in Buxton apparently was collapsing into ocean, according to The Coastland Times, which reported the event occurred around 9 a.m.
Since Saturday, four houses in Buxton have fallen into the ocean, and the entire coastline of the small village on Hatteras Island is now closed to the public, according to The Coastland Times.
The Cape Hatteras National Seashore advises people to stay away from the collapse sites and the surrounding beach area because of potentially hazardous debris.
This photo depicts debris on the beach in Buxton after a house collapse last fall. It is being published for illustrative purposes only.
The Island Free Press is reporting this morning that two more oceanfront houses in Buxton have collapsed in the surf as a result of the storm, one last night and the other this morning at high tide. Both were unoccupied.
The Beacon reported yesterday on the collapse around sunrise of a house at 46201 Tower Circle Road in Buxton. The Island Free Press does not provide addresses for the new casualties.
According to the Free Press, the Cape Hatteras National Seashore has closed the beach affected by the houses’ extensive debris to the public.
Nineteen oceanfront houses on Hatteras Island have fallen since September, all but one of them in Buxton, the other in Rodanthe.
We also sadly note that The Island Free Press reports today on the death of Gee Gee Rosell, the longtime owner of Buxton Village Books, on Jan. 29.
Gee Gee opened her beloved book shop in 1984, 10 years after she graduated from the West Virginia University School of Forestry and moved to Hatteras Island.
We had the pleasure of first meeting Gee Gee, an independent, hard-working free spirit, more than 30 years ago. She was devoted to books, writers, readers, and Hatteras Island and was also a lot of fun.
A memorial reportedly will be held for Gee Gee in the spring.
Monday’s garbage collection has been rescheduled to Tuesday.
The Town of Southern Shores’ administrative offices will be closed tomorrow, and there will be no trash collection until Tuesday, as previously announced by the Town.
The Town Council meeting scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday has been rescheduled until 10 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 10, in the Pitts Center.
According to a Town announcement, the Town Council’s meeting agenda will remain the same. See agenda meeting packet at:
Dare County offices and facilities will be closed tomorrow and Tuesday. There will be no classes or remote learning tomorrow for students of Dare County schools.
ROAD CLEARANCE: The N.C. Dept. of Transportation will clear N.C. Hwy. 12 and U.S. Hwy. 158 in Southern Shores. Neither the Town nor Dare County will clear the secondary roads. That job is left up to Mother Nature.
ANOTHER HOUSE COLLAPSES IN OCEAN OFF HATTERAS ISLAND
An unoccupied oceanfront house in Buxton, on Hatteras Island, collapsed into the ocean just before sunrise today, according to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, after a high pounding surf washed out the sand beneath its pilings.
Snow from the weekend’s winter-storm nor’easter had just stopped falling when the house collapsed, leaving a massive field of debris along the beach, according to news reports online.
Built in 1979, the house was located at 46201 Tower Circle Road, along a stretch of road noteworthy for other oceanfront houses in Buxton having collapsed there since last September.
At least 16 homes fell in the ocean off Hatteras Island in 2025. All of them were located in Buxton except one that was located in Rodanthe, according to the Island Free Press, which provides an overview of winter-storm conditions on Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. See https://islandfreepress.org.
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*The last time we published The Beacon, we promised to provide you with the full names of the four new Southern Shores Fire Dept. captains who were sworn into office at the last Town Council meeting. They are Matt Jones, Dakota Sawyer, Daniel Wottawa, and Lawson Marsh. For biographical information about each, see p. 3 of the Town Council meeting agenda packet.
The outline of the entry “corridor” in Southern Shores along U.S. Hwy. 158 and N.C. Hwy. 12 appears in red above. (Diagram courtesy of Southern Shores Entry Corridor Enhancement Plan, Jan. 16, 2026 draft)
The Southern Shores Entry Corridor Enhancement Committee will present on Tuesday (Jan. 27) at 5:30 p.m. in a special town meeting at the Pitts Center its “Phase One” plan for how to “enhance the appearance, functionality, and overall character” of vehicular entryways into Southern Shores along U.S. Hwy. 158 and the southwest side of N.C. Hwy. 12—a 1.6-mile long stretch of road dubbed the “corridor.”
Tuesday’s meeting is being jointly held by the Entry Corridor Enhancement Committee (hereinafter, “Corridor Committee”), the Southern Shores Town Council, and the Southern Shores Planning Board. After the Corridor Committee presents its report, the public will have an opportunity to comment and ask questions, after which, according to the meeting agenda, Planning Board members and Town Council members will be able to do the same.
There is overlap in membership among the three boards.
The report is 75 pages, 45 of which consist of appendices, including Town Code ordinances that apply to the largely commercial corridor and community responses to a survey that the Corridor Committee conducted from May 8 to June 10, 2025. The Committee also held an open house on May 27, 2025 during which residents and other stakeholders, such as business owners, informally conferred.
The Corridor Committee, whose members are not identified in its Phase One report, was established Oct. 1, 2024 by the Town Council. The impetus for the committee came from Mayor Pro Tem Matt Neal, and he has served as a leader and liaison.
The Committee defines the 1.6-mile-long “corridor” on page 4 of its report as being comprised of:
68 acres, or roughly 3.1 percent of the Town’s total land area of 2,175 acres;
30 parcels of land; and
260,072 square feet of finished commercial floor area
About 93 percent of the corridor is zoned commercial. Four of the 30 parcels are zoned RS-1 low-density single family residential district. (See diagram above.)
Roughly speaking, the Town of Southern Shores has U.S. 158 corridor jurisdiction on the northern side of the highway, and the Town of Kitty Hawk has jurisdiction on the southern side. But there is a shared boundary. This is clarified on page 4 of the report as follows:
“. . . [T]he Town of Southern Shores is located along the northern side of U.S. 158, [but] the entirety of the U.S. 158 right-of-way is actually located within the Town of Kitty Hawk, with the northern edge of the right-of-way serving as the boundary between Southern Shores and Kitty Hawk. The multi-use path, grass and landscaping along U.S. 158 are located within the Town of Kitty Hawk, with their maintenance and use subject to a Memorandum of Understanding between the two towns.”
The rights-of-way of U.S. 158 and N.C. 12, as well as the roads themselves, are under the jurisdiction of the N.C. Dept. of Transportation (NCDOT). To promote the success of the eventual enhancement plan, according to the report, the Corridor Committee “intends to work closely with the Town of Kitty Hawk and NCDOT to ensure coordination and consistency.”
We say “eventual” plan because this Phase One report presents the Corridor Committee’s aspirations, its conceptual thinking, and the data it collected from the survey, the open house, and stakeholder communications, but no recommendations or action items, those being left to Phase Two.
The eventual planning document, the report states on page 2, will serve as a “guiding framework” that will reflect a “shared vision related to the entry corridor and offer direction, inspiration, and tools for decision-making, while leaving flexibility over time.” It apparently will not make suggestions for amending the Town Code to implement its direction and inspiration.
The Committee defines its “Mission Statement” on page 2 as a commitment to:
“revitalizing and unifying the entry corridor along Highway 158. Through evaluation and engagement we seek to establish architectural standards rooted in unified design aesthetics, including landscaping and green spaces and incentivizing diverse development options. We aim to create a cohesive, modern, and community-oriented environment that reflects our heritage and values.”
This strikes us as aspirational planning-speak that cannot truly be evaluated until concrete proposals for change are made later. Metaphorically speaking, the Corridor Committee is framing the premise for the plot of the novel that the Town will write later.
The report breaks the Mission Statement down into seven goals, including to:
Establish unified architectural standards and district aesthetics;
Promote biodiverse landscaping and green spaces;
Support diverse housing incentives;
Foster community engagement and collaboration;
Advance economic development aligned with community values;
Enhance accessibility and connectivity; and
Implement ongoing review and adaptation
Is the eventual product of the Corridor Committee going to be a statement of policy, not unlike the Town’s Land Use Plan, about desired building style and architecture, signage, landscaping and green space, development uses, and connectivity among the parcels in the corridor?
It appears so. We should learn more about the next steps in Phase Two of the Committee’s planning at Tuesday’s meeting.
By Ann G. Sjoerdsma, The Southern Shores Beacon, 1/25/26
A public hearing on a Zoning Text Amendment submitted by the Southern Shores Civic Assn. to increase the maximum allowable height of fences around “community recreational facilities” in all zoning districts from 6 feet to 10 feet and to restrict their construction material, was not held at the Town Council meeting this morning because the applicant withdrew the ZTA.
(See The Beacon, 1/5/26 for background.)
According to Mayor Elizabeth Morey, the SSCA removed ZTA 25-06 for “clarification that needs to take place.”
The Civic Association owns nine community recreational facilities in town, including the Sea Oats Park, pictured above.
The newly clarified proposed amendment will be considered by the Planning Board at its next meeting before it returns to the Town Council for hearing and consideration.
MEETING HIGHLIGHTS
Beach Nourishment: Town Manager Cliff Ogburn gave an informative report regarding a second potential beach nourishment project in Southern Shores, which would likely occur in 2027, five years after the inaugural project in 2022-23; in 2028 (six years); or in 2029 (seven years), in conjunction with projects by Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, and Duck.
The Town Council has not made an official commitment to a project of any kind yet.
“We’re in really good shape,” Mr. Ogburn told the Council, explaining that the Southern Shores beaches have 32 percent more sand volume on them now than was added in 2022-23.
According to the Town Manager, more than 1 million cubic yards (cy) of sand were placed on the beaches in 2022-2023, and they currently have 333,900 cubic yards over that 1 million.
Further, he said, “The project was designed with the assumption that the beach would lose 3 cubic yards [of sand] per foot per year (cy/ft/yr).”
Instead, the beaches have gained 4.3 cy/ft/yr since the 2022-23 project.
“We’ve done better than projected,” he noted.
The Beacon will provide more details from the Town Manager’s beach nourishment report, including cost projections, as soon as we have time.
New SSFD Captains: Southern Shores Fire Dept. Chief Ed Limberger introduced the four newly hired SSFD captains, with a short biography about each young man. We encourage you to view the Chief’s introductions on the Town’s YouTube website.
When we publish again, we will have the correct spelling of the four new captains’ names, whose first names are Matt, Dakota, Daniel, and Lawson. The only last name we could catch from the Chief’s introductions on the You Tube stream was Jones, as in Matt Jones. We can only guess at the others.
It would have been helpful if the four captains’ names and their biographies had been included in the meeting packet, along with the names of the four SSFD Auxiliary Board members whom Chief Limberger recognized.
Presumably, a photo of the newly sworn captains will appear in the next Town newsletter with their full names.
It also would be helpful if Town Council members—especially Mayor Pro Tem Matt Neal, who is notorious for not speaking loudly enough—spoke into their microphones when they talked. They should be mindful that they are creating a public record. Only the Mayor makes a point of speaking loudly and clearly.
That’s all for now, folks. TBC.
(We apologize to subscribers who received multiple emails of this post. We had technical difficulties that necessitated a deletion of the first post and an insertion of its replacement.)
A public hearing on a Zoning Text Amendment submitted by the Southern Shores Civic Assn. to increase the maximum allowable height of fences around “community recreational facilities” from 6 feet to 10 feet will be held at the Town Council’s first meeting of the year tomorrow at 10 a.m., in the Kern Pitts Center behind Town Hall.
ZTA 25-06 seeks to amend Town Code section 36-97, an ordinance regulating walls and fences, not only to increase the maximum height of fences around community recreational facilities, but to require such fences to be constructed only of “see-through chain-link fabrication.”
“Community recreational facilities” are defined in Town Code section 36-57 as recreational facilities owned and operated by not-for-profit entities, that “are constructed for, open to, and available for use by members, property owners, and their guests.”
According to Planning Director/Deputy Town Manager Wes Haskett’s summary of the ZTA, which can be found in the Council’s meeting packet, the SSCA currently owns and operates nine community recreational facilities in town.
The SSCA is a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization, dedicated to promoting the interests and welfare of its members and their community and environment.
The Town Planning Board unanimously recommended approval of ZTA 25-06 at its Dec. 15 meeting.
This ZTA would seem to be an improvement at SSCA’s recreational facilities. If any resident thinks otherwise, we would appreciate hearing from you. Thank you.
PLEASE NOTE: Since last March, the Town Council has permitted only one public-comment period in its meetings, eliminating the long-held second public-comment period scheduled after all business has been heard and before its adjournment. The only public-comment period on the Council’s agenda now comes after special presentations and staff reports, but before the Council conducts “old” and “new” business.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS on Tuesday’s meeting agenda include:
Introductions of the new staff at the Southern Shores Fire Dept. and members of the Fire Auxiliary Board;
An overview of the events planned for the Outer Banks “A250 Initiative,” commemorating the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding and the signing of the Declaration of Independence, by Katelin Kight from the Dare County public relations department;
An update on the 2027 beach nourishment project, to which the Town Council has yet to commit officially, by Town Manager Cliff Ogburn; and
A quarterly financial report by Mr. Ogburn.
CHRISTMAS TREE DISPOSAL
You may place your undecorated Christmas trees (no tinsel!) in your “limb and branch” pile in the public right-of-way for pickup during your regularly scheduled sector pickup. Wreaths are excluded from this collection.
In case you did not know, the Town is divided into four sectors. Each sector’s limb and branch collection lasts a week, and chippers alternate among the sectors from week-to-week. (In our experience, collection usually occurs on the first day of a sector’s week.)
The Town Council voted unanimously at its Tuesday, Dec. 2 meeting to enact a 40-mile-per-hour speed limit year-round on Southern Shores’ stretch of N.C. Hwy. 12, repealing the current year-round 35-mile-per-hour speed limit that took effect in 2022.
In order for the speed-limit change to occur, Town Manager Cliff Ogburn explained, the N.C. Department of Transportation must concur with the Town Council’s recommendation—a decision that Mr. Ogburn said would likely be forthcoming.
Before the Town Council voted unanimously Aug. 2, 2022 to implement the current 35-mph year-round limit on N.C. 12, the limit was 45 mph year-round except from May 15 to Sept. 15 when it dropped to 35 mph from Trout Run south to the Kitty Hawk town line.
N.C. 12 encompasses Ocean Boulevard and Duck Road, from the Kitty Hawk-Southern Shores town line north to the Southern Shores-Duck town line.
Town Councilman Mark Batenic led off the Council’s speed-limit discussion Tuesday by focusing on his interest in getting low-speed vehicles (“LSVs”), such as upgraded “golf carts,” off of N.C. 12, particularly on Duck Road.
During the summertime, he noted, vacationers often drive such carts, outfitted for six passengers, to and from Duck, impeding traffic flow.
“It’s impossible [for other drivers] to get around them,” he said, and they get frustrated.
In North Carolina, LSVs, which are street-legal motorized carts with legally mandated safety features (headlights, turn signals, e.g.), licensure, and other requirements, can drive on roads that have speed limits of 35 mph or less. Their top speed, however, is 20 to 25 mph, thus making them a nuisance to other drivers who wish to proceed at the posted speed limit.
While the impetus for the Town Council’s speed-limit change appeared initially to be eliminating the inconvenience that LSVs pose to other drivers, its discussion evolved into one about safety—particularly that of the LSV driver and passengers, who would not fare well in a collision with a car, SUV, or truck. The Council did not cite any such collisions that had occurred, however.
Southern Shores Police Chief David Kole said his primary concern was the prevention of accidents involving LSVs, not regulating speed on N.C. 12. He produced statistics showing that there had been little change in the number of speeding tickets issued on the road in 2020-2022 before the lowering of the speed limit compared with 2023-25, afterward.
Chief Kole also presented data on motor vehicle accidents (“MVAs”) on N.C. 12 before and after the speed-limit change, but they did not distinguish the nature of the vehicles involved. His numbers showed 26 MVAs in 2020; 39 in 2021; 32 in 2022; 36 in 2023; 34 in 2024; and 27 this year, through October. Most of them, he said, were rear-end collisions.
During the discussion, Mayor Elizabeth Morey sought to shift the focus from getting vacationers in LSVs off of the main thoroughfare to “err[ing] on the side of safety and caution.” She said that the Council would consider “accommodation for LSVs in the future,” and cited “multiuse paths” as a possibility.
For more information about the speed-limit issue, we refer you to pages 21-30 of Tuesday’s meeting packet, which you may access here:
The Beacon covered the speed-limit change, which was approved after NCDOT conducted a yearlong engineering and traffic study in Southern Shores, on 8/1/22 and 8/3/22. Please see those reports. Most of the members of the public with whom we spoke then favored the change, and the Council enacted it, knowing that it would open up N.C. 12 to LSVs.
Just as he did in August 2022, Councilman Batenic also drew attention at Tuesday’s meeting to the dangers posed by people riding on electric bikes (e-Bikes). Although the Council has discussed regulating e-Bikes since then, it has taken no action to do so.
Councilwoman Paula Sherlock did not attend the meeting because of a family matter. The unanimous vote on the speed-limit change was 4-0.
OTHER NEWS THAT WE THINK YOU MIGHT LIKE TO KNOW:
Council to Meet at 10 a.m. in 2026, Unless Public Objects
The Town Council decided unanimously to change its meeting time from 1 p.m.—which it has been for the past three months—to 10 a.m., starting with the Jan. 6, 2026 meeting.
According to a “Council Meeting Schedule 2026” resolution issued this week by the Town, the time for Town Council workshops held on the third Tuesday of the month will remain 9 a.m.
We think this is an unfortunate change that is exclusionary for most Southern Shores residents, but we did not have a vote. It most significantly affects public comment, we believe, not the number of people in attendance.
The Town Council has soundly rejected an evening meeting time—although the Planning Board continues to meet at 5 p.m.—and chose between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. for its meeting time in 2026.
Only if the public objects to this early meeting time, Mayor Pro Tem Matt Neal said, would it be changed. (Mr. Neal was reelected unanimously to his position as Mayor Pro Tem.)
Mayor Morey was sworn into office for her new four-year term, and Ms. Sherlock was sworn in outside of the meeting.
Celebrating the 1776 Signing of the Declaration of Independence
Counciman Rob Neilson is the Town’s liaison for Dare County’s celebration next year of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He announced at the meeting that there would be Dare County representatives at the Town Council’s Jan. 6 meeting to detail all of the events scheduled locally for the 250th anniversary.
The “big kickoff” for the anniversary celebration, as Mr. Neilson called it, will take place Saturday, April 18, at the Wright Brothers Memorial in Kill Devil Hills. Billed as “Dare A250 Faire: Liberty, Legacy & Liftoff in the Land of Beginnings,” the event is described online as a “full-day patriotic festival,” from 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. (Easter is April 5.)
ALSO SCHEDULED JAN. 6, 2026 are introductions of the Southern Shores Fire Department staff and Fire Auxiliary Board members.
Fire Chief Ed Limbacher, who tried to show visuals Tuesday from cameras on all sides of SSFD fire trucks, might attempt that feat again in January, assuming he has worked out the computer bugs. What he showed was fascinating.
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The Beacon is still on “hiatus” . . . we just couldn’t resist giving you some of the news, and we had some extra time.
We wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season.
BY ANN G. SJOERDSMA, The Southern Shores Beacon, 12/5/25
We have been on hiatus since our last post and will continue on hiatus indefinitely. We have returned to book writing and editing and do not know when we may resume regular reporting for The Beacon. We will continue to aspire to report on major news events that occur in town.
Next Tuesday, as you all know, is Election Day, and all of the Dare County towns have municipal elections.
For the first time in more than 10 years Southern Shores has a candidate running unopposed for office in a municipal election.
In fact, we have two candidates running unopposed, both of them incumbents: Elizabeth Morey for mayor and Paula Sherlock for her seat on the Town Council.* Each was elected in 2021 and has served a four-year term.
In the 24 years since Southern Shores started electing its mayor by direct popular vote, we have never had an uncontested mayoral election. Until then, the five-member Town Council, which was popularly elected, chose the mayor from among themselves, as the Town of Duck has been doing since its 2002 incorporation.
The polling place in Southern Shores on Tuesday is the Pitts Center.
The Southern Shores Town Council will hold its November meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 5, at 1 p.m. in the Pitts Center. For the agenda and meeting packet, see:
There will be a public hearing Wednesday on Town Code Amendment 25-01, which has two purposes:
To repeal Town Code section 1-14, which was just added to the Code by the Town Council in September, in order to comply with N.C. law enacted on Oct. 6; and
To amend Town Code section 6-5 to limit building permits required for retaining walls and to eliminate building permits for fences.
At its Sept. 2 meeting, the Town Council unanimously approved ZTA 25-05, which established a one-year waiting period for a property owner to resubmit to the appropriate Town decision-making authority an application for administrative development approval or a zoning text amendment that the Town has disapproved, absent some substantial change in circumstances.
The new section sought to limit the number of “bites at the apple” by a property owner whose request has been denied and who files another same or similar application without showing a substantial change.
Planning Director/Deputy Town Manager Wes Haskett informed the Town Council at the September meeting that there was a bill (House Bill 926) then-pending in the N.C. General Assembly that would nullify new section 1-14 if it became law. It did so on Oct. 6.
The new State law prohibits the inclusion of waiting periods in municipal development regulations that would prevent a landowner, developer, or other applicant from refiling a denied or withdrawn application for a zoning map amendment, text amendment, development application, or request for development approval.
The legislature wants to give developers multiple bites at the apple without having to wait between the bites.
The Town Council has no choice but to approve the repeal of Code section 1-14. State law preempts it.
TCA 25-01 also proposes amending the Town Code section on building permits to specify that permits are only required for retaining walls that are “from five feet to a maximum of six feet in height” and are never required for the construction or erection of fences.
Section 36-97 of the Town Code limits the height of both retaining walls and fences in the residential districts to six feet—hence the language about a maximum of six feet.
Also on the meeting agenda are recognition of Police Officer Tracy M. Mann, who serves as the School Resource Officer, for 15 years of service; and approval of a contract for the Southern Shores Fire Dept. to provide fire protection services to unincorporated Martin’s Point.
*POSTSCRIPT ON ELECTION:
What does it mean when incumbents run unopposed for important municipal offices?
Some residents/voters believe that the lack of opposition is a testament to the job performance and qualifications of the candidates. Others believe it is a sign of disinterest and/or apathy.
We doubt that anyone in Southern Shores is deeply disappointed with the local government. But we do have differences of opinion in the community on issues that arise in town, such as, e.g., on the need for beach nourishment in 2027.
The first administration by Mayor Morey has been distinctive for its rule-by-consensus. We can recall only one time in the past four years when the five-member board did not act unanimously. Even when Town Council members express discomfort or disagreement with the position taken by a majority of the Council, they still vote with it.
We have no minority voice on the Town Council.
We would have liked to have had a contested election and to have had a Town Hall discussion among candidates in response to questions and concerns of property owners. Bottom line, we would like to see more community involvement.
The Town Council will hold its regular monthly meetings for the rest of the year at 1 p.m., instead of 5:30 p.m., as part of a six-month time-change trial that it approved earlier this month. The three remaining 2025 meetings will be held:
Tuesday, Oct. 7: 1 p.m
Wednesday, Nov. 5, 1 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 2, 1 p.m.
The Council will continue to meet in the Kern Pitts Center behind Town Hall.
The meeting time change was approved unanimously by the Town Council at its Sept. 2 meeting as a six-month trial starting in October and ending with the March regular meeting.
Although Mayor Pro Tem Matt Neal, who is the only full-time working person on the Town Council, objected to the change, he did not vote against it.
Impetus for the time change came from Town Councilwoman Paula Sherlock and Town Councilman Rob Neilson.
Ms. Sherlock expressed a desire to schedule a meeting time when more staff members, such as Southern Shores Fire Department employees, could attend, as well as a concern for Town Hall staff members who must work late.
Mr. Neilson said that he thought younger people might attend the Town Council meetings if they took place when their “children are in school.”
It is our view that parents with school-age children have full schedules every day, whether they work outside or inside the home.
Ms. Sherlock pointed out that the Duck Town Council holds its meetings at 1 p.m., but there are only 742 people residing year-round in Duck, compared to 3,119 in Southern Shores, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics for 2024.
Most Duck homeowners live out-of-town and can live-stream a meeting or stream the meeting later on You Tube. They also are kept well-informed by “recaps” of meetings that are posted on the Town’s website home page, by a very informative newsletter, and by regular 1 p.m. mid-month Town Council work sessions that also can be streamed.
Ms. Sherlock said she did not know when other towns hold their Town Council meetings, but we can tell her that the town commissioners of Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, and Manteo schedule their meetings at 6 p.m., and the Nags Head commissioners meet at 9 a.m.
During the Council’s discussion about the time change, Mayor Elizabeth Morey asked whether anyone thought “it was a bad idea.” Only Mr. Neal indicated, without pressing the point, that he did not like it.
There is no perfect meeting time, but we suggest that the Town Council dig a little deeper to find out why its constituents, for whom public meetings are intended, do not attend.
ALSO AT THE SEPT. 2 MEETING: Fire Chief Ed Limbacher announced that three of the four new fire-captain positions have been filled, and the Town Council, as expected, voted unanimously to spend roughly $201,000 more for design and permitting work for a 2027 beach nourishment project that it has not yet approved. (For background, see The Beacon, 8/31/25.)
LOOKING AHEAD: The fall bulk-waste collection–which we like to call the bulk trash pickup–will be held on Friday, Oct. 17.
A view of the Southern Shores beach two weeks ago. (Photo by The Southern Shores Beacon.)
The Southern Shores Town Council is poised to commit at its Tuesday meeting $201,071.00 more to pay for design work and permitting for a 2027 beach nourishment project in which the Town may not participate, according to the packet posted online with the meeting agenda.
(For background, see The Beacon, 8/24/25.)
Tuesday’s meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the Pitts Center.
You may access the agenda and the meeting packet here:
Agenda Item No. 6 in the packet, titled “Continuation of consideration of Coastal Protection Engineering (CPE) proposal for the 2027 Beach Nourishment Project Permitting and Design,” recaps the action taken by the Town Council to date on the proposed project and includes an accounting of the money that officials thus far have authorized spending.
If the Town Council should approve spending an additional $201,071.00 to “fully fund [CPE’s] proposal,” as the agenda item reads—in order to “maintain the Town’s option to participate in the 2027 project”—the Council will have authorized a total expenditure of $327,477.00.
Agenda Item No. 6 states that, even with this new allocation—which we anticipate the Council will unanimously approve—there will be about $1.8 million in the Beach Nourishment Capital Reserve Fund.
The item does not explain, however, how the Town happens to have such a flush reserve fund. This is information the beach nourishment tax-paying public is entitled to know.
The Town Council has until May 2026 to decide whether to proceed with re-nourishing all or a portion of the Southern Shores beaches, according to CPE consultant Ken Willson, who spoke to the Council at its Aug. 5 meeting, presenting an extremely positive picture of Southern Shores’ 3.7-mile shoreline. (See The Beacon, 8/24/25.)
Presumably, CPE would move up its annual beach monitoring survey from mid- to late-June 2026 to April or May 2026. This year, it conducted the survey earlier in June in order to give Mr. Willson some preliminary shoreline and sand volume data to present to the Town Council.
It is well known that the beach is at its widest in late July and early August. We do not believe that any data collected by CPE in April or May will be very helpful to the Town Council. Shortening the time interval between surveys also renders the data less reliable.
The Towns of Duck, Kitty Hawk, and Kill Devil Hills—whose beaches have higher erosion rates than Southern Shores’—have already signed contracts with CPE for the 2027 project.
ALSO ON THE AGENDA FOR TUESDAY’S MEETING . . .
A PUBLIC HEARING will be held on Zoning Text Amendment 25-05, which was submitted by the Town and proposes the addition of Section 1-14 to the Town Code chapter on general provisions and an amendment of Code Section 36-414(a), which pertains to requirements for proposed zoning text amendments.
The purpose of the wordy ZTA is explained by the Town in its public-hearing notice as “to establish requirements for reconsideration of disapproved development and amendment requests . . . and to establish application and formatting requirements for proposed zoning text amendments.”
In Planning Director Wes Haskett’s Agenda Item, the Section 1-14 addition is explained as establishing “that if an application for an administrative development approval, zoning map amendment, regulation amendment, or any other legislative development request is denied by the decision-making authority, on any basis other than the failure of the applicant to submit a complete application, no same application proposing the same or similar development on all or part of the same land or the same or similar text amendment shall be submitted within one year after the date of denial,” unless the decision-making authority waives this time limit for one of the reasons stated in the section.
We perceive this as an attempt to limit the number of “bites of the apple” that a property owner applicant has to challenge the denial of a development request, such as a requested subdivision of his property.
Two of the reasons stated for a waiver of the year waiting period include the submission of a new application that is “materially different” from the prior application and a finding that the final decision on the prior application was “based on a material mistake of fact.”
According to the Agenda Item, a House Bill currently in the N.C. General Assembly would prohibit a waiting period, such as the one proposed in ZTA 25-05. In the event H.B. 926 becomes law, the Town would propose language amending Section 1-14, Mr. Haskett states, assuming the Town Council approves the ZTA Tuesday.
We see no reason to expect it to do otherwise.
The Planning Board unanimously recommended approval of ZTA 25-05, 4-0, at its Aug. 18 meeting.
AN UPDATE ON THE MERGER OF THE FIRE DEPARTMENT WITH THE TOWN: At the Aug. 5 Town Council meeting, Fire Chief Ed Limbacher said he would probably announce new hires by the SSFD at the Sept. 2 meeting. Other merger business will be discussed as well.
A GRANT TO PAY FOR REPLACEMENT OF A SECTION OF THE DUCK ROAD SIDEWALK: Town Manager Cliff Ogburn is seeking the Town Council’s approval to apply for a Dare County Tourism Board “Tourism Impact Grant” (TIG) to help fund replacement of the sidewalk/multi-use path on the east side of Duck Road (N.C. 12) from Hillcrest Drive to 13th Street. The preliminary cost estimate for the construction is about $320,000, according to Mr. Ogburn. The Town must match any TIG it receives with 50 percent.
A VIEWING OF “WRECKS OF PAUL GAMIELS HILL”: Once located on the Hillcrest Beach in Southern Shores, the Paul Gamiels Hill Life Saving Station operated an active rescue service from 1878 to 1937. The station was reactivated during World War II, deactivated shortly afterward, and then burned to the ground in the early 1960s.
During the Station’s 59 years of service, seven vessels came ashore during Atlantic storms, according to Town of Southern Shores records. Rescue efforts by Station crews saved the lives of dozens of people.
The Town Council’s meeting agenda does not delve into the origin or format of the film, but it does note that a discussion will take place after the viewing.
Planning Board: The Town Planning Board has re-elected Andy Ward as its chairperson for another fiscal year and elected Jan Collins as its vice-chairperson during the same period. The Town Council is handling its approval of these elections in its consent agenda.
Regretfully, we will be unable to cover Tuesday’s meeting, but we will report on any action taken by the Town Council on beach nourishment that differs from what we have predicted.
By Ann G. Sjoerdsma, The Southern Shores Beacon, 8/31/25
The Southern Shores Beacon 