The regular meeting of the Town Planning Board, originally scheduled for Monday, April 15, will be held instead Tuesday, April 23, at 5:30 p.m., in the Pitts Center. The Board will continue its discussion of nonconforming lots and possible exceptions to Town Code sec. 36-132, which regulates such lots.
Nonconforming lots are tracts of land that do not conform to the minimum dimensions established by the Town of Southern Shores, including a minimum size of 20,000 square feet and a minimum width of 50 feet.
Town Code sec. 36-132, passed by the Town Council last September, sets forth when property owners who own a nonconforming lot adjacent to another lot that they own must combine the lots and when property owners may treat a nonconforming lot singly and either develop or sell it.
Pursuant to a Town Council directive, Deputy Town Manager/Planning Director Wes Haskett has been working with Town Permit Officer Dabni Shelton and the Dare County Register of Deeds to identify all nonconforming lots in Southern Shores. Mr. Haskett is expected to present this lot inventory April 23 to the Planning Board, so that it can continue evaluating the impact of the new nonconforming lots ordinance.
For background, see The Beacon, 2/20/19.
TOWN TO HOLD FY 2019-20 BUDGET SESSION APRIL 23; EARLY VOTING IN CONGRESSIONAL PRIMARY ELECTION STARTS TODAY
The Town Council will have its first working session about the fiscal year 2019-20 budget at 9 a.m. on April 23, in the Pitts Center. Town Manager Peter Rascoe and Finance Officer Bonnie Swain will present preliminary figures for the Town’s revenues and expenses. The Town Council will adopt the new fiscal-year budget, which starts July 1, in June.
Another budget session is currently scheduled for 9 a.m. April 30 in the Pitts Center, but it will have to be changed because the Pitts Center is a polling place for voting in the special congressional primary election that day. The Beacon will update you on budget news as it is issued.
Early voting starts today in the April 30 special primary election, which will determine the Democrat and Republican candidates running for the unexpired term of the late Walter B. Jones in North Carolina’s third congressional district. Voting will take place in the Dare County Administration Building in Manteo, the Thomas A. Baum Senior Center in Kill Devil Hills, and the Fessenden Annex in Buxton, and continue through April 26.
You may access the schedule for early voting here: https://www.darenc.com/departments/board-of-elections. On most days the polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
For more about the 26 candidates who are running in the primary for the U.S. congressional seat—17 of whom are Republicans—please see The Beacon, 3/19/19.
ZONING APPEAL CHALLENGES SAGA ‘MINI-HOTEL’
A quasi-judicial hearing on the validity of the zoning permit issued by the Town to 134 Ocean Blvd. LLC for construction of a 12-bedroom luxury structure at 134 Ocean Blvd. will be held before the Town Board of Adjustment on Friday, April 26, at 1 p.m., in the Pitts Center. 134 Ocean Blvd. LLC is a corporation owned by the developer SAGA.
Homeowner Gwendolyn Snyder Smuts has appealed the zoning permit, contending that SAGA should not have been permitted to build its structure, which is hotel-like in design and function, in the Town’s RS-1 single-family-dwelling residential district.
The plans for the structure and grounds at 134 Ocean Blvd. call for 12 bedroom-bathroom suites, a 14-seat home theater, an elevator, a swimming pool with a swim-up bar, a hot tub, a tiki bar, a large game/recreation room with shuffleboard, and many more hotel-like amenities and gathering spaces. They also include 17 parking spaces and a septic system to service 24 people.
The Planning Board serves as the Board of Adjustment. For more about the zoning permit appeal, see nominihotels.com.
FLAT TOP TOUR APRIL 27 FEATURES 14 HISTORIC HOUSES
Fourteen historic homes will be on display April 27 for the 2019 Southern Shores flat-top cottage tour. The last flat top tour was held three years ago.
The flat-top cottage tour is self-guided and runs from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets are $7 each and will be available on the tour day at both 13 Skyline Road and 156 Wax Myrtle Trail. All proceeds benefit the Flat Top Preservation Fund of the Outer Banks Community Foundation.
Parking is available at and around 156 Wax Myrtle Trail, according to organizer Steve Gudas, who said that from this location six of the flat-top houses are in walking distance.
Ten of the houses on the tour are located on Ocean Boulevard; two are on Wax Myrtle Trail; and the others are on Skyline Road and Porpoise Run. Tour participants will be given a map and historical information about each house when they buy their tickets.
For more information, please check the Facebook page for Southern Shores Flat Top Cottages at https://www.facebook.com/Southern-Shores-Historic-Flat-Top-Cottages-421136131314749/ or contact Sally Gudas at seatide1@gmail.com or (804) 399-8342.
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I almost forgot . . . The bulk trash pickup day is this Friday, April 12. It’s time to dispose of large items that are broken or no longer needed or used.
The dogwoods are popping out all over the woods! Enjoy!
Ann G. Sjoerdsma, April 10, 2019, revised 4/11/19
The Southern Shores Beacon 