The Planning Board unanimously voted to recommend the addition of various group fitness and dance establishments as permitted uses in the Town’s general commercial district and approved a preliminary subdivision plat submitted by the owners of an oversized lot at 267 Hillcrest Drive at its regular monthly meeting yesterday.

The Board also received an overview from attorney Jay Wheless, who represents the Town’s Board of Adjustment (BOA), about the BOA’s hearing procedure in anticipation of an upcoming appeal by an aggrieved property owner of a Town zoning decision.

The Planning Board also sits as the Board of Adjustment, which is a quasi-judicial body that decides issues of fact and makes legal decisions in certain zoning matters, but only two of the Board’s current five regular members have participated in a hearing. Neither of the Board’s two alternates has taken part in one.

(For background on the Board’s business agenda yesterday, see The Beacon, 8/11/22.)

The Planning Board actually recommended approval of an edited and expanded version of Zoning Text Amendment 22-09, which was submitted by Mila Smith, the owner and operator of Atlantic Dance, and proposed to add “group fitness-aerobics/dance/karate/yoga” to the permitted “service establishments” in the commercial district.

The language the Board recommended replaces hyphens with commas and adds two more fitness examples so that the use now reads “group fitness, aerobics, dance, karate, yoga, gym, and/or weight training.”

Deputy Town Manager/Planning Director Wes Haskett clarified that “similar uses not specifically listed” also would be considered permissible under this language. He told The Beacon that the original language of the ZTA was based on a Nags Head ordinance.

Ms. Smith, whose business is currently located in the Dare Centre in Kill Devil Hills, submitted ZTA 22-09 as a required first step to moving into Southern Shores. In remarks she made to the Planning Board yesterday during the ZTA’s hearing, Ms. Smith said she was “looking to move to a safer unit that functions properly.”

She also mentioned that the majority of her students, who are girls who come for lessons after-school, live in Southern Shores and Kitty Hawk. (See The Beacon, 8/11/22, for more details about Ms. Smith’s application.)

Mr. Haskett confirmed with The Beacon that Ms. Smith is looking at a location in the Southern Shores Crossing.

(Some of you may remember, as we do, that a small fitness facility once operated in the Crossing. Mr. Haskett did not know its history. It ceased operation some time ago.)  

Planning Board members said very little about the preliminary subdivision plat submitted by Matthew and Allison Cassella, Chicahauk homeowners who purchased the large, irregularly shaped property at 267 Hillcrest Drive in May and now seek to subdivide it into two lots.

The Hillcrest property, which already has a single-family dwelling and other improvements on it, consists of 122,376 square feet, well in excess of the Town’s minimum lot size requirement of 20,000 square feet. The two lots that the Cassellas propose creating through what Mr. Cassella called in brief remarks before the Board a “conservative subdivision” also would be well in excess of 20,000 square feet each. Each would be at least 100 feet wide and have at least 30 feet of frontage on the public right of way, as required by Town ordinance.

Mr. Cassella said that he and his wife are dividing the lot into two for their children, so that each will have a home in Southern Shores.

UPCOMING BOA APPEAL

The appeal that the Board of Adjustment expects to hear, and for which Mr. Wheless was preparing members, is of the Town’s denial of a recombination plat that the owners of 55 Skyline Road submitted, according to Mr. Haskett, who spoke with The Beacon after the meeting.

According to the Dare County gis, the Skyline Road property is vacant and consists of 80,000 square feet or 1.8365 acres. The owner of record is Skyline Oaks Properties LLC, which formed in July 2021 and purchased the property on Aug. 19, 2021. According to public records, Planning Board member Robert McClendon is an owner and the registered agent of the LLC, which uses his home address as its business address.

During yesterday’s meeting, Mr. McClendon asked his fellow Planning Board members if any of them were “aware of the appeal that’s coming up.” Board chairperson Andy Ward quickly acknowledged that he was, and member Ed Lawler said he was, as well, in “a rough way.”

Impartiality by members of the joint Planning Board-Board of Adjustment is a huge problem, we believe, when the BOA hears appeals of Town zoning decisions, which is why The Beacon has long championed the re-establishment of a BOA separate from the Planning Board. The decision being appealed to the BOA by an aggrieved property owner is always one made by Mr. Haskett, with whom the Planning Board works hand-in-glove. The Planning Board represents the Town, and it is the Town that opposes a property owner in a BOA appeal.

Before April 1, 2014, Southern Shores had two boards, with no overlapping members. In the interest of fairness, it should restore that status. All other towns on the Outer Banks have separate planning boards and boards of adjustment.

As Mr. Wheless explained yesterday, any decision that the BOA makes on an appeal must be supported by three of the five members. Mr. McClendon obviously will have to recuse himself. That already two other Planning Board members know about the appeal and, therefore, have talked about it, most likely with Mr. Haskett, is a red flag.

The Beacon will delve into the facts and law pertaining to the appeal at a date closer to the hearing, which has not yet been scheduled, but will not occur before Sept. 19, according to Mr. Haskett.

THE TOWN COUNCIL REACHES OUT

Town Councilman Leo Holland spoke during public comments yesterday to “get into the record” how he responded to two emails that he received from Chairperson Ward regarding the Council’s approval of a significantly different version of a Zoning Text Amendment establishing mixed-use developments in the commercial district than the one recommended by the Planning Board.

We refer you to The Beacon’s 7/19/22 article for details about these emails, which Mr. Ward read into the record at the Planning Board’s July 18 meeting. In short, he described the gap between the two town bodies as a “bit of a disconnect” and expressed strong opposition to the lot coverage that the Council approved for mixed-use, saying it had “strayed from our founders’ original vision of Southern Shores which speaks to land use that naturally protects environmental resources and fragile areas by limiting development and growth.”  

According to Mr. Ward, neither the Mayor nor any other members of the Town Council acknowledged his first email, which was dated June 8, so he sent a second one a week later with the subject, “Reply?” In this email, he questioned Council members’ lack of a response and wrote: “Respect should not get in the way of different viewpoints.”

Mr. Holland said yesterday that he “interpreted” the June 8 email “as not requiring a comment” and mentioned that, in fact, an unnamed Council member had responded.

He further explained that he responded to Mr. Ward’s second email within two hours of receiving it. Since then, Mr. Holland said, “he and I have had some discussion.”

It was not “the intent” of the Town Council to “ignore” the Planning Board, the Councilman concluded.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 8/16/22

The Town Planning Board will consider adding various fitness and dance studios to the permitted uses of property in the commercial district and allowing Hillcrest Drive property owners to subdivide their oversized lot into two buildable lots at its meeting Monday at 5 p.m. in the Pitts Center.

The Board also is expected to discuss the procedure for appeals before the Town Board of Adjustment, which is a quasi-judicial body that hears requests for zoning variances and appeals of zoning decisions by Town administrative officials.

Since April 1, 2014, the Planning Board also has served as the Board of Adjustment.

You may access the Board’s agenda here: https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/8-15-22-PB-Meeting-Agenda.pdf

Links to other materials germane to the meeting can be found here: https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/15486-2/.

ZTA 22-09: FITNESS AND DANCE

Mila Smith, the owner and operator of Atlantic Dance in Kill Devil Hills, has submitted a Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA) to add “group fitness-aerobics/dance/karate/yoga” to the list of permitted “service establishments” in the Town’s C general commercial district. The change would appear as new Town Code sec. 36-207(b)(3)(g).

Ms. Smith’s ZTA 22-09 also would establish a minimum parking requirement for off-street parking for “group fitness-aerobics/dance/karate/yoga” service establishments of “one parking space for each 250 square feet of gross floor space.” This change would create a new Town Code sec. 36-163(4)(b)(7).

In a letter sent to the Town, Ms. Smith says she has operated Atlantic Dance in the Dare Centre in Kill Devil Hills for the past 27 years and is looking to move to “a new location that is better suited for our needs.”

She does not identify a commercial space in Southern Shores for her business’s relocation, but she does mention the “opportunity to dance and grow in a beautiful new space.”

According to Ms. Smith, the “majority of our 175 dance families live in the Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk area.”

No explanation is given in the Planning Board meeting materials for why Ms. Smith is seeking an addition to the permitted service establishments that includes “group fitness-aerobics,” “karate,” and “yoga,” as well as dance. While we do not object to the inclusions, we do think the language could be tidier.

Deputy Town Manager/Planning Director Wes Haskett has recommended that the Planning Board recommend approval of ZTA 22-09 to the Town Council.

HILLCREST DRIVE SUBDIVISION

Matthew and Allison Cassella, who are Chicahauk homeowners, have submitted for Planning Board review and approval a preliminary subdivision plat for their property at 267 Hillcrest Drive, which they purchased in May.

According to Mr. Haskett’s analysis, the property, which already has a single-family dwelling and other improvements on it, consists of 122,376 square feet, well in excess of the Town’s minimum lot size requirement of 20,000 square feet.  

The lot is on the west side of Hillcrest Drive, close to the intersection of Hillcrest Drive and Hickory Trail. It is one of the large, irregularly shaped lots on Hillcrest that has canal frontage at the end of a flag-pole section of the property.   

The Cassellas propose to subdivide the property into two lots, one of which would be 70,360 square feet in area (Lot 1-B) and contain the house and other improvements, and the other of which would be vacant and 52,016 square feet in area (Lot 1-A), including the flag-pole section.

See the preliminary subdivision plat here: https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/PSP-22-01-267-Hillcrest-Dr.-Prelim.-Plat.pdf

Both proposed lots would meet the Town’s minimum lot width of 100 feet—except in the narrow flag-pole section—as well as the Town’s requirement that they each have at least 30 feet of frontage that abuts a public right-of-way or private street.

Mr. Haskett has recommended that the preliminary subdivision plat be approved.

BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT

It is unclear from the Planning Board meeting materials what the context of the Board’s discussion about Board of Adjustment (BOA) appeals will be.

Included in the materials are the following Town Code sections pertaining to the BOA: sec. 36-364, “Voting,” which specifies the majority required for the board to grant a variance; sec. 36-366, “Appeals of administrative decisions,” which defines what an administrative decision is and details the appeal process; and sec, 36-369, “Impartiality of board of adjustment members,” which explains when a board member should recuse himself or herself for bias or other interest that would compromise his/her impartiality.

We strongly believe that the Town should return to its pre-April 1, 2014 status and have an independent Planning Board and Board of Adjustment, separate and apart from each other, with no overlapping members.

Appeals to the Board of Adjustment, albeit infrequent, are of decisions (issuances/denials of building and zoning permits, e.g.) made by the Zoning Administrator, currently Mr. Haskett, with whom the Planning Board has a close working relationship.

The Planning Board regularly consults with, and defers to the judgment of, Planning Director Haskett and the Town Attorney, who represents the Town in a property owner’s appeal to the Board of Adjustment.

(The Town is now represented by L. Phillip Hornthal, III, of Hornthal, Riley, Ellis & Maland, after years of being represented by Benjamin M. Gallop, of the same firm. Mr. Hornthal made his first Town Council meeting appearance on Aug. 2.)

We also believe it is improper for the Planning Board, which is an advisory board, not a legal decision-maker, to determine whether existing zoning requirements, which it may have had a hand in creating, cause the unnecessary hardship required for a variance to be granted.  

Before April 1, 2014, when the Town Council consolidated the two boards, upon the recommendation of both Mr. Haskett and Mr. Gallop, the Board of Adjustment was an independent body that never consulted or collaborated with Town staff. In fact, it rarely met, which was one reason why the consolidation occurred. But that’s a poor reason, as we learned in 2018-19 when BOA rulings led to development on nonconforming, 50-foot-wide lots.

Southern Shores is the only town on the Outer Banks that does not have a board of adjustment separate from its planning board. Even the Town of Duck, which has just one-quarter of the year-round population that Southern Shores has, has two boards with different members.

Southern Shores has many smart, talented people who would be willing and qualified to serve on the Board of Adjustment. As the town continues to grow, so will the need for an independent administrative board to adjudicate variances and zoning appeals.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 8/11/22

Dear Readers: Please feel free to comment on traffic conditions in the residential areas this weekend on The Beacon blog and Facebook page. We hope the “Local Traffic Only” barricades that are in place at street intersections reduce the cut-through traffic in the dunes, in Chicahauk, and on Ocean Boulevard north of the Duck Road split.

THE BEACON

The Town is asking people to avoid driving on South Dogwood Trail tomorrow and Friday, if they can, while construction crews work on the pavement along “a very narrow stretch of road” between Fairway Drive and East Dogwood Trail.

According to a special Town announcement released this afternoon, trucks and trailers will have a difficult time passing in this stretch, and all vehicles traveling on South Dogwood Trail will have “longer wait periods before being waived through the construction area.”

If you’ve driven on South Dogwood Trail this week, you already know to avoid it, if possible. The road has been reduced to one lane in areas under construction, and drivers are already experiencing long waits before they can pass through.

Town Manager Cliff Ogburn said Tuesday at the Town Council meeting that contractor Fred Smith Co. started its pavement maintenance work this week on South Dogwood Trail, instead of Twelfth Avenue, as was planned, because of “confusion.” The work on South Dogwood Trail was scheduled to be done Sept. 13-16 and Sept. 26–after the summer tourist season.

THE SOUTHERN SHORES BEACON  

The Town will place the “local traffic only” barricades at street intersections along the South Dogwood-East Dogwood trails cut-through route this weekend, Town Manager Cliff Ogburn announced at yesterday’s Town Council meeting.

Although last weekend’s northbound cut-through traffic was “just as bad, if not worse” than the traffic over the July 4 weekend, Mr. Ogburn said, he is hopeful that “we’ve seen the worst of it” this summer, and the cut-through traffic in Town residential areas will be more manageable.

In related news, Mr. Ogburn reported that 7,000 vehicles, including over-sized commercial trucks that would normally be prohibited by Town ordinance from passing through, traveled on South Dogwood Trail on July 21 when a section of N.C. Hwy. 12 was closed because of a water main break. On a typical summer Saturday, between 3,000 and 4,000 vehicles use the road.

“It just showed us how vulnerable we are,” Mr. Ogburn said.

The Town installed the orange, water-filled barricades over the Memorial Day weekend, but suspended their use after the June 25-26 weekend because it believed they caused unacceptably lengthy traffic backups on South Dogwood Trail that went past the Duck Woods Country Club—even to the Wright Memorial Bridge, Mr. Ogburn said.

Conflicts also arose between “drivers and residents, residents and residents, and drivers and drivers,” over the barricades, as tempers flared, Mayor Elizabeth Morey said at the July 13 Mayor’s Chat. The Town removed the barricades to eliminate the potential for angry confrontations.   

The barricades will be in place from Friday evening through Monday morning, Mr. Ogburn said.

The Town Manager also reported yesterday that:

• The beach nourishment project is now expected to start in mid- to late-September and last 35 to 40 days.
• The decision to start town-wide pavement improvements this week with South Dogwood Trail, instead of Twelfth Avenue and Hillcrest Drive, as announced Friday in the Town newsletter, was the result of confusion, not deliberate rescheduling. As soon as contractor Fred Smith Co. updates the road work schedule, “we’ll share it,” Mr. Ogburn said.
• The repair to the damage caused by the July 21 water main break near 132 Ocean Boulevard, was done quickly, and will need to be completed in the fall. The water pipe cracked as the result of the impact of a lightning strike in the area, as The Beacon confirmed in a report July 24.

In other news from the Town Council meeting:

REDUCING SPEED LIMIT ON N.C. 12: The Town Council unanimously approved asking the N.C. Dept. of Transportation to set the speed limit on the State-owned N.C. Hwy. 12 in Southern Shores to 35 mph year-round. (See The Beacon, 8/1/22, for background.)

Currently, the speed limit on N.C. 12 is 45 mph, except from May 15 through Sept. 15 when the speed limit drops to 35 mph from the Kitty Hawk town line north to Trout Run.

Although Mayor Pro Tem Matt Neal said initially that he did not see the need to have a 35 mph speed limit on the thoroughfare year-round, just in the summer, he did not argue the point, joining his four colleagues to form a consensus.

The Town has authority under the N.C. General Statutes to set speed limits on State-owned roads in its jurisdiction, provided its request is supported by an engineering and traffic investigation. NCDOT completed a yearlong investigation of the Southern Shores section of N.C. 12 in June and recommended that the speed limit on it be 35 mph year-round. Town staff agreed with that recommendation.

Mr. Neal cited accident data from the NCDOT traffic study that clearly showed speed is not a factor in the overwhelming majority of accidents on the road. He said that, according to the report, most crashes occur at low speed, around 5 mph—they are predominantly rear-end collisions—and he had not seen any in the report above 30 mph.

Although we did not read all of the accident detail in NCDOT’s report, we tend to agree with Mr. Neal, but, like him, we recognize that public opinion runs in favor of a consistent 35-mph speed limit year-round on the thoroughfare.  

One consequence of the speed limit reduction that the Town Council did not address is that low-speed vehicle (LSV) drivers will now be permitted to use all of N.C. 12 year-round. LSVs are only permitted on roads that have speed limits of 35 mph or lower.

Low-speed vehicles are motorized electric or gasoline-powered four-wheeled vehicles that generally do not travel at more than 25 mph. Regular golf carts are not LSVs, but there are LSV golf carts. LSVs must meet State of North Carolina requirements and be licensed in order for them to be street legal.

During the Town Council’s discussion about the speed limit change, Town Councilman Mark Batenic brought up what he considers the dangerous behavior of people riding electric bicycles (eBikes). He cited their excessive speed and disregard of traffic signage. Town Councilman Leo Holland said he has been approached from behind when he was walking on a multi-use pathway by eBicyclists who do not announce that they are passing him.

We think it’s safe to say that in Southern Shores, especially during the summer, one has to drive and walk defensively and be on the lookout for human beings operating all manner of two- and four-wheeled modes of transportation. The behavior of many is unpredictable.

CHOOSING A CONSULTANT FOR THE LAND-USE PLAN UPDATE: The Town Council unanimously approved the hiring of Stewart, an engineering, design, and planning firm based in Raleigh, to handle the Town’s update of its CAMA Land-Use Plan. As Mr. Ogburn explained, the update, which is expected to take from 12 to 15 months, will go beyond what the Coastal Area Management Act, a N.C. statute, requires. It will also incorporate a comprehensive Land-Use Plan (LUP) of growth and development for the Town of Southern Shores.

The Town received two proposals from N.C. planning firms in response to a Request for Proposal that it issued July 1 for a “qualified firm” to conduct the LUP update. The other firm was N-Focus Inc., of Kannapolis.

Although N-Focus’s proposed fee for service was lower than Stewart’s proposed fee—$67,750 as opposed to $80,000—both Deputy Town Manager/Planning Director Wes Haskett, who was unable to attend yesterday’s meeting, and Mr. Ogburn recommended Stewart, which recently assisted the towns of Duck and Manteo with updating their land-use plans.

Mr. Ogburn said yesterday that the Town will “get a better product” from Stewart than it would from N-Focus. Town Council members agreed, based on their review of the proposals.

The Town budgeted $80,000 in fiscal year 2022-23 for the LUP update—a fact apparently known to Stewart.

Although the last Town Land-Use Plan was not certified by the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission until Aug. 30, 2012, the LUP clearly states on its first page that it is to be considered a 2008 update. (The procedure and other requirements for a land-use plan update are governed by State law and regulations.)

The Town submitted its last LUP, as it is required by N.C. law to do, to the N.C. Dept. of Coastal Management, in August 2008. The document was returned to the Town, however, in December 2008 with comments and questions by the State. The Town did not adequately respond to those inquiries for nearly four years, for reasons unknown, hence the discrepancy in the dates.

Although Mr. Ogburn consistently refers to the current Town LUP as a 2012 plan, it is, in fact, a 2008 plan. The public workshop and survey upon which some of the plan is based were conducted in 2005.

REQUESTING GRANT MONEY FOR A SIDEWALK ON DUCK ROAD: The Town Council unanimously approved seeking grant money from the Dare County Tourism Bureau to help finance the construction of a 5-foot-wide sidewalk on the east side of Duck Road (N.C. 12) that would run from an area near the Duck Road split to East Dogwood Trail. According to Mr. Ogburn, the sidewalk is estimated to cost $164,256, and the Tourism Bureau could finance up to 50 percent of the cost.

AND FINALLY, THE CHICKENS COME TO ROOST: Jerrica Rea of Sea Oats Trail, who identified herself at the July 13 Mayor’s Chat as “the chicken lady,” made a pitch to the Town Council, during late public comments at yesterday’s meeting, for it to consider repealing the current prohibition on the keeping of chickens in Southern Shores.

Ms. Rea outlined advantages to keeping chickens (i.e., hens)—promoting them for their consumption of ticks, for example, as well as their egg-laying—and disputed common objections to them, having to do with noise, smell, and waste. Two other Town residents spoke in support of Ms. Rea’s request.   

The “keeping and having of livestock and fowl” in town is prohibited by Southern Shores Town Code sec. 4-24. The Code defines “fowl” as “edible birds commonly found on farms, such as chickens, turkeys, ducks, guinea fowl and geese.” (Sec. 4-21)

No one on the Town Council responded to Ms. Rea’s or the other residents’ comments. Mayor Morey said at the July 13 chat that the keeping of chickens in town would be an appropriate topic for discussion during the Land-Use Plan update process.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 8/3/22

South Dogwood Trail will be undergoing pavement improvements this week, rather than in mid-September, as previously announced, according to a notice released by the Town of Southern Shores this morning.

Contractor Fred Smith Co. was to begin its town-wide pavement work today on Twelfth Avenue and then proceed to Hillcrest Drive, between Sea Oats Trail and East Dogwood Trail, on Aug. 3-5, according to the schedule posted online by the Town.   

See schedule at https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Street-Improvement-Schedule-1.pdf

Town Manager Cliff Ogburn will update the now-revised schedule for pavement work, which currently runs through mid-October, at tomorrow’s Town Council meeting, which will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the Pitts Center.

This week’s work launches an ambitious 10-year road-maintenance plan that will cost more than $1 million per year.

CHANGE IN SPEED LIMIT ON N.C. 12?

We had not planned to return from our summer break until Wednesday, but we thought it was important for residents to know about the construction on South Dogwood Trail, in order to avoid it. Also, residents on the street will not have received much notice from the Town about its commencement.

Now that we’re online, we’ll tell you that the Town Council will be considering at tomorrow’s meeting a change in the speed limit on N.C. Hwy. 12 to 35 mph year-round, a reduction that both the N.C. Dept. of Transportation and the Town staff have recommended.  

Currently, the speed limit on N.C. 12 is 45 mph, except from May 15 through Sept. 15 when the speed limit drops to 35 mph from the Kitty Hawk town line north to Trout Run.

In May 2021 the Town asked NCDOT to conduct a traffic study of N.C. 12 in order to provide an informed evaluation of the road’s appropriate speed limit(s).

The Town has authority through the N.C. General Statutes to set the speed limits on a state road, which N.C. 12 is, provided it certifies to the NCDOT that its determination is supported by an engineering and traffic investigation, like the one NCDOT conducted.

Data from NCDOCT’s traffic report are included in the Town Council meeting agenda packet, which you may access here: https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/soshoresnc-pubu/MEET-Packet-352ae6d9f5a34fd79fa9aa7d860712c7.pdf. (The meeting agenda is on the first two pages.)

We have only skimmed through this material, but think you will find the data on accidents on N.C. 12 from 2017 to 2022 of interest. According to the NCDOT, there were 154 accidents on N.C. 12 in Southern Shores during these six years, of which 97, or 63 percent, were rear-end collisions.

The data reveal that last year was far and away the most hazardous on N.C. 12, with 45 (29 percent) of the 154 accidents.

The one traffic-related fatality on the thoroughfare occurred in 2021 when, many of you will remember, a pedestrian crossing at the Chicahauk Trail traffic light was struck and killed by a vehicle proceeding north on N.C. 12. The pedestrian dashed across the road as the light was changing.

According to NCDOT, 32 of the 154 accidents have involved injuries to people. More than 50 percent of them were in the lowest class of injury (Class C), but we could not find a description of this class or other injury classes included in the report.  

This year’s data are incomplete, showing only five accidents on N.C. 12.

IN OTHER BUSINESS AT TOMORROW’S COUNCIL MEETING . . .

*Mr. Ogburn also will update the Town’s beach nourishment project—which, at last report, was expected to start in September—and give a followup on the July 21 water main break at 132 Ocean Boulevard.

*The Town Council is expected to choose a planning consultant to manage the Town’s CAMA Land-Use Plan (LUP) update between two companies that submitted proposals for the contract in response to a Town-issued Request for Proposal. The companies are N-Focus Inc., of Kannapolis and Stewart of Raleigh, which recently assisted the towns of Duck and Manteo with updating their Land-Use Plans.

Although N-Focus’s proposed fee for service is lower than Stewart’s proposed fee—$67,750 as opposed to $80,000—Deputy Town Manager/Planning Director Wes Haskett has recommended that the Council accept Stewart’s proposal because it is “the most qualified and responsible.” The companies’ proposals are included in the meeting agenda packet.

The Town budgeted $80,000 in fiscal year 2022-23 for the LUP update.

As always, we encourage you to attend tomorrow’s Town Council meeting (5:30 p.m., Pitts Center) or watch it on You Tube at https://www.youtube.com/user/TownofSouthernShores. We expect to post an article on Wednesday.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 8/1/22