The Town Planning Board adjourned last night after a 3 ½-hour meeting without taking any action on the special use permit (SUP) application submitted by Ginguite, LLC/SAGA for its proposed creekfront condo-retail-office-restaurant development at 6195 N. Croatan Hwy.
The Board will continue its review of Ginguite’s SUP 23-01 at its Nov. 20 meeting. In the interim, the Town will prepare a list of further information items identified during the meeting that the Board needs in order to make a recommendation to the Town Council and give it to SAGA’s representatives to fulfill. The Board may recommend approval of the SUP, with conditions, or denial of the SUP.
Among the many concerns addressed by the Board yesterday were the functionality and capacity of the wastewater treatment plant that would serve the development; the impact that the development would have on traffic in the area; the location and any adverse effects on wetlands on the property; the building setback and vegetative buffer between the east boundary of Ginguite’s property and the Southern Shores Landing community; and the appearance of the development, once constructed.
Board Alternate Michael Zehner drew enthusiastic applause from residents in the audience when he said that the Planning Board should not take any action until a traffic impact study is done and its results are reviewed by an independent expert. The conduct of a traffic study is one of the conditions of the permit’s approval.
Calling the Board “the first line of defense in a process,” Chairperson Andy Ward observed approvingly at the end of the meeting discussion that “We’re moving the process forward.”
He declined to schedule a special meeting to resume the Board’s review before Nov. 20.
(Please Note: We are in transit today and tomorrow and do not know yet when we will be able to expound upon our report. We will do our best to provide further details about the Board meeting before the next meeting. You may view a videotape of the meeting through the Town of Southern Shores You Tube website. Thank you.)
The Town Planning Board will continue its review of Ginguite, LLC’s special use permit application for its proposed condo-retail-office-restaurant development at 6195 N. Croatan Hwy. on Monday at 5 p.m. in the Pitts Center.
Ginguite, LLC, is a subsidiary of SAGA Realty & Construction. Its application, SUP 23-01, is the first invocation of the Town’s ordinance authorizing “mixed-use” group developments of residential and commercial buildings as a conditional or special use in the commercial district. New Town Code sec. 36-207(c)(11) was passed unanimously by the Town Council in June 2022 with the SAGA project in mind.
For previous articles about SAGA’s proposed creekfront development, which has aroused considerable public opposition, see The Beacon, 9/19/23 and 9/29/23.
The Planning Board questioned Ginguite representatives about SUP 23-01 at its Sept. 18 meeting, but adjourned without taking any action. Appearing on behalf of the applicant were Sumit Gupta, Co-Founder, Partner, and Chief Executive Officer of SAGA and engineer Michael Strader of Quible & Associates.
Ginguite, LLC, is proposing to build two three-story wood framed buildings, 200 parking spaces, a marina, and associated infrastructure on what it represents is about 4.55 acres of a 6.96-acre property. The Town has already advised the applicant that marinas, both commercial and recreational, are not permitted in the commercial district.
Unfortunately, we are unable to attend Monday’s Board meeting in person, but we will live-stream it and report on its outcome as soon as we can.
JUST A REMINDER . . . Early voting for the Nov. 7 municipal election starts Thurs., Oct. 19, and runs through Sat., Nov. 4. See https://www.darenc.gov/departments/elections/voting for details. Four candidates are vying for three seats on the Southern Shores Town Council. There are no other races for public office on the ballot.
Incumbent Matt Neal is one of four candidates running for three positions on the Southern Shores Town Council.
The Beacon will only be publishing this post this week. We encourage you to view the videotape of Monday night’s Town Council candidates’ forum, hosted by the League of Women Voters of Dare, which you may access at https://www.ywatch?v=mOkCDKGozAgoutube.com/.
There was considerable discussion among the candidates about a controversial housing provision just passed in the N.C. General Assembly’s 2023 appropriations bill that restricts the authority and governance Dare County towns have over State-financed affordable housing projects within their limits.
Most of the candidates’ discussion was not about the provision itself, however, but about who had authored the provision and arranged to insert it in the budget, questions that remain unresolved. We would have liked to have known more about the provision.
The N.C. General Assembly allocated $35 million to Dare County in 2021 to construct “affordable,” aka essential workforce, housing. The Dare County Board of Commissioners thereafter partnered with Coastal Affordable Housing, Inc., a newly created, North Carolina-based consortium, to build workforce housing using these nonrecurring funds.
Dare County also partnered separately with the Ohio-based Woda Cooper Cos. to build other workforce/affordable housing initially just on Roanoke Island; later, Woda Cooper identified a Nags Head site. Dare County has reportedly committed $12 million to Woda Cooper projects.
No State- or Dare County-funded housing project has been greenlighted on Roanoke Island or the beach because of local resistance.
The Outer Banks Voice has done an excellent job of reporting on these developments, and we refer you to their coverage, which includes an article yesterday about the Dare County Board of Commissioners’ decision on Monday night to form an affordable housing task force made up of representatives from the county and all six of its municipalities.
All six towns, including Southern Shores, have officially protested the N.C. legislature’s budgetary provision as an encroachment of their powers and control—i.e., a heavy-handed usurpation of local authority by a State legislature increasingly inclined to usurp such authority.
We were curious about what the provision actually says and looked it up online.
Titled “Dare County Affordable Housing,” it is section 24.8 of the “Current Operations Appropriations Act of 2023” (House Bill 259) and consists of just three subsections. We quote:
“SECTION 24.8(a) The following shall apply to all construction of buildings and infrastructure under the agreement or series of agreements entered into pursuant to Section 24.1 of S.L. [Session Laws] 2022-74 to construct affordable housing units in accordance with Dare County’s longstanding master development plan to increase workforce housing:
“(1) With respect to building permits and inspections of the new construction, the State of North Carolina and any local government with jurisdiction over the new construction shall expedite the issuance of permits and prioritizing the conduct of all necessary inspections.
“(2) With respect to development regulations:
(a) “Articles 6 and 7 of Chapter 160D of the General Statutes shall not apply to the new construction under the agreement or series of agreements.
(b) “Approval under Article 8 of Chapter 160D of the General Statutes shall not be required for the new construction under the agreement or series of agreements; however, a plat of any subdivided land shall be recorded by a selected qualified private partner.
“(3) With respect to utilities, and provided that the local government has sufficient capacity, any local government within a 1-mile radius of the new construction under the agreement or series of agreements shall provide all utilities in the same manner as that local government provides utilities to all other new construction in that jurisdiction.
“SECTION 24.8(b) This section is effective when it becomes law.”
Chapter 160D is the “Local Planning and Development Regulation.” Article 6 pertains to development regulations; Article 7 to zoning regulations, and Article 8 to subdivision regulations.
This is, indeed, a sweeping usurpation of municipal powers by an autocratic legislature whose intentions we will not speculate upon. We do think that the formation of a task force is a positive step, provided its membership is not too unwieldly. Affordable workforce housing is a county-wide issue that should be approached by the towns and county acting in concert. It’s one for all and all for one. We all can benefit.
Four candidates running for three positions on the Southern Shores Town Council will meet for a Q&A forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Dare County (LWV) tomorrow, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., in the Pitts Center.
The LWV moderator will pose questions to the candidates submitted by the public on site or in advance in email sent to LWVdare@gmail.com. The LWV asks that you include your name and your town with your emailed question(s).
The four candidates vying for Town Council office are incumbents Matt Neal, who was elected in 2019 and has served as mayor pro tem for two years during his term, and Mark Batenic, who was appointed in January 2022 to fill the vacancy created when then-Councilwoman Elizabeth Morey was elected mayor, and challengers Robert E. Neilson and Michael Guarracino.
We have neither seen nor heard of any door-to-door campaigning occurring in town, which is highly unusual for grass-roots electioneering, nor have we learned of any meet-and-greets being held or scheduled or received any mailers. With just 18 days remaining before the early voting period begins, the candidates have been very subdued.
Please see The Beacon, 9/10/23, for more details about the general municipal election, which will be held Nov. 7 in the Pitts Center, not the Kitty Hawk Elementary School.
TOWN COUNCIL MEETING FEATURES AUDIT and ETJ CHANGE
The Town Council will meet Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. for its regular monthly meeting. Mayor Elizabeth Morey announced at the last Council meeting that the Mayor Pro Tem will preside over the meeting in her absence.
Included on the meeting agenda are an audit report by the Town’s new accounting firm, Carr, Riggs & Ingram, and a public hearing on Town Code Amendment (TCA) 23-02, whose purpose is to relinquish Southern Shores’ Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) over commercial properties in Martin’s Point.
If the Town Council votes to adopt TCA 23-02, and relinquishes the Town’s ETJ, Martin’s Point commercial properties will no longer be subject to the Town’s development regulations, including zoning, and will become a part of Dare County’s jurisdiction.
ETJ Representative John Finelli requested the relinquishment in August 2022, and the Planning Board unanimously recommended in December that the relinquishment occur. The Town Council directed Town staff in February to prepare an ordinance to effectuate this action, and the Planning Board unanimously recommended in August that the Council adopt TCA 23-02.
Carr, Riggs & Ingram is a top-25 nationally ranked, Alabama-based accounting firm that serves clients nationwide, according to its website, https://cricpa.com.
Tuesday’s meeting agenda does not note any topics that Town Manager Cliff Ogburn plans to bring up in his staff report. The Council will be taking up in “new business” tasks associated with replacing the culvert at the Trinitie Trail bridge.
PARADE OF HOMES: 2 SOUTHERN SHORES-BASED BUILDERS ON TOUR
Southern Shores-based builders, Sandmark Custom Homes, Inc., and Neal Contracting Co., each have examples of their craftsmanship in this year’s Outer Banks Home Builders Assn.’s Parade of Homes, which starts Thursday and runs through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The OBHBA also will host a Trade Expo for businesses and vendors who support the Outer Banks building industry on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Ramada Plaza Oceanfront in Nags Head.
Neal Contracting built a new seven-bedroom, 2,926-square-foot house in Southern Shores at 8 Fifth Ave., and Sandmark remodeled a five-bedroom, 3,059-square-foot house in Duck at 107 Canvas Bank Drive.
These houses are two of nine featured in the 31st annual Parade of Homes, three of which are only available for viewing online in a “Virtual Parade”—a new twist to this annual showcase of home design and construction.
Croatan Custom Homes of Kitty Hawk built three of the nine featured homes, including two on the Virtual Parade, which according to FAQ on the OBHBA website will remain online for one year.
The six “in-person” homes range in location from Corolla to Salvo and include one in Manteo.
The largest and most expensive “home” on the tour is a wedding venue in Corolla known as “OBX One” that was built by CMI Design Studio, a custom builder based in Washington, D.C.
The $12.5 million, 14,500-square-foot venue has 12 bedrooms, 19 full baths, 3 half-baths, a swimming pool, an elevator, “state-of-the-art technology,” and a boatload of other luxuries, as you can imagine, and is located “semi-oceanfront” at 890 Lighthouse Drive, meaning it is across the street from the beach.
Tickets are $20 per person and include access to the nine houses and the Trade Expo.
For more information about the homes, the Trade Expo, and advance ticket sales, see https://www.obhomebuilders org/2023-homes/.
Tickets also may be purchased at the entrance to one of the “in-person” homes.
The Southern Shores Beacon 