The Southern Shores Town Council will meet Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in the Pitts Center for its regular monthly meeting. This will be Town Councilman Leo Holland’s last full regular meeting before stepping down.
The swearing-in ceremony for the three election victors—new Town Council member Robert E. Neilson and incumbents Matt Neal and Mark Batenic—will take place at the Town Council’s December meeting. (See The Beacon, 11/7/23, for an election report.)
The most significant item on the Council’s agenda is the authorization of a new position in the Police Department known as “Police Recruit.”
You may access the Town Council meeting agenda and background information packet at: https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/soshoresnc-pubu/MEET-Packet-07078fc5eb374bbaaf4ccca3c7d8f75a.pdf.
As outlined in the packet materials, including a proposed contract between the Town and the Police Recruit, the Recruit would be a full-time employee whom the Town pays, at a salary “25 percent below the base starting pay for a fully qualified police office,” to attend and successfully complete the N.C. Basic Law Enforcement Training Academy (BLET) offered at the College of the Albemarle.
Upon meeting all of the qualifications for a police officer, the Recruit would be sworn into office, promoted to the appropriate pay grade, and serve on a probationary basis for one year.
Police Chief David Kole has requested the creation of this position because he has been unable to fill three longtime officer vacancies in his department. The Recruit would fill one of these vacancies.
Chief Kole writes in a memorandum to the Town Council that he contacted “Town Attorney John Leidy for his assistance in helping me develop a new policy, contract and a new classification position ‘Recruit’ including a new pay grade.” He states his goal as being to enroll the Recruit in the BLET in January.
We refer you to the meeting packet for more details about this proposed position and the respective contractual obligations between the Recruit and the Town.
You may live-stream the Town Council meeting at https://www.youtube.com/@SouthernShores/streams. Simply click on the “Live” link.
PLANNING BOARD CONTINUES REVIEW OF SAGA PERMIT NOV. 20
We still aspire to post another blog about the Planning Board’s Oct. 16 meeting review of Ginguite, LLC/SAGA’s request for a Special Use Permit (SUP) for its proposed condo/retail/office development at 6195 N. Croatan Hwy. before the Board meets again. Our posting may not be as lengthy as we had originally envisioned, but we expect to publish by next weekend. (See The Beacon, 10/17/23.)
The Planning Board will continue its review of SUP 23-01 on Nov. 20 at 5 p.m. in the Pitts Center.
Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 11/12/23
The Southern Shores Beacon 
Ann – I find it interesting that the most detailed evaluation of the SAGA proposed development in SS was in the Virginia Pilot. This article mentioned that the development would be using a wastewater facility that is owned by SAGA and had been fined by the state for condition and operation.
Janice Smith
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Thanks for your email, Janice. Unfortunately, the devil is in the details, and I, frankly, find the details bedeviling to figure out from comments made at the Planning Board meetings. I think the Q&A between SAGA’s representatives and the Planning Board has been confusing. The wastewater facility is located in two parcels at 0 (zero) N. Croatan Hwy., which is to the east of the Ginguite property and to the south of the Southern Shores Landing. SAGA, operating as an entity that was not the current SUP applicant, Ginguite, LLC, bought these two parcels at different times about 5-7 years ago: One has equipment on it, and the other has a pond. This facility has been serving the Landing residences. It is unclear to me who is responsible for creating the conditions that merited the N.C. Utilities Commn. stepping in and operating the facility on an emergency basis and what those conditions were. There has to be a regulated utility involved; SAGA cannot run the facility without one. There must be compliance with all governmental standards. According to Mike Strader of Quible & Associates, Atlantic OBX is currently operating the facility. Before the Town approves a Building Permit for Ginguite LLC’s development, the operation of the wastewater facility will have to be approved by the N.C. Dept. of Environmental Quality–this is one of the conditions that the Town has already attached to issuance of the Special Use Permit, which is a preliminary review to determine if the proposed development meets the zoning ordinance pertaining to mixed-use developments. I have previously reported on those conditions, which Planning Director Wes Haskett enumerated in a staff report. At this stage, all SAGA has to tell the Planning Board is that it will clear up all issues related to the wastewater facility and obtain the requisite governmental approvals for operation. If it doesn’t, it can’t get a Building Permit.
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