Beach nourishment project manager Ken Willson will report on shoreline and sand volume changes on the Southern Shores beaches during the past year at the Town Council’s last meeting of the year, Tuesday, at 5:30 p.m., in the Pitts Center.
The Council also will consider a revised agreement between the Town and the Chicahauk Property Owners Assn. (CPOA) for sidewalk maintenance that would involve the CPOA expanding an existing easement to give the Town more space for vehicular parking; and it will hold a public hearing on the tree removal regulatory change (ZTA 24-05), upon which The Beacon reported 11/17/24.
To read the Tuesday meeting agenda and background materials, go to https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/soshoresnc-pubu/MEET-Packet-299dadb35c4146129ab0f7870843770f.pdf.
You will find all materials related to Zoning Text Amendment 24-05, which the Planning Board unanimously recommended adopting at its Nov. 18 meeting, and to the CPOA-Town agreement regarding the Town’s maintenance of some of the concrete sidewalks owned by the CPOA in the meeting materials. We elaborate on some details below.
Ken Willson, of Coastal Protection & Engineering of North Carolina, has submitted a report covering beach monitoring from June 2023 to June 2024 in Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk, and Kill Devil Hills. It is available at https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/obzhiqimd6hl4pe5r9hgr/2024-SS-KH-KDH-Monitoring-Report.pdf?rlkey=sjpcikcs939y9n3u615f8sn6f&e=1&st=budjawlp&dl=0.
CPE’s assessment of the Southern Shores beaches is a positive one, with the Northern Section (north of Fourth Avenue) and Central Section of the 2022-23 beach nourishment project area faring better than the problematic Southern Section (south of Chicahauk Trail), which has long been the case.
Mr. Willson’s recommendation is to continue the annual beach monitoring.
According to the agenda, Town Manager Cliff Ogburn will give updates on the Juniper/Trinitie Trail Bridge Replacement Project, which was to start in November, and the Town Hall Renovation Project, which drew only two bids from contractors, both of which far exceeded envisioned costs.
At its November meeting, the Town Council authorized Mr. Ogburn to “value-engineer” with Sussex Development Corp., the low bidder on the Town Hall remodel, and report his progress at next week’s meeting.
Mr. Ogburn has described the renovations as constructing interior “improvements mainly for safety reasons.” The Beacon detailed these improvements in our 11/17/24 report. They include remodeling the front entrance and front reception area of Town Hall, about which there has not been much public discussion, and expanding the property file room, which has been extensively discussed by the Town Council. Files have already been digitized, and the paper versions are being retained.
ADDITIONAL TOWN SPACE IN EXCHANGE FOR SIDEWALK MAINTENANCE?
The CPOA has asked the Town of Southern Shores to assume responsibility for maintaining the sidewalks on the east side of Trinitie Trail, the north side of Chicahauk Trail, and the west side of Spindrift Trail, according to a staff report in the meeting packet. In exchange, the Town has asked that an additional 12,711 square feet of space be incorporated into an existing easement granted to it by the CPOA for the Town’s use of a parking area near the Chicahauk Trail and N.C. 12 intersection.
The proposed additional space abuts the existing easement area on the south end and appears from an aerial view photo to be between the back yards of 93 Ocean Blvd. and 94 Spindrift Trail. (See photo at top.) The Town would be required to maintain a 10-foot vegetative buffer along the boundary line with each of these properties.
The proposed amendment to the easement, which also is included in the meeting packet, refers to buffers with the (rear) property lines of 94 and 96 Spindrift Trail and does not mention 93 Ocean Blvd.
It does not appear to us from the aerial view that there would be an impact on 96 Spindrift Trail, which already backs up to an area of the existing easement. But, if the aerial view is incorrect, and a section of what is designated on the image as “existing easement” is actually proposed additional space, then there should be a buffer with 95 Ocean Blvd., too.
A survey done 9/25/24, and included in the meeting packet, depicts a section labeled “existing easement” in the aerial view as “new easement area.” This will have to be clarified.
According to the staff report, the cost of the repairs to the designated sidewalks is $72,500, and the work has already been put out for, and received, bids.
The staff report dates the sidewalk maintenance agreement to a September 2019 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Town, which owns the rights-of-way upon which the public streets in the Chicahauk Subdivision have been built, and the CPOA, which owns the concrete sidewalks and associated sidewalk infrastructure. (We find the MOU to be a bit sketchy in stating the parties’ intent.)
David A. Stager signed the MOU as president of the Chicahauk Property Owners Assn.
Clearly, the most significant aspect of this sidewalk maintenance-for-larger easement space agreement is the impact the Town’s use of the additional space would have on the abutting properties, even with 10-foot buffers. We certainly would not want a parking lot or Town storage sheds in our back yard. It also would be possible to amend the easement for new uses, not stated in the proposed amendment.
We have long heard that the Town was going to pay for and handle repairs to Chicahauk sidewalks, but this is the first we’ve heard that it has sought an expanded easement in return for the maintenance. We hope the property owners in Chicahauk are aware of this arrangement. It appears from the meeting materials that it is going to be approved on Tuesday.
TREE REMOVAL ZTA EXTENDS PERMIT MANDATE TO ALL ZONING DISTRICTS
As we previously reported, the Town Council adopted in April a Zoning Text Amendment establishing that an owner of unimproved commercial property must obtain a lot disturbance/stormwater management (“LDSM”) permit before removing trees that are greater than 6 inches in diameter, measured at 4.5 feet above the ground, from within the front, side, and rear yard setbacks on any lot.
This ZTA amended Town Code section 36-171, which pertains to lot disturbance and stormwater management and sets forth the requirements for an LDSM permit.
ZTA 24-05, which will be subject to public hearing on Tuesday, proposes expanding this permit requirement to owners of undeveloped property in all zoning districts in Southern Shores, not just the general commercial district. The Planning Board felt strongly that the requirement should apply throughout Town and requested this ZTA. (See The Beacon, 11/17/24.)
See the text of ZTA 24-05 at https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/media/11196.
ZTA 24-05 also contains a new proposed subsection of 36-171 that spells out exceptions to the permit requirement for tree removal when an “emergency” exists. Under the proposed new regulation, tree emergencies are deemed to exist when:
(a) A tree has become an imminent danger or hazard to persons or property as a result of fire, motor vehicle accident, or natural occurrence such as lightning, windstorm, ice storm, flood or other similar event; or
(b) A tree must be removed in order to perform emergency repair or replacement of public or private water, sewer, electric, gas, or telecommunications utilities.
In the case of a tree emergency, the Zoning Administrator (Planning Director Wes Haskett) would have the authority to issue an LDSM within 72 hours after a tree is removed or to waive the LDSM requirement.
Please note that the permit requirement only applies to the removal of large trees in the setback areas of an undeveloped lot, not to large trees elsewhere on a property.
Also on the Town Council meeting agenda are the proposed reappointments of Regular Members Charlie Andrews and Michael Guarracino to new three-year terms on the Southern Shores Historic Landmarks Commission and the appointment of Alternate Member Wander Brett-Jordan to a three-year term on the Commission to succeed outgoing Regular Member Tony DiBernardo.
EXTRA BULLETIN: SETBACK FOR MID-CURRITUCK BRIDGE
The Outer Banks Voice reported on Wednesday that the N.C. Turnpike Authority will not be receiving a requested $425 million federal grant to fund the Mid-Currituck Bridge, whose cost is now estimated to be $1.139 billion. The Turnpike Authority will have to identify another source of funds to make up for the shortfall.
Southern Shores Town Manager Ogburn is quoted at the end of the article as being disappointed and describing the “planning and preparation” for the bridge as “a continuous one step forward, two steps back.”
Mentioned in the article are “other proposals to alleviate the traffic woes,” which those of us who have been in town for a while have heard before and rejected. They include a “flyover at the NC12/US158 intersection in Kitty Hawk and improvements to N.C. 12,” according to The Voice.
The only “improvement” we have ever heard discussed is the widening of Highway 12 in Southern Shores.
We refer you to The Outer Banks Voice for more on the subject.
By Ann G. Sjoerdsma, The Beacon
The Southern Shores Beacon 