No one filed a Notice of Candidacy in opposition to the two Southern Shores Town Council members who are running for re-election in November by the county elections board’s noon deadline yesterday for filing. Mayor Elizabeth Morey and Town Councilwoman Paula Sherlock will be running unopposed for new four-year terms.
In other town government news, the Planning Board meeting scheduled Monday has been canceled, and the Entry Corridor Enhancement Committee will meet Wednesday, July 30, at 9 a.m. in the Pitts Center.
The next Town Council meeting will be held Tuesday, Aug. 5, at 5:30 p.m. in the Pitts Center.
Equipment on the Southern Shores beach during the 2022 nourishment project.
Consultant Ken Willson of Coastal Protection Engineering (CPE) will present “preliminary findings” of the survey CPE conducted in June to assess the Southern Shores beaches at the Town Council’s Aug. 5 meeting, after which the Council will vote on approving the permitting and design of a 2027 nourishment project, according to Town Manager Cliff Ogburn at the Council’s July 8 meeting.
Mr. Ogburn reported last week that the Town Council will have to decide at the August meeting whether to sign a contract that will commit the Town of Southern Shores to participating in a “process of permitting and designing” that will culminate in a 2027 beach re-nourishment project.
Mr. Ogburn said this contract will be the same as the one the Town signed five years ago with CPE, which managed the 2022-23 beach nourishment project.
No one on the Town Council has thus far publicly expressed support for this five-year project, and there appears to be reluctance from some members to commit to it.
Nonetheless, the Council unanimously approved in June spending $22,635 to perform “pre-permitting” tasks and a “native beach sediment analysis” to determine the nature of the sand that would be needed in 2027.
“There’s a chance that we have what we need” on the beach now, Mayor Elizabeth Morey said last month, declining to “greenlight” a 2027 project, but not elaborating on her thoughts, either.
In April, Ms. Morey told The Beacon that she is not committed to doing beach nourishment to the extent it was done in 2022-23 every five years just as a matter of course. She said she would not “do” beach nourishment “just to be doing it.”
But the political pressure will be intense to do so. Dare County makes funds available to towns for beach nourishment on a five-year maintenance cycle, and towns depend on each other to share costs.
The 2022 beach nourishment project was a cooperative venture among the towns of Duck, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, and Southern Shores, who split the costs of mobilization and would look to do so again in 2027.
Mr. Ogburn advised the Council last week that the Town of Duck has already approved a project proposal from CPE and that Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills “are expected to approve similar proposals.”
We do not see the Southern Shores Town Council voting to except out of this project, regardless of the condition of the town’s beaches, but it may seek to narrow the scope of the re-nourishment.
The 2022 project covered the entire shoreline, despite CPE’s report that the sand on in the beach “profiles” north of Third Avenue was sufficient. The Town Council came up with the concept of a “sufficiently usable beach” in order to include the northern beaches in the project.
In simplest terms, a beach profile is a cross-section of the beach that extends from the dunes, across the dry-sand area, to an area submerged in the ocean. Much of the sand in a beach “profile” is not visible to the human eye, as was the case at the northern end of the Southern Shores shoreline.
Mr. Ogburn previously informed the Town Council that CPE’s beach monitoring report for 2025—which will be based on data collected last month at dozens of Southern Shores beach profiles —would be submitted in October. This will be CPE’s third-year post-nourishment report of “how sand is performing on the beach,” he said.
He also previously said that CPE’s formal proposal for the 2027 project’s design would be presented in “late fall.” (See The Beacon, 6/10/25.)
With Mr. Willson’s presentation of “preliminary findings” of the beach monitoring survey and CPE’s project contract, the decision-making timeline for the Town Council has been reduced by months.
The Town Council has not engaged in any substantive discussions publicly about the need for a second beach nourishment project in Southern Shores or the costs, especially to its constituents. Aside from the Mayor, no Council member has voiced an opinion.
Mr. Ogburn suggested last week that the 2027 project might be designed to last six or seven years, not just five. Looking at Southern Shores’ wide beaches today, we wonder why the 2022 project cannot last as long, and if the Town Council were to delay, what would be the financial consequences.
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We have been unable to attend Council meetings in person for quite some time and base our reporting on the You Tube videotapes.
Unfortunately, the videotape of the hourlong July 8 meeting stops short of the Town Council members’ reports, which occur at the end, so we did not hear Councilman Mark Batenic’s update from the Dare County Tourism Board and Mayor Pro Tem Matt Neal’s update on the Entry Corridor Enhancement Committee, assuming they both made them.
The Entry Corridor Committee will meet Tuesday at 9 a.m. in the Pitts Center.
The Town Planning Board is scheduled to meet Monday, July 21, at 5 p.m. in the Pitts Center. (UPDATE ON 7/15/25: The meeting has been canceled.)
We do not expect to attend the Town Council’s Aug. 5 meeting.
The fire that destroyed an oceanfront home in Southern Shores on June 18 started inside the residence, not in a grill on a wooden deck, Fire Chief Ed Limbacher said at Tuesday’s Town Council meeting after giving the Council an enthralling account of the spectacular blaze and of the jam-packed day that his firefighting corps had.
Asked by Town Councilman Rob Neilson whether a grease fire from a grill caused the fire at 150 Ocean Blvd., the Chief demurred, saying that the fire started inside the home, not on a deck. But he also observed, “I don’t think you’re ever going to know.”
Sensitive to not “sensationalizing anyone’s tragedy,” Chief Limbacher gave a precise timeline of the eight emergencies that long “unpredictable” day, which sent Southern Shores firefighters to structure fires in Colington (at 13:26, using a 24-hour format) and Corolla (at 13:33) before they responded to a call at 18:36 about the fire at 150 Ocean Blvd., which rapidly grew after a “BLEVE” occurred.
BLEVE, the Fire Chief explained, is an acronym for Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion, a type of explosion that occurs when a vessel containing a pressurized liquid ruptures after a rapid increase in temperature and pressure. A “weak spot” in the tank blows out, he said.
A BLEVE occurred at 150 Ocean Blvd. after a 250-pound propane tank ruptured and exploded, according to the Chief, who showed a cell-phone video shot by a bystander that captured the explosion’s intense effects on the fire and a photograph of the ruptured tank.
It was fortunate that no firefighters were inside the residence when the BLEVE occurred, having worked outside to contain the fire to the one structure after learning that one of its walls had already partially collapsed.
Had anyone gone inside to look for occupants—firefighters were advised the house was unoccupied—a human tragedy beyond property loss may have occurred.
“Uncertainty is what makes this job really, really dangerous,” Chief Limbacher emphasized.
The air temperature at the time of the fire was 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit, and a 10-mile-per-hour wind was blowing, he said, compounding the challenge and the risk to firefighters.
The Fire Chief also stressed the close cooperation that the Southern Shores Fire Dept. has with the Southern Shores Police Dept., whose officers arrive to secure a scene ahead of the firefighting equipment. (Police Chief David Kole did not attend the Town Council meeting.)
(The Beacon reported on 6/18/25 and 6/19/25 that witnesses to the fire heard or saw an explosion after the blaze had started. One witness placed the time of what we know now was a BLEVE at 7 p.m.; the person who shot the video described two such explosions.)
We commend to you Chief Limbacher’s presentation, which you may view on the town’s You Tube website within the video for the July 8 Town Council meeting. His reports for May and June begin around the five-minute mark of the You Tube video, and his presentation for June 18 starts around the eight-and-a-half-minute mark.
The Chief also reported Tuesday that his department responded to fire alarms on 9th Avenue (15:44) and 15 Ocean Blvd. (18:25) in town that long June day, as well as two EMS calls and one medical call.
Interviews for the four newly created positions of SSFD captain will be held next Tuesday, he said.
Both Southern Shores Mayor Elizabeth Morey and Councilwoman Paula Sherlock filed their Notices of Candidacy today at the Dare County Board of Elections in Manteo for re-election on Nov. 4. Their current four-year terms on the Town Council expire in early December.
As The Beacon reported on 7/5/25, today was the first day that candidates could file to run for municipal office in Southern Shores, as well as in Duck, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head, and Manteo. At least one candidate filed in all six towns.
The only contested election so far is that of mayor of Manteo. Town Commissioners Betty Govan Selby and Tod Branch Clissold have filed to succeed Mayor Sherry Wickstrom, whose term expires in December.
Ms. Selby, who also serves as Manteo’s mayor pro tem, and Mr. Clissold each have two more years remaining on their Commission terms.
The Notice of Candidacy filing period runs until noon on Friday, July 18. (See The Beacon, 7/5/25, for more details.)
For a list of the candidates who have filed so far for the 2025 non-partisan municipal elections, see:
. . . for Dare County municipal offices is just four months away, Nov. 4.
Candidate filing for Dare County’s non-partisan municipal elections in November begins on Monday at 8:30 a.m. and closes on July 18 at noon. Two offices will be contested in Southern Shores, those of mayor and a Town Council member, each of which has a four-year term.
The terms of Mayor Elizabeth Morey and Town Councilwoman Paula Sherlock, who were elected in November 2021, are expiring. Neither has announced she is running for reelection, but we would expect each to do so.
Four years ago, Mayor Morey, who was then serving on the Town Council, filed her candidacy for mayor on the first day of the filing period. Ms. Sherlock filed on the last day.
Unlike in Duck, where the terms of all five Town Council members expire in the same year, Southern Shores staggers the terms of its five Council members, electing two, including the mayor, in one election and the other three in an election two years later.
Any person who is at least 21 years old, registered to vote in North Carolina, and qualified to vote in the municipality in which he/she runs for office as of the date of an election may file a Notice of Candidacy, with the requisite fee, with the Dare County Board of Elections in Manteo.
THE TOWN COUNCIL will hold its regular monthly meeting Tuesday, 5:30 p.m., in the Pitts Center—a week later than usual because of the Independence Day holiday.
According to the agenda, Town Manager Cliff Ogburn will give an update on the 2027 beach nourishment project, and the Town Council will make three Planning Board appointments and one appointment to the Historic Landmarks Commission.
The three-year term of Planning Board member Tony DiBernardo, who has served as vice-chairperson, has expired, and he has elected not to seek another term. First Alternate Michael Zehner will be appointed to Mr. DiBernardo’s seat, and Second Alternate Charles Ries will be elevated to First Alternate.
Two members of the community have submitted applications for appointment to the Second Alternate’s position. They are Natalie Painter and Richard Filling. Planning Director Wes Haskett has submitted their applications to the Town Council, without recommendation, asking it to choose.
Planning Board member Jan Collins’s three-year term expired June 30. She has requested re-appointment for another term.
Mr. Haskett has recommended the appointment of Jennifer Adams-Falconer to the Historic Landmarks Commission to fill a vacancy created when Commission member Michael Guarracino resigned on May 17. Ms. Adams-Falconer’s term would begin immediately and expire Dec. 6, 2027.
There is still a vacancy for an alternate on the HLC. If you are interested in serving, you must submit to the Town, c/o Mr. Haskett, a board volunteer application, which you find here: https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/media/4936.
We will report on the highlights of the Town Council meeting.
The Southern Shores Beacon 