A public hearing on a Zoning Text Amendment submitted by the Southern Shores Civic Assn. to increase the maximum allowable height of fences around “community recreational facilities” in all zoning districts from 6 feet to 10 feet and to restrict their construction material, was not held at the Town Council meeting this morning because the applicant withdrew the ZTA.
(See The Beacon, 1/5/26 for background.)
According to Mayor Elizabeth Morey, the SSCA removed ZTA 25-06 for “clarification that needs to take place.”
The Civic Association owns nine community recreational facilities in town, including the Sea Oats Park, pictured above.
The newly clarified proposed amendment will be considered by the Planning Board at its next meeting before it returns to the Town Council for hearing and consideration.
MEETING HIGHLIGHTS
Beach Nourishment: Town Manager Cliff Ogburn gave an informative report regarding a second potential beach nourishment project in Southern Shores, which would likely occur in 2027, five years after the inaugural project in 2022-23; in 2028 (six years); or in 2029 (seven years), in conjunction with projects by Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, and Duck.
The Town Council has not made an official commitment to a project of any kind yet.
“We’re in really good shape,” Mr. Ogburn told the Council, explaining that the Southern Shores beaches have 32 percent more sand volume on them now than was added in 2022-23.
According to the Town Manager, more than 1 million cubic yards (cy) of sand were placed on the beaches in 2022-2023, and they currently have 333,900 cubic yards over that 1 million.
Further, he said, “The project was designed with the assumption that the beach would lose 3 cubic yards [of sand] per foot per year (cy/ft/yr).”
Instead, the beaches have gained 4.3 cy/ft/yr since the 2022-23 project.
“We’ve done better than projected,” he noted.
The Beacon will provide more details from the Town Manager’s beach nourishment report, including cost projections, as soon as we have time.
New SSFD Captains: Southern Shores Fire Dept. Chief Ed Limberger introduced the four newly hired SSFD captains, with a short biography about each young man. We encourage you to view the Chief’s introductions on the Town’s YouTube website.
When we publish again, we will have the correct spelling of the four new captains’ names, whose first names are Matt, Dakota, Daniel, and Lawson. The only last name we could catch from the Chief’s introductions on the You Tube stream was Jones, as in Matt Jones. We can only guess at the others.
It would have been helpful if the four captains’ names and their biographies had been included in the meeting packet, along with the names of the four SSFD Auxiliary Board members whom Chief Limberger recognized.
It also would be helpful if Town Council members—especially Mayor Pro Tem Matt Neal, who is notorious for not speaking loudly enough—spoke into their microphones when they talked. They should be mindful that they are creating a public record. Only the Mayor makes a point of speaking loudly and clearly.
That’s all for now, folks. TBC.
(We apologize to subscribers who received multiple emails of this post. We had technical difficulties that necessitated a deletion of the first post and an insertion of its replacement.)
By The Southern Shores Beacon, 1/6/26
The Southern Shores Beacon 