The Southern Shores Town Council will hold a special meeting Tuesday at 11 a.m. for a Resilient Coastal Communities Program (RCCP) community workshop and discussion.

The meeting will follow the Town Council’s regular 10 a.m. monthly meeting. Both public meetings will be held in the Pitts Center. 

Agenda and Meeting Packet for RCCP Workshop: https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/soshoresnc-pubu/MEET-Packet-3059c0076cc94903955b1036e0245e3e.pdf

Agenda and Meeting Packet for Town Council Meeting: https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/soshoresnc-pubu/MEET-Packet-5367f0dd25aa4bdbaca5dea99f5a3f42.pdf

The Town has partnered with the RCCP to plan and implement projects that will strengthen the town’s resilience to coastal hazards, such as the flooding caused by major storm events. Tuesday’s meeting will focus on the prioritization of projects that have been proposed.

The RCCP is an initiative administered by the Division of Coastal Management of the N.C. Dept. of Environmental Quality.

During the past five months, the RCCP project team has surveyed the Southern Shores community to ascertain locals’ opinions about the risks and vulnerabilities the town has relative to coastal hazards. As a result of this assessment, it has identified nine projects that would address these risks and seek to solve or minimize them.

Among the nine projects are an N.C. Hwy. 12 side-street stormwater diversion program; a neighborhood stormwater management study; an oceanside beach/dune nourishment program, which would continue beach nourishment every five to seven years; an evaluation of the feasibility of burying overhead utilities along the coast; and an oceanside beach monitoring program that would cost $100,000 annually.

We encourage you to review the meeting packet for the RCCP workshop, which explains each project.  

You also may read about the projects and vote for your priorities online UNTIL THURSDAY, SEPT. 3, at https://www.inspire-engagement.com/southern-shores-rccp.

The RCCP provides financial support for planning, engineering, and implementation of projects, as well as technical assistance during what is a four-phase process. The workshop marks the conclusion of Phases One and Two.

Phase Three addresses planning, design, and permitting of selected projects, and Phase Four is construction.

The Town Council will vote at its Oct. 6 meeting on whether to adopt the resilience strategy plan that the RCCP project team develops based on public survey results and on its own expertise. If the Council adopts the plan, the team will submit it to the Division of Coastal Management, and the State of N.C. will consult it if the Town subsequently applies for funding for Phases Three and Four.

Town officials have described their partnership with RCCP and their participation in implementing projects, such as improving the town’s stormwater system and strengthening its infrastructure, as taking important proactive steps toward protecting the future of Southern Shores.

You may watch a four-minute video on Current TV about the RCCP program featuring Mayor Elizabeth Morey, Town Councilwoman Paula Sherlock, and volunteer town leaders at https://currenttv.org/show/southern-shores-resilient-coastal-communities-program/.

TOWN MANAGER’S EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT EXTENDED THREE YEARS

The agenda for the Town Council’s regular meeting is light, with Town Manager Cliff Ogburn’s request for the Council’s approval of an application for an Outer Banks Visitors Bureau Tourism Impact Grant and a presentation about the “Trash/Recycling Cart Repair Program” being the only new business items.

Mr. Ogburn seeks approval for an application for a grant to pay for construction of a 5-foot-wide concrete path on the west side of Duck Road (N.C. Hwy. 12) from Hickory Trail to Hillcrest Drive.

The preliminary cost of this construction is $531,484.00, according to his agenda report. The Town must match any grant money received from the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau by 50 percent.

The Town has previously received Visitors Bureau impact grants to pay for the construction of sidewalks and paths in Southern Shores.

(An item about trash and recycling can repairs ran in the Aug. 21, 2026 Town newsletter. You also can find information about can repairs and replacements on the Town website at https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/community/page/trash-and-recycling.)

The meeting’s consent agenda contains the most interesting item on the Town Council’s regular meeting agenda. It is an extension of Mr. Ogburn’s employment contract for another three years, from July 1, 2026 until June 30, 2029.         

Mr. Ogburn, who formerly served as Town Manager of Nags Head, was initially hired on May 19, 2020, at a base salary of $132,643.00, according to an employment document included in the meeting packet.

According to other documents, Mr. Ogburn’s contract was extended in 2023 for three years, until June 30, 2026, at a base salary of $161,403.00. His latest contract extension raises his base salary to $200,097.00.  

Mr. Ogburn is probably the highest paid town manager in Dare County.   

The duties and responsibilities of the Town Manager have increased considerably, however, since Mr. Ogburn’s hiring, in part because of his competence and leadership, and he has managed all tasks with great skill, courtesy, and good humor.

Nags Head’s loss was decidedly Southern Shores’ gain.

By Ann G. Sjoerdsma, The Southern Shores Beacon, Aug. 30, 2026

Town Councilwoman Paula Sherlock received approval from the Town Council yesterday at its monthly meeting to “explore” the idea of having N.C. Hwy. 12, “from Southern Shores through Duck, perhaps onto Corolla,” she said, designated as a North Carolina “Scenic Byway” by the N.C. Dept. of Transportation (NCDOT).

A N.C. Scenic Byway designation, Ms. Sherlock told the Council, which acted by consensus, “protects an environmentally fragile area from over-development.”

“It has benefits for tourism, for property values, for wildlife habitat,” she said. “It protects the historic character of an area, coastal resilience, and the quality of life for residents and visitors.”

Sixty-two scenic byways currently exist in North Carolina (see above map), including a section of N.C. Hwy. 12 designated as the “Outer Banks National Scenic Byway,” which extends from Whalebone Junction in Nags Head to Beaufort and includes 21 coastal villages. It is a federal byway.   

The Councilwoman said she has already been in touch with NCDOT’s Scenic Byways Coordinator and received a preliminary application, which must be approved before a more elaborate, formal application for the designation can be submitted.   

The deadline for the final application is not until Aug. 31, 2027.

According to Ms. Sherlock, the idea for the designation originated with Southern Shores homeowner Tisa Head, a community leader who formerly served as president of the Southern Shores Civic Assn., and has caught fire among residents with whom Ms. Sherlock and Ms. Head have spoken.

Ms. Head is familiar with National Scenic Byways designated by the U.S. Government in Northern Virginia. The George Washington Memorial Parkway, which runs along the scenic Potomac River across from Washington, D.C., is such a byway. (We drive it often; it’s fabulous.)   

“We seem to have everything that’s required” by NCDOT for a N.C. Scenic Byway designation, Ms. Sherlock told the Council, listing the “strong points in our favor” as: ocean views, sound views, sunrises and sunsets, marshes, wetlands, dunes, natural landscapes, migratory birds, fisheries, dolphins, sea-turtle nesting areas, wild horses, and historic villages and sites.

According to NCDOT’s Scenic Byways website, the agency selects State routes with a “highway design that preserves and protects natural beauty and scenery,” is at least one mile long, and has “adequate land area for safe enjoyment of scenic attractions,” “strong local support,” “significant natural or aesthetic features visible from the road,” and “intrinsic qualities such as historical, cultural, or recreational resources.”

Ms. Sherlock proposed starting a Scenic Byway committee “to seek community support” for the designation, from residents, environmental groups, tourism groups, homeowner associations, and other invested parties.

She also noted that she would need to coordinate efforts with Duck and Currituck County.       

Town Councilman Rob Neilson, another former Northern Virginian, pointed out that a Scenic Byway designation of N.C. Hwy. 12 in Southern Shores, Duck, and Currituck County would be a “way of preventing the highway from being widened,” or otherwise altered to diminish the natural beauty and scenery of the land.

‘BUILD THE COROLLA BRIDGE’ GRASS ROOTS EFFORT

Dovetailing with Ms. Sherlock’s proposal, Charlie Ries, of South Dogwood Trail in Southern Shores, spoke after her about a grass-roots campaign he has organized to solicit support from State and Federal government officials and out-of-town vacationers in building the Mid-Currituck Bridge from Aydlett to Corolla.

Mr. Ries’s campaign got off to a fast start in May when he wrote a letter to N.C. Governor Josh Stein—which more than 100 Outer Banks property owners signed—asking for the Governor’s leadership in securing the necessary state and federal funding to build the Mid-Currituck Bridge.

The citizens group, which has Governor Stein’s backing, also has written to members of Congress and candidates who are on the ballot in November for U.S. and N.C. senate seats.

As you will recall, the NCDOT informed the Albemarle Rural Planning Organization (ARPO) in April of a serious funding shortfall for the bridge’s construction, which is now estimated to cost $1.1-$1.2 billion.

NCDOT has committed $173 million, and projected tolls were expected to cover the additional monies once viewed as needed for the bridge’s 2019 price tag of $491 million.

Despite the shortfall, the ARPO voted to renew the bridge as a priority project for the region for the next year. The ARPO is a coalition of counties, so Southern Shores’ interests are represented by the Dare County member.

We refer you to The Outer Banks Voice’s June 22 report about State Auditor Dave Boliek’s audit of the bridge project for background financials: https://www.outerbanksvoice.com/2026/06/22/our-goal-is-to-help-things-move-along-one-way-or-another/.

Mr. Ries has designed an excellent website acquainting people with the activities of his grass-roots campaign and arguing pragmatically for the Mid-Currituck Bridge, which, for the sake of brevity and familiarity, he refers to as the Corolla Bridge.

Please see the website at www.buildthecorollabridge.org.   

We also encourage you to listen to Mr. Ries’s presentation yesterday to the Town Council, which starts at the one-hour-six-minute mark of the You Tube video of the meeting.

Besides leading this effort, Mr. Ries serves on the Town Planning Board as an alternate.

A factoid that we found especially interesting was Mr. Ries’s calculation that if a motorist were to drive to Corolla from Barco, which is where U.S. 158 and U.S. 168 converge (site of the 7-Eleven), across the envisioned Corolla Bridge, he/she would arrive in 15 minutes, whereas now, the trip takes an average of two hours and 11 minutes.

Mr. Ries also said that feedback from vacationers stuck in traffic, waiting on the “cut-through route” in the Southern Shores dunes to return to N.C. Hwy. 12, has suggested that many believe most locals oppose the bridge. If they only talk to locals in Corolla, that may be true.

Volunteers from his campaign have been going vehicle-to-vehicle on Saturdays to distribute “Build the Corolla Bridge” info cards to gridlocked drivers on the cut-through route and engage people in conversation.

The website has a “Stuck in Traffic? Tell Us About It!” button for the frustrated drivers who frustrate us to report their road experience.

Raising awareness among visitors is very important. They, too, can write to members of Congress, in North Carolina and in their home states, lobbying for funding for the Mid-Currituck Bridge.

COASTAL RESILIENCE PROJECTS/ICE CREAM/BLOOD DRIVE

Finally, we remind you that on Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Pitts Center, the Town will sponsor a community event to obtain residents’ votes and opinions on the prioritization of proposed coastal resilience projects in Southern Shores. To encourage your attendance, complimentary ice cream will be served as long as it lasts.

Simultaneously, the American Red Cross will be holding a blood drive at the Pitts Center. To schedule a blood donation appointment, call 1-800-733-2767 or visit RedCrossBlood.org and enter the sponsor code, TownofSS. Walkins are welcome, space permitting.

For more info, see https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/planning/page/coastal-resilience-community-priorities-ice-cream.

By Ann G. Sjoerdsma, The Southern Shores Beacon, 8/5/26