Month: November 2026

11/1/26: HEAD TO THE PITTS CENTER ON TUESDAY TO VOTE AND ON WEDNESDAY TO ATTEND TWO TOWN MEETINGS; Community Bike & Pedestrian Plan Committee Being Formed.

The polling place on Tuesday, Nov. 3, for registered Southern Shores voters is the Kern C. Pitts Center, 5377 N. Virginia Dare Trail, behind the Town Hall and next to the Police Station.

The polling place will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Be sure to bring a photo ID with you.

You will be able to see results of all of the federal, state, and local elections on the N.C. State Board of Elections’ election results dashboard. Go to https://er.ncsbe.gov.

Once at the NCSBE dashboard, simply select from the dropdown filters in the criteria, “election,” “county,” “office,” and “contest,” for the results you seek.

For example, if you’d like to see the results for the U.S. Senate race, select 1) 11/03/26 for “election”; 2) State for “county”; 3) Federal for “office”; and 4) U.S. Senate for “contest.”

If you were to do that now, and press “display results,” you would see the four candidates on the ballot, with a ballot count of 0 (zero) next to each person’s name.

TWO TOWN MEETINGS ON WEDNESDAY, NOV. 4

The Southern Shores Town Council will meet the day after the midterm elections at 10 a.m. in the Pitts Center for its regular monthly meeting. It will then join the Planning Board and the Entry Corridor Enhancement (ECE) Committee in the same venue at 11 a.m. for a special meeting update from the ECE Committee.

The Entry Corridor Enhancement Committee will present Phase Two of its planning and ask for the Town’s approval of its Entry Corridor Enhancement Plan, a draft of which you can find at https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1494/TOSS-Entry-Corridor-Enhancement-Plan_9-14-2026.

Members of the public are encouraged to attend the special meeting.

FOR AGENDA OF TOWN COUNCIL MEETING: Go to https://southernshoresnc.portal.civicclerk.com/event/462/files/agenda/912

FOR COUNCIL MEETING PACKET: We suggest you go to the newly re-designed Town website at https://www.southernshores-nc.gov and navigate to “Agenda and Minutes” to download a PDF of the Nov. 4 Town Council meeting packet.

BIKE & PEDESTRIAN COMMITTEE: The meeting item of most interest to us is the “Bike & Pedestrian Steering Committee Membership” in the “Consent Agenda.”

The N.C. Dept. of Transportation’s Integrated Mobility Division (IMD) has awarded the Town a grant of between $50,000 and $60,000 to develop a comprehensive bicycle and pedestrian network plan. In order to obtain the funding, the Town must pay 10 percent of the amount as “municipal reimbursement.” The Town Council unanimously approved doing so.

(For background, see The Beacon, 7/15/26.)

According to Agenda Item No. 7 in the Nov. 4 Meeting Packet, the IMD “advises” municipalities receiving a planning grant to establish a steering committee “to guide development of the plan, provide local knowledge, and assist with public engagement and project prioritization.”

The agenda item summary outlines the NCDOT’s planning development process for the steering committee. It includes:

  • Vision and goals: Assist in establishing the community’s bicycle and pedestrian transportation vision, goals, and objectives.
  • Identification of needs: Review important community destinations, activity centers, connectivity gaps, and safety concerns.
  • Project prioritization: Review the proposed methodology for evaluating and prioritizing bicycle and pedestrian improvements.
  • Public engagement: Provide feedback on proposed public engagement approaches and help ensure community perspectives are considered.

Town staff is recommending that the committee consist of the following people:

  • Town Council: One Council Member (appointed by the Town Council)
  • Planning Board: One Planning Board member (appointed by the Planning Board)
  • Town Staff: Town Manager, Deputy Town Manager/Planning Director, Public Information Officer, Public Works Director (for a total of four people)
  • Public Safety: Police Chief, Fire Chief
  • NCDOT: IMD representative
  • Regional transportation planning: Albemarle RPO representative
  • Community residents: “Four residents with an interest in walking, cycling, and pedestrian safety” (As “solicited through a request for applications”)
  • Town of Kitty Hawk: Town representative
  • Town of Duck: Town representative

With 16 people, this committee is unusually large for a Town planning project.

We were curious as to whether the four residents representing the community had already been selected, inasmuch as this item is in the Consent Agenda.

Town Manager Cliff Ogburn informed us Friday that he is going to “put out a request for anyone that is interested.” Four individuals have not been identified. He was working on an application form when we contacted him.

Mr. Ogburn said he would follow up after the Nov. 4 meeting “if the Council approves this approach.”

WEBSITE REDESIGN: The Town recently redesigned its website so that it is more attractive, more informative with fewer clicks, and much easier to navigate. Check it out and let us know what you think: https://www.southernshores-nc.gov.

Enjoy your extra hour!

By Ann G. Sjoerdsma, The Southern Shores Beacon, 11/1/26