The Southern Shores Town Council is poised to commit at its Tuesday meeting $201,071.00 more to pay for design work and permitting for a 2027 beach nourishment project in which the Town may not participate, according to the packet posted online with the meeting agenda.

(For background, see The Beacon, 8/24/25.)

Tuesday’s meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the Pitts Center.

You may access the agenda and the meeting packet here:

AGENDA: https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/soshoresnc-pubu/MEET-Agenda-421a5b825de6437a85e9e61d3a207ef8.pdf.

PACKET: https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/soshoresnc-pubu/MEET-Packet-421a5b825de6437a85e9e61d3a207ef8.pdf.

Agenda Item No. 6 in the packet, titled “Continuation of consideration of Coastal Protection Engineering (CPE) proposal for the 2027 Beach Nourishment Project Permitting and Design,” recaps the action taken by the Town Council to date on the proposed project and includes an accounting of the money that officials thus far have authorized spending.

If the Town Council should approve spending an additional $201,071.00 to “fully fund [CPE’s] proposal,” as the agenda item reads—in order to “maintain the Town’s option to participate in the 2027 project”—the Council will have authorized a total expenditure of $327,477.00.

Agenda Item No. 6 states that, even with this new allocation—which we anticipate the Council will unanimously approve—there will be about $1.8 million in the Beach Nourishment Capital Reserve Fund.

The item does not explain, however, how the Town happens to have such a flush reserve fund. This is information the beach nourishment tax-paying public is entitled to know.

The Town Council has until May 2026 to decide whether to proceed with re-nourishing all or a portion of the Southern Shores beaches, according to CPE consultant Ken Willson, who spoke to the Council at its Aug. 5 meeting, presenting an extremely positive picture of Southern Shores’ 3.7-mile shoreline. (See The Beacon, 8/24/25.)

Presumably, CPE would move up its annual beach monitoring survey from mid- to late-June 2026 to April or May 2026. This year, it conducted the survey earlier in June in order to give Mr. Willson some preliminary shoreline and sand volume data to present to the Town Council.

It is well known that the beach is at its widest in late July and early August. We do not believe that any data collected by CPE in April or May will be very helpful to the Town Council. Shortening the time interval between surveys also renders the data less reliable.

The Towns of Duck, Kitty Hawk, and Kill Devil Hills—whose beaches have higher erosion rates than Southern Shores’—have already signed contracts with CPE for the 2027 project. 

ALSO ON THE AGENDA FOR TUESDAY’S MEETING . . .

A PUBLIC HEARING will be held on Zoning Text Amendment 25-05, which was submitted by the Town and proposes the addition of Section 1-14 to the Town Code chapter on general provisions and an amendment of Code Section 36-414(a), which pertains to requirements for proposed zoning text amendments.

See ZTA 25-05 at https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/media/12501.

The purpose of the wordy ZTA is explained by the Town in its public-hearing notice as “to establish requirements for reconsideration of disapproved development and amendment requests . . . and to establish application and formatting requirements for proposed zoning text amendments.”

In Planning Director Wes Haskett’s Agenda Item, the Section 1-14 addition is explained as establishing “that if an application for an administrative development approval, zoning map amendment, regulation amendment, or any other legislative development request is denied by the decision-making authority, on any basis other than the failure of the applicant to submit a complete application, no same application proposing the same or similar development on all or part of the same land or the same or similar text amendment shall be submitted within one year after the date of denial,” unless the decision-making authority waives this time limit for one of the reasons stated in the section.

We perceive this as an attempt to limit the number of “bites of the apple” that a property owner applicant has to challenge the denial of a development request, such as a requested subdivision of his property.

Two of the reasons stated for a waiver of the year waiting period include the submission of a new application that is “materially different” from the prior application and a finding that the final decision on the prior application was “based on a material mistake of fact.”

According to the Agenda Item, a House Bill currently in the N.C. General Assembly would prohibit a waiting period, such as the one proposed in ZTA 25-05. In the event H.B. 926 becomes law, the Town would propose language amending Section 1-14, Mr. Haskett states, assuming the Town Council approves the ZTA Tuesday.

We see no reason to expect it to do otherwise.

The Planning Board unanimously recommended approval of ZTA 25-05, 4-0, at its Aug. 18 meeting.

AN UPDATE ON THE MERGER OF THE FIRE DEPARTMENT WITH THE TOWN: At the Aug. 5 Town Council meeting, Fire Chief Ed Limbacher said he would probably announce new hires by the SSFD at the Sept. 2 meeting. Other merger business will be discussed as well.   

A GRANT TO PAY FOR REPLACEMENT OF A SECTION OF THE DUCK ROAD SIDEWALK: Town Manager Cliff Ogburn is seeking the Town Council’s approval to apply for a Dare County Tourism Board “Tourism Impact Grant” (TIG) to help fund replacement of the sidewalk/multi-use path on the east side of Duck Road (N.C. 12) from Hillcrest Drive to 13^th Street. The preliminary cost estimate for the construction is about $320,000, according to Mr. Ogburn. The Town must match any TIG it receives with 50 percent.

A VIEWING OF “WRECKS OF PAUL GAMIELS HILL”: Once located on the Hillcrest Beach in Southern Shores, the Paul Gamiels Hill Life Saving Station operated an active rescue service from 1878 to 1937. The station was reactivated during World War II, deactivated shortly afterward, and then burned to the ground in the early 1960s.

During the Station’s 59 years of service, seven vessels came ashore during Atlantic storms, according to Town of Southern Shores records. Rescue efforts by Station crews saved the lives of dozens of people.

The Town Council’s meeting agenda does not delve into the origin or format of the film, but it does note that a discussion will take place after the viewing.

Planning Board: The Town Planning Board has re-elected Andy Ward as its chairperson for another fiscal year and elected Jan Collins as its vice-chairperson during the same period. The Town Council is handling its approval of these elections in its consent agenda.

Regretfully, we will be unable to cover Tuesday’s meeting, but we will report on any action taken by the Town Council on beach nourishment that differs from what we have predicted.

By Ann G. Sjoerdsma, The Southern Shores Beacon, 8/31/25

“We have more sand on the beach today,” Ken Willson of Coastal Protection Engineering (CPE) told the Town Council at its Aug. 5 meeting., “than we did at the completion” of the beach nourishment project three years ago.

According to Mr. Willson, the “cumulative” naturally gained sand volume on the Southern Shores beaches—discounting any effect from the beach nourishment the Town performed in 2022—“is greater than what we had intended to place there in 2022.”

In other words, Nature surpassed the goal of the dredging, making it apparently unnecessary.*  

And yet, despite Mr. Willson’s encouraging update, the Town Council unanimously voted to commit more public funds ($111,406) to maintaining the Town’s eligibility for participating in a 2027 nourishment project with Duck, Kitty Hawk, and Kill Devil Hills, rather than to opt out.

Mr. Willson labeled the natural “accretion”—i.e., deposition or accumulation—of sand, which he said occurred over three consecutive years (2021-23), “an anomaly.”

But to speak of an anomaly within the coastal environment, we believe, is to be misleading.

A fundamental principle in “How The Beach Works 101” is that change is the only constant. The coastal environment is dynamic, filled with energy and constantly changing. 

The Beacon has written extensively about coastal dynamics and beach nourishment since we started publishing in 2018. We refer you to our Special Report of Jan. 26, 2021, in which we analyze short-term beach data, explain the basics of beach nourishment, and offer a primer in “How The Beach Works 101.”

As all of the experts we interviewed told us, there is seasonal variability in “how the beach works,” because of changes in wind and wave energy; despite the fluctuations, however, the beach maintains an equilibrium.

Passing hurricanes and other storms, such as Erin, may push the sand off-shore, but it returns. (Please read our Special Report!)

Beach data obtained on a given day about the shoreline changes and the volume of sand are just a “snapshot.” On another day, they will be different.

Contrary to what many people may think, the naked eye is not a good judge of the state of the beach. Not only is much of what is called the beach “profile” under water, there are radical changes going on in the dry-sand area that the eye cannot detect.

As Mr. Willson would say, let’s “take a deeper dive” into the situation.

DESPITE HEALTHY STATISTICS, WILLSON’S ‘PROJECTIONS’ TREND NEGATIVELY

Duck, Kitty Hawk, and Kill Devil Hills, with whom Southern Shores cooperated in the 2022-23 beach nourishment project, have already signed contracts with CPE for beach nourishment in 2027, Mr. Willson said, and design engineering work has begun.

These towns are considering extending out their 2027 project from five years to six or seven years, he added, so they would not nourish again until 2033 or 2034.

Both Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills “have higher erosion rates” than Southern Shores, Mr. Willson acknowledged—and they always have, historically, as has Duck. In contrast, the consultant described the Southern Shores “numbers” as “healthy.”

Mr. Willson presented summary data from the beach surveying that CPE conducted in Southern Shores in early June; it is paid to perform annual surveys.

CPE measures shoreline and sand volume changes at 23 profile stations, which are located every 1,000 feet on the Town’s 3.7-mile coastline. At the Aug. 5 meeting, Mr. Willson gave only average measurements for the Northern, Central and Southern sections of the beach. He did not give measurements from each profile station. A full report is yet to come.  

The Northern Section runs from 4^th Avenue north to the Duck town line; the Central Section is from 4^th Avenue south to about 500 feet south of the Chicahauk Trail beach access; and the Southern Section includes the remaining shoreline south to the Kitty Hawk town line.  

From 2022 to 2025, Mr. Willson showed, the Northern Section gained 165,300 cubic yards of sand; the Central Section gained 96,200 cubic yards; and the Southern Section gained 72,400 cubic yards, for a total increase of 333,900 cubic yards—over the 1,048,400 cubic yards already in place in 2022.

These statistics do not support the Town’s participation in the 2027 project or its scheduling of another project until a year that cannot yet be determined—if ever.

But the Town Council did not entertain that possibility, so captivated/buffaloed/bewildered?? were the members by Mr. Willson’s “projections” out to 2034 that show a steady loss of sand year-by-year.

Despite the healthy accretion of sand in the Southern Shores beach profile, which extends from the dunes and vegetation line east to a water depth just beyond where the largest waves break, Mr. Willson chose to project out years of steady erosion because the past two beach surveys have shown 1) stabilization from 2023 to 2024; and 2) a slight negative effect from 2024 to 2025.

He did not project the amount of sand accretion that would occur naturally on the Southern Shores shoreline in the past five years, and he cannot predict how much more accretion will occur in the next five years.

We “gain[ed] sand faster in the previous five years than in the five years [before the project],” Mr. Willson said, and in “2022, there was more sand in the system than in 2017.”

That he nonetheless forecasts a steady erosion rate starting this year and calls it a “trend” is misleading.

That he illustrates this trend on a graph with a heavy black horizontal line, which supposedly represents the sand volume needed to protect the Town beaches from a “design-level storm,” which is one similar to Hurricane Isabel, can only confuse you. (Look at the videotape. We cannot give this graph justice.)  

So why did the Town Council immediately buy into Mr. Willson’s projections? Are our elected officials running scared or are they just confused?

At least two Town Council members appeared poised to authorize spending $6 million to $8 million for an unnecessary 2027 project, in which Southern Shores would share mobilization costs with Duck, Kitty Hawk, and Kill Devil Hills, just to avoid spending theoretically “astronomical” costs if the Town theoretically were to go it alone.

We cannot imagine a scenario, theoretically or otherwise, in which the Town would ever have to do beach nourishment alone. The Southern Shores shoreline is too stable for such a desperate measure.

Mr. Willson’s projections are not facts. They are speculations designed, as far as we can tell, to induce the Town Council to approve a 2027 project.

Mayor Elizabeth Morey asked if Southern Shores could do a 2027 project on a “smaller scale” than the one performed in 2022-23.

Mr. Willson answered, “Yes, but,” the “but” being that there is “a minimum amount of sand that the big dredges put down efficiently,” so his reply was incomplete, but “trended” negatively.

SOUTHERN SHORES HAS A MORE STABLE SHORELINE

Southern Shores has always had a more stable shoreline than other nearby beach towns and was the last of the towns from Duck in the north to Nags Head in the south to add sand to its entire shoreline. It has a history of low long-term average erosion rates.

One caveat: The area in Southern Shores near the Kitty Hawk Pier has long been characterized by high erosion. The Town nourished the beach at Pelican Watch in 2017, piggybacking on to Kitty Hawk’s beach nourishment project.

According to coastal engineer and erosion specialist Spencer Rogers, formerly of UNC-Wilmington’s Center for Marine Science, Southern Shores has not been directly hit by a severe storm since the Ash Wednesday storm of 1962, which was an “Extreme Nor’easter” that took out the old Sea Ranch Hotel at the current site of Pelican Watch.

Since this March 1962 event, no buildings in Southern Shores have been destroyed or even threatened by erosion. This makes Southern Shores unique among Dare beach towns.

Today, the dunes are high and, thanks to Southern Shores homeowner Len Schmitz and other dedicated volunteers, covered with protective beach grass and sand fences. (See photo above.)   

The problem for our neighboring towns is, if Southern Shores opts out of the 2027 project, the three of them would have to pay one-third, rather than one-quarter, of the mobilization costs, which Mr. Willson estimated at $8 million.   

We would have liked to have heard the Town Council comment on CPE’s data, on the allegedly “anomalous” three-year period of accretion, on Mr. Willson’s specious projections, on anything other than potential cost, but no one did.

To the public’s detriment, Mayor Pro Tem Matt Neal, who is usually well-prepared, said the questions he had for Mr. Willson were answered by the consultant in a private meeting the day before.

Mr. Willson advised the Town Council that it can make a final decision about participating in the 2027 beach nourishment project as late as May-June 2026, presumably when CPE does its next beach survey.

If history is any indication, the Council will delay until then.

In the meantime, the Town Council is maintaining the Town’s “eligibility” for the project—i.e., keeping its options open—by committing funds for the payment of design and permitting tasks that must be done now. It unanimously approved allocating $111,406 to the amount of money it has already committed, bringing the total to about $134,000.

When Councilwoman Paula Sherlock asked where the money was coming from for the additional $111,406, Town Manager Cliff Ogburn replied: “The Beach Nourishment Capital Reserve Fund.” This answer seemed to reassure Ms. Sherlock and other Council members, even though this money is still taxpayer money that could be saved, rather than spent now.

We strongly encourage all property owners in Southern Shores to inform themselves if they want to ensure that smart and responsible decisions are made, going forward.

THE 2022 PROJECT CREATED ‘AN EIGHT-FOOT-DEEP TROUGH’

During public comments on Aug. 5, Gard Skinner, who has lived with his family in Southern Shores for 23 years, identified significant concerns associated with the 2022-23 beach nourishment project and any future nourishment.

Beach nourishment, he said, “changed the behavior of the near-shore zone.”

Describing himself as a “regular beach user” and surfer who “ran the beach for years, every morning,” he warned that “[there is] no shallow near-shore zone any more.”

Beach nourishment deepened the “channel” between the water line on the beach—the level of the tide—and the first sand bar, he said. It is now an “8-foot-deep trough.”

This channel or trough used to be thigh- or waist-deep, Mr. Skinner said, but now it is over people’s heads, posing a challenge to children and other people who might just want to “play” or splash around in the shallow surf.

With such a “steep dropoff,” he said, “Kids can’t boogie board any more,” and more of them are wearing life jackets.

There have been no surf lessons in Southern Shores since beach nourishment occurred, he added, and the past two surfing throwdowns “have been a mess.” (The Throwdown Surf Classic contest takes place on the Chicahauk Beach in September.)

If you “pile more sand down there, we’re going to move the water line farther from the dune, so we’ll be in even deeper water. . . ,” he said, perhaps twice as deep.

“Don’t pile more dry sand” on the beach, Mr. Skinner beseeched the Town Council.

(*See The Beacon, 12/19/23: “Southern Shores Beaches Gain Nearly 400,000 Cubic Yards in Sand in Past Year—From Natural Accretion, Not Beach Nourishment, Consultant Tells Town Council. Was 2022 Fill Project Necessary?”)

THE NEXT TOWN COUNCIL MEETING IS TUESDAY, SEPT. 2, at 5:30 p.m., in the Pitts Center. We will publish a preview of the agenda.

By Ann G. Sjoerdsma, The Southern Shores Beacon, 8/24/25

Without license plate recognition (LPR) in local road cameras, Southern Shores Police Chief David Kole said Tuesday, “we may not have found the guy” who subsequently was charged in the July 31 fatal shooting at the Avalon Pier in Kill Devil Hills.

With the assistance of LPR, six armed and vested SSPD officers, including Chief Kole, were able to stop the fleeing suspect, later identified as 16-year-old Henry Lee Hargis, in Kitty Hawk at the new Emergency Management Station on the U.S. 158 bypass.

“We took him out at gunpoint,” the Chief told the Town Council at its meeting last Tuesday, suggesting that the stop could have ended quite badly for the alleged shooter, had he resisted.

The “tragic” shooting death of Zane Hughes, 19, of Colington, in the Avalon Pier parking lot, “was a wake-up call” for everyone, Chief Kole said. Not only is the Outer Banks not insulated from gun violence in a public place, but the alleged violent offender may be someone known to local police.

A 15-year-old boy vacationing from Pennsylvania also was shot in the leg by a bullet allegedly fired by Hargis that ricocheted. He was flown to Norfolk General Sentara, where he was treated and released.

Hargis has been charged as an adult in Dare County with first degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury.

He is scheduled to appear Wednesday at the Dare County Courthouse in Manteo for a probable cause hearing before Chief District Court Judge Robert Trivette.

Probable cause hearings are for the purpose of determining if there is enough evidence to proceed with criminal charges against a defendant.   

[UPDATE ON AUG. 11, 2025: According to The Coastland Times, Dare County District Attorney Jeff Cruden announced this morning that a grand jury has indicted Henry Lee Hargis on first degree murder in the shooting death of Zane Hughes and on assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury in the wounding of the 15-year-old bystander. Mr. Hargis’s next court date is Oct. 13, The Times reported.]

Chief Kole complimented all police, fire, and emergency medical service departments on the beach who participated in responding to the shooting and apprehending the suspect.

Everyone “did a heck of a job,” he said, in a situation that, had people not kept their cool, might have become “chaotic.”

THE BEACON’S OPINION: E-BIKES CAN BE REGULATED NOW

In more routine business, Chief Kole brought the Town Council up to date on the status of a N.C. Senate Bill designed to give local governments explicit authority to regulate electric bicycles.

Proposed Senate Bill 576 would change the definition of an “electric-assisted bicycle,” contained in N.C. General Statutes 20-4.01(7a), by establishing three different classes of e-bikes based on motor assistance and speed, and also explicitly authorize cities to regulate the use of e-bikes within municipal limits.

The three e-bike classes are based on federal law; we will not reproduce the definitional language here. (See the link to S.B. 576 below.)

S.B. 576 is currently in the Senate Transportation Committee, where the last action occurred May 6. For a copy of the bill, see https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2025/Bills/Senate/PDF/S576v2.pdf.

Besides granting municipalities explicit authority to regulate e-bikes, S.B. 576 would mandate that a person under age 18 operating a “Class 3” electric-assisted bicycle, which is one equipped with a motor that provides assistance only when the rider is pedaling and ceases to assist once the bike reaches 28 miles per hour, must wear a helmet.

Although Chief Kole explained that N.C. “statute” currently requires municipalities to treat e-bikes like regular bicycles on the road and on sidewalks and prevents the Town from restricting their use, we find no statute to that effect, and the Chief did not provide a legal citation.

It may be that N.C. towns have decided not to restrict the use of e-bikes on municipal roads, sidewalks, multiuse paths, etc.; establish e-bike speed limits, and require helmets for e-bike riders under the age of 18, but we see nothing in the N.C. General Statutes that would prevent the Town from doing all of the above now.

N.C.G.S. 20-4.01 is a definitional statute within the Motor Vehicles Chapter of the General Statutes. Section 20-4.01(7a) defines an “electric assisted bicycle” as:

“A bicycle with two or three wheels that is equipped with a seat or saddle for use by the rider, fully operable pedals for human propulsion, and an electric motor of no more than 750 watts, whose maximum speed on a level surface when powered solely by such a motor is no greater than 20 miles per hour.”

The only other mention of e-bikes in the N.C. General Statutes is in the definition of a “vehicle,” as set forth in N.C.G.S. 20-4.01(49), where it says:

“. . . electric assisted bicycles shall be deemed vehicles and every rider of . . . an electric assisted bicycle upon a highway shall be subject to the provisions of this Chapter applicable to the driver of a vehicle except those which by their nature can have no application. . . . ”

Elsewhere in the Motor Vehicles Chapter, a “highway” is defined as synonymous with a public “street” and its “cognates.” N.C.G.S. 20-4.01(13).

Section 20-4.01(49) may be the source for the assumption that e-bike riders must be at least 16 years old, as the Chief stated, because that requirement is not set forth explicitly in the General Statutes, either.

Two Town Council members, Mark Batenic and Rob Neilson, spoke at the meeting about the hazards posed by e-bikes, and Mr. Neilson, who shared a harrowing personal experience, proposed that the Town prepare an ordinance regulating them now.

In Town Council discussions about e-bikes nearly three years ago, Mr. Batenic cited e-bikers’ excessive speed and disregard of street signage as dangerous behavior that should be addressed. He was eager then to take action, but he was in the minority. See The Beacon, 10/28/22 and 11/2/22.

Mayor Pro Tem Matt Neal emerged in 2022 as an advocate for e-bikers who would not like to see them banned from sidewalks and other multiuse paths. He did not comment during the Aug. 5 meeting.  

Certainly, Chief Kole is not happy with the reckless e-biker behavior that he has witnessed and of which he is aware, describing it as a “bad thing waiting to happen.” He related the story of an e-biker on South Dogwood Trail who passed a police officer going an estimated 48 mph, “turned right” at the South-East-North Dogwood Trail intersection “and went flying” into a yard.

The “intoxicated” 20-year-old, who was not wearing a helmet, went to the hospital, where he was assessed as banged up, but not seriously hurt.  

We would suggest that Chief Kole and Councilmen Batenic and Neilson get together with one of the Town attorneys and obtain a legal opinion on what the N.C. General Statutes allow the Town to do now. Our reading of S.B. 576 is that it is not going to be enacted by the N.C. General Assembly any time soon.

IN OTHER POLICE NEWS, new Police Officer Chana Varon, an Outer Banks native who raised a family and worked in Atlanta for 28 years before turning to law enforcement, was sworn into office, and Chief Kole introduced new Deputy Chief of Police James Kelly Jones, a Camden County native.

The Chief also honored Corporal Darrell T. Brickhouse for his 20 years of service with the Southern Shores Police Dept., describing him as a “street-smart cop” with good instincts.

In his introduction of Officer Varon, Chief Kole noted that she “put a lot of cadets [in basic training] to shame.”

Officer Varon lives in Kill Devil Hills.

Many of you already may know Deputy Chief Jones, who goes by Kelly, as a neighbor. He has lived in Southern Shores for 10 years and just retired from the U.S. Marshall’s Service after 23 years. He has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and worked 30 years ago for the Nags Head Police Dept. His law enforcement experience is extensive.  

We are lucky to have Deputy Chief Kelly Jones join the SSPD. One of his sons, according to the Chief, is assisting the department this summer with issuing non-traffic stop citations.

With Officer Varon and Deputy Chief Jones joining the department, “we are close to having a full staff,” Town Manager Cliff Ogburn said.

ALSO AT THE MEETING, JIMMY PIERCE, who said he has been a Southern Shores resident for 20 years, introduced himself in public comments as a prospective candidate in 2026 for Dare County Sheriff.  

Longtime Dare County Sheriff J.D. “Doug” Doughtie has announced that he will retire at the end of his current term, on Dec. 7, 2026.

A NOTE TO BEACON READERS ABOUT BEACH NOURISHMENT:

August is an exceptionally busy month for us, and we are unable to be as timely in our reporting of Southern Shores news, as we would like. We do plan, however, to bring you up to date as soon as possible on the action taken, and the information presented, on beach nourishment in the Town Council’s Aug. 5 meeting.

Ken Willson, of Coastal Protection Engineering (CPE) advised the Town Council last Tuesday that it can make a decision about participating in a proposed 2027 beach nourishment project as late as May-June 2026. If history is any indication, the Council will delay until then.

In the meantime, the Council is maintaining the Town’s “eligibility” for the project—i.e., keeping its options open—by committing funds for the payment of design and permitting tasks that must be done now. So far, that commitment is about $134,000.

CPE manages beach nourishment for Duck, Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk, and Kill Devil Hills, which cooperated in a project in 2022-23 in order to lower costs.

Southern Shores has always had a more stable shoreline than the other towns and was the last of the towns from Duck in the north to Nags Head in the south to add sand to its entire shoreline. (The area in Southern Shores near the Kitty Hawk Pier has long been characterized by high erosion. The beach at Pelican Watch was nourished in 2017 at the same time that Kitty Hawk had a project.)   

The shoreline and sand volume statistics that Mr. Willson presented last week to show changes since the 2022-23 beach nourishment project were very encouraging.

“We have more sand on the beach today,” the consultant said, “than we did at the completion” of the 2022-23 project.

The report given by Mr. Willson, which included some beach-monitoring data collected by CPE in June, suggests that the Town could skip a five-year beach-maintenance cycle and not schedule another project until 2032.

CPE measures shoreline and sand volume changes each June at profiles sited every 1,000 feet on the Southern Shores coast. Mr. Willson did not present the numbers for each profile location; he just gave average measurements for the northern, central and southern sections of the beach.

The northern section is from 4^th Avenue to the Duck town limit; the central section is from 4^th Avenue south to about the Chicahauk Trail beach access; and the southern section encompasses the remaining shoreline to the Kitty Hawk town line.   

The problem is, if Southern Shores opts out of the 2027 project, the other three towns would have to pay one-third, rather than one-quarter, of the mobilization costs, which Mr. Willson said amount to $8 million.

We will resume our report on beach nourishment later. 

By Ann G. Sjoerdsma, The Southern Shores Beacon, 8/10/25

New Southern Shores Police Officer Chana Varon will be sworn in, and new Deputy Chief of Police James Kelly Jones will be introduced, at tomorrow’s Town Council meeting, at 5:30 p.m. in the Pitts Center.

We reported on Saturday that an officer would be sworn in and another employee introduced as deputy chief, but we could only publish their last names and not confirm that they are both with the Southern Shores Police Dept., because the meeting agenda did not include this information.

We asked Southern Shores Town Clerk Sheila Kane today to fill in the blanks, and she did.  

As we reported Saturday, Corporal Darrell T. Brickhouse will be honored at the meeting for his 20 years of service in the Southern Shores Police Dept.

See Agenda: https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/soshoresnc-pubu/MEET-Agenda-dadbe266b35a478290143246b2cd54d8.pdf.

THE SOUTHERN SHORES BEACON, 8/4/25

The Southern Shores Town Council will likely not make a decision about its commitment to the proposed 2027 beach nourishment project at its meeting this Tuesday, if the agenda and written materials for the meeting are any indication.

Instead, the Council probably will approve a request by Town Manager Cliff Ogburn to authorize more funds for pre-permitting and other services now being conducted by its coastal engineering consultant, and thereby “maintain the Town’s option to participate in the project,” while delaying a vote on full authorization of design and environmental permitting services work.

The Town Council will meet Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in the Pitts Center.

See the agenda and meeting packet at:

Agenda: https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/soshoresnc-pubu/MEET-Agenda-dadbe266b35a478290143246b2cd54d8.pdf

Meeting Packet: https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/soshoresnc-pubu/MEET-Packet-dadbe266b35a478290143246b2cd54d8.pdf

In a somewhat confusing meeting agenda item summary, Mr. Ogburn suggests that “tasks” that consultant/manager Coastal Protection Engineering (CPE) must perform now in preparation for the 2027 project can be parsed out and funded so that the Town Council can keep Southern Shores’ hand in without making a decision to fully commit.

CPE is currently providing services to the Town under the “Pre-Permitting Coordination and Sediment Analysis” contract that the Town Council approved on June 4.

According to Mr. Ogburn’s agenda item, on July 10, the Town staff, not the Town Council, authorized an increase of $15,000 to the pre-permitting cost limit approved by the Council in order to “keep CPE staff working through Aug. 5 on services that would have otherwise fallen under tasks” outlined in the Design and Environmental Permitting Services contract, which the Council has not yet approved.  

Delaying until September its approval of CPE’s “overall contract,” Mr. Ogburn writes, would allow the Town Council to “more fully examine” all beach survey data collected by CPE since the 2022-23 project—including data collected just this past June—and “to further deliberate” about its commitment. 

As reported by The Beacon 7/13/25, Ken Willson of CPE will present the preliminary findings of the beach monitoring survey performed in June at Tuesday’s meeting. He will also discuss the contract for a potential 2027 beach nourishment project.

We will attempt to sort all of this out for you after Tuesday’s meeting.  

E-BIKES

Also on the Town Council’s agenda Tuesday is another report by Police Chief David Kole about the operation of e-bikes, a subject that came up recently on the Next Door social media site in the context of potential hazards posed by e-bikes on sidewalks and other multi-use pathways.

Chief Kole gave the Town Council a thorough presentation about e-bikes and their possible regulation in Southern Shores at a Council meeting in November 2022. He was in favor of prohibiting “electric-assisted” bicycles from operating on sidewalks, but the Town Council did not agree.

For reports on the Chief’s and the Council’s discussions, see The Beacon on 10/28/22 and 11/2/22.

In its just-emailed Aug. 1, 2025 newsletter, the Town provides “key points” about North Carolina’s e-bike laws, including the requirements that riders be at least 16 years old and that e-bikes be treated like regular bicycles on the road and on sidewalks.

According to the Town newsletter, North Carolina defines an e-bike as a bicycle with a motor under 750 watts, a maximum speed of 20 miles per hour, and operable pedals.

In August 2023, the Town Council unanimously voted to approve a Town Zoning Code amendment that allows e-bike riders to drive on the beach. See The Beacon 8/3/23.

ALSO ON TUESDAY’S AGENDA are a presentation to honor Corporal Darrell T. Brickhouse for his 20 years of service in the Southern Shores Police Dept. and the introductions of two new employees, presumably in the fire and police departments. We will inquire of Town staff on Monday the full names of each new employee and the department that each will serve.   

*****

FATAL SHOOTING AT THE AVALON PIER: As most of you undoubtedly know, a fatal shooting occurred last Thursday afternoon, July 31, at the popular Avalon Pier in Kill Devil Hills that involved two area teenagers, one of whom was a minor.

Killed in the tragic incident in the pier’s parking lot, which witnesses said was the result of a “feud,” was Zane Hughes, 19, of Colington.

Another minor, who was a bystander, was shot in the leg by a ricocheting bullet and flown to Norfolk Sentara General, where he was treated and released. The injured 15-year-old boy said he was vacationing in Kill Devil Hills with his family.

Henry Lee Hargis, 16, has been charged with first-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury in Mr. Hughes’s death. 

Originally identified as being a resident of Kill Devil Hills, The Outer Banks Voice reported today that Mr. Hargis lives in Southern Shores.

We base our facts on reports by The Voice and Island Free Press and are hesitant to say more. The Southern Shores Police Dept. was reportedly involved in taking Mr. Hargis into custody. Perhaps Chief Kole will speak at Tuesday’s meeting about this apprehension.

According to the local media, a GoFundMe account has been set up to assist Mr. Hughes’s family with the expenses for his funeral. See https://www.gofundme.com/f/nonprofit-fund-for-zane-hughes-funeral-arrangements.

The Fund goal of $15,000 has already been exceeded.

By Ann G. Sjoerdsma, The Southern Shores Beacon, 8/2/25

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.

THE SOUTHERN SHORES BEACON, 7/19/25

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.

****

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.

By Ann G. Sjoerdsma, The Southern Shores Beacon  

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 9^th 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.

By Ann G. Sjoerdsma, The Southern Shores Beacon

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:

https://www.darenc.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/15864/638874963880016109

You also may go to the home page of the Dare County BOE and click on the blue “Candidate List” link there: https://www.darenc.gov/departments/elections/elections.

The Dare County BOE updates this list daily.

THE SOUTHERN SHORES BEACON

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.

For more information about candidacy filing, see the N.C. State Board of Elections at https://www.ncsbe.gov/candidates/filing-candidacy, or call the Dare County BOE at (252) 475-5000.

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.  

You may access the meeting agenda and packet at https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/soshoresnc-pubu/MEET-Packet-266519ef3917482a9e49ed3bcecdd8a9.pdf.

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.

BY THE SOUTHERN SHORES BEACON, 7/5/25