A new eastside sidewalk is planned for N.C. Hwy. 12, starting at Triangle Park/the Duck Road split (above) and running to the East Dogwood Trail intersection.
The Town Council directed Town Manager Cliff Ogburn at its Sept. 5 meeting to submit an application to the Dare County Tourism Board for a grant to help with construction costs for a westside sidewalk on N.C. Hwy. 12/Duck Road from East Dogwood Trail to Hickory Trail.
The application for a Dare County Tourism Impact grant must be filed by the end of this month, a deadline that was the impetus for the town hall/public forum on potential new sidewalks that was held on Aug. 29.
More than 60 residents and property owners attended the town hall: Nearly all of the people who spoke opposed sidewalk segments proposed in a “priority” list prepared by the Town Council that was circulated before the meeting. Most of the opponents addressed potential sidewalks on streets along the cut-thru route, however, and did not single out Duck Road.
(See The Beacon, 8/30/23. See also The Beacon, 8/24/23 and 9/3/23.)
Also last week, the Council authorized survey work to be done for 1) a possible extension of the new Duck Road westside sidewalk from Hickory Trail to Hillcrest Drive; 2) a future sidewalk on the north side of Skyline Road, from the asphalt path that is by vacationers in Chicahauk to cut over from Spindrift Trail to Skyline, to Ocean Boulevard; and 3) a possible extension of the existing Juniper Trail sidewalk to U.S. Hwy. 158.
Council members debated the need for a sidewalk on Skyline Road, with Mayor Pro Tem Matt Neal expressing doubt, but did not reach consensus.
The suggested extension on Juniper Trail would run along the east side of the street, from where the current sidewalk ends to the U.S. Hwy. 158 intersection.
The Town previously committed to construction of an eastside sidewalk on Duck Road from Triangle Park, where the cell tower is, to East Dogwood Trail. (See photo above.)
The Town Council next meets on Oct. 3, at 5:30 p.m., in the Pitts Center. Mayor Elizabeth Morey announced that the Mayor Pro Tem will chair the meeting in her absence.
PLANNING BOARD TO CONSIDER SAGA INVESTOR GROUP’S SPECIAL USE PERMIT FOR MULTI-USE PROJECT AT GINGUITE CREEK
The Planning Board will consider at its Monday meeting a special use permit (SUP) application submitted by Ginguite, LLC/SAGA for a mixed-use group development of residential and commercial buildings at 6195 N. Croatan Hwy. (U.S. 158), next to the Southern Shores Landing.
The meeting will be held at 5 p.m. in the Pitts Center. The Beacon plans to cover it.
Quible & Associates, P.C., prepared the site plans for the project, which consists of luxury condominiums mixed with commercial businesses on what the applicant represents as a 300,000+ square-foot parcel of creekfront land. Cathleen M. Saunders, an engineer with Quible, will represent Ginguite LLC before the Planning Board, according to the permit application.
The League of Women Voters of Dare County will hold its Southern Shores candidates’ forum for the November municipal election on Monday, Oct. 2, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Pitts Center, according to the LWV’s Facebook page.
The public may submit questions for the four candidates running for Southern Shores Town Council before the forum to LWVdare@gmail.com. The LWV asks that you include your name and your town with your question(s).
The four candidates vying for three positions on the Town Council are incumbents Matt Neal and Mark Batenic and challengers Robert E. Neilson and Michael Guarracino.
We have seen no evidence of campaigning in town, which is highly unusual—and, frankly, disappointing—considering early voting starts in less than six weeks.
The LWV will hold candidate forums in the towns of Manteo, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head, Kitty Hawk, and Duck on Oct. 3, 4, 5, 10, and 12, respectively, also from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Election Day is Nov. 7. Early voting begins Thurs., Oct. 19, and continues through Sat., Nov. 4. For the hours and days of early voting at the two polling places, the Kill Devil Hills Town Hall and Dare County Administrative Offices in Manteo, see https://www.darenc.gov/departments/elections/voting.
You may register to vote up until Fri., Oct. 13.
Requests for absentee ballots will be accepted by the Dare County Board of Elections until Tues., Oct. 31. All absentee ballots must be filed by 5 p.m. on Election Day.
For the first time in North Carolina, you will be required to show a photo ID when you vote in person. All absentee voters will have to submit a copy of an accepted ID with their ballot.
Registered voters who arrive at the polls without an acceptable photo ID may still vote with a provisional ballot if they:
1) complete a Photo ID Exception Form, which asks them to choose from among a number of “reasonable impediments”* that prevent them from showing an ID; OR
2) bring an acceptable photo ID to the Dare County Board of Elections office in Manteo by 5 p.m. on Nov. 16.
All provisional ballots submitted with properly completed ID exception forms must be counted.
All of the following are acceptable photo IDs, provided they are unexpired or expired for one year or less:
N.C. driver’s license
U.S. passport book/U.S. passport card
State ID from the N.C. Dept. of Motor Vehicles (“non-operator ID”)
N.C. voter photo ID card, issued by a county board of elections (free)
College/university student ID approved by the N.C. State Board of Elections
State/local government employee ID approved by the N.C. State Board of Elections
Driver’s license/non-driver ID from another state, D.C., or U.S. territory, provided the voter registered in N.C. within 90 days of the election
Any of the following are acceptable photo IDs, regardless of whether the ID contains an expiration or issuance date:
Military or veteran ID card issued by the U.S. government
Tribal enrollment card issued by a State or federally recognized tribe
ID card issued by a U.S. government agency or the State of N.C. for a public assistance program
You may obtain a free photo ID from the Dare County Board of Elections, which is located at 954 Marshall Collins Drive in the Dare County Administrative Offices complex in Manteo and open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. M-F; phone: (252) 475-5631.
PLEASE NOTE: Voters age 65 and older may use an expired photo ID if it was unexpired on their 65th birthday.
*Reasonable impediments listed on the ID Exception Form include:
Lack of transportation
Disability or illness
Lack of birth certificate or other documents needed to obtain ID
Work or school schedule
Family responsibilities
Photo ID lost, stolen, or misplaced
Photo ID pending; have applied for it, but have not received it yet
Religious objection to being photographed
Victim of a natural disaster within 100 days before Election Day that resulted in a disaster declaration by the President of the United State of the Governor of North Carolina.
Voters who vote by mail may indicate that they are unable to attach a copy of a photo ID, provided they also include their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number.
To see the complete list of acceptable photo IDs and details on how to request State Board of Elections approval for student and employee IDs, see ncsbe.gov/voter-ID.
In light of the new photo ID requirement, we strongly encourage you to vote early. You can expect delays on Election Day related to implementation/management of the ID requirement. We see SNAFU and DELAY written all over this change in procedure.
A principal reason that the Town held the town hall on sidewalks last week was its interest in applying for a grant this month from the Dare County Tourism Board to help fund a sidewalk project. Indeed, it was during a discussion about this grant with Town Manager Cliff Ogburn at its August meeting that the Town Council had the idea for the town hall.
(The Town Council meets in September this Tuesday (9/5) at 5:30 p.m. in the Pitts Center. See the meeting agenda and business highlights, below.)
We do not believe that the Mayor, the Town Manager, and the other three Council members who attended the town hall expected to receive the negative reaction they did. (See The Beacon, 8/30/23, “Residents Resoundingly Reject More Sidewalks in Southern Shores.” Town Councilman Leo Holland could not attend.) Opponents turned out in force.
Among the objections to sidewalks cited by speakers were the following:
*Destruction of the natural environment, especially the trees and canopy.
*Damage to the aesthetics of tree-lined streets, neighborhood charm.
*Flooding caused by impervious concrete of 5-foot-wide, six-inch-deep sidewalks.
*Cost of building and maintaining sidewalks.
*Loss/encroachment of people’s front yards (although people recognize that the Town owns the public right of way).
*An inducement for drivers to drive faster because pedestrians are no longer in the roadway.
*Absence of proof that a major safety issue exists now.
Daphne Porter of Sea Oats Trail asked the Town to “take care of what we already have,” and Tony DiBernardo of Ninth Avenue spoke of maintaining the “founders’ plan,” which is reflected in the Town’s current Comprehensive CAMA Land Use Plan (LUP) and in the newly revised draft LUP.
The new Community Vision Statement states, in part, that “We strive to protect Southern Shores’ environment.”
Ken Sengel of Sea Oats Trail said he is “totally against having sidewalks,” and a homeowner on Skyline Road compared installing sidewalks on his street to “putting lipstick on a pig.”
The Town does not currently have a master plan for constructing sidewalks along well-traveled streets, including on the weekend traffic cut-thru route, according to Mr. Ogburn at the town hall. But the “priority list for future path segments” posted online by the Town in advance of the event—a list that was promoted as the focus of the forum—certainly suggests it does.
Mayor Elizabeth Morey has said at Council meetings that she favors “walking paths” and considers their construction a priority of the current Council, which prepared the list of 12 “future path segments” at its March 2022 retreat. (The first sidewalk project, along the east side of N.C. 12/Duck Road from Triangle Park to East Dogwood Trail, is already in progress.)
Residents and homeowners received a paper handout of this list at the town hall. They were asked to rank their “top 5” sidewalk projects, in order of priority, and to list “other segments of pedestrian improvements you feel are important and include those in your ranking.” The handout shows the “current rank” of priority assigned by the Town to a segment, with sections of the cut-thru route along Hickory Trail, Hillcrest Drive, and Sea Oats Trail receiving high rankings.
The deadline for submitting a Dare County “Tourism Impact” grant application to the Tourism Board is the end of this month, according to Mr. Ogburn.
The Mayor and Town Manager have asked residents/homeowners to submit their priority sidewalk segments ranking handouts to the Town by Sept. 15.
In light of the irony (futility?) inherent in asking people who are opposed to sidewalks to submit a list of priority rankings for their construction, we do not see much value in this community survey. We suggest that people advise the Mayor and Town Council of their opinions by emailing them at council@southernshores-nc.gov. The Council members may be reached individually by writing to emorey@, mneal@, psherlock@, lholland@, and mbatenic@southernshores-nc.gov. Mr. Ogburn may be emailed at cogburn@southernshores-nc.gov.
We doubt the Mayor, Town Manager, and Town Council will engage in a lengthy discussion at its Tuesday meeting about the town hall. We expect the Dare County Tourism Impact grant to be the emphasis of Mr. Ogburn’s update on paths/sidewalks.
Andrea Radford of Stewart Inc., the engineering, design, and planning firm hired by the Town to update its Comprehensive CAMA Land Use Plan, will present the most recent draft of the revised LUP to the Town Council and take members’ questions. The Council is expected to vote to refer the draft LUP, which is dated Sept. 1, to the N.C. Division of Coastal Management for review and comment, the next step in the update process.
Southern Shores Deputy Chief of Police Jonathan M. Slegel will give a presentation about active shooter training at the Town Council meeting, while Officer Jason M. Thompson will give a presentation/demonstration called “Project Lifesaver.”
Town Attorney Phil Hornthal, or another attorney from his law firm, will discuss “property acquisition action items” for the Town’s purchase of 13 Skyline Road.
***
NOTE ABOUT COVERAGE: September is a very busy month for The Beacon, and we are unsure how much coverage we will give Town news this month, including any news that comes out of Tuesday’s meeting. Please bear with us. We plan to cover the Planning Board meeting on Sept. 18 and to monitor Town Council election campaigns. Thank you.
This photograph of the East Dogwood Trail sidewalk between Hickory Trail and Woodland Drive was taken Oct. 1 after a storm. (Photo by Ann Sjoerdsma)
Twenty of the 23 Southern Shores homeowners who spoke at last night’s town hall on sidewalks strongly opposed constructing the 5-foot-wide concrete paths on the street segments proposed by a priority list prepared by the Town Council—most notably on Wax Myrtle Trail, Sea Oats Trail, Hillcrest Drive, and Hickory Trail.
(See The Beacon, 8/24/23, for the list.)
By our count, 13 of the 20 people who spoke in opposition to sidewalks live on those traffic cut-thru streets. (Full disclosure: We publicly opposed sidewalks on these streets, too.)
Of the three proponents, only Gray Berryman, a Realtor who lives on Skyline Road, adamantly supported sidewalks throughout town, saying he had never seen a sidewalk he didn’t like.
Proponent Macey Chovaz of Clam Shell Trail in Chicahauk advocated for sidewalks to protect her three children from traffic, and Shelly Black of Duck Road thanked the Town Council for building a sidewalk on the east side of her road in front of her house.
Town Manager Cliff Ogburn announced that bids for construction of this sidewalk, which will run from Triangle Park/Duck Road split to East Dogwood Trail, have just been received.
Ms. Black also asked the Town’s assistance in improving a shortcut she uses through Pompano Court to access Ocean Boulevard and the beach.
We know of no public property on Pompano Court, apart from the rights-of-way, nor can we identify any full-time resident-homeowners on Pompano Court, who might object to this shortcut, or on Duck Road in this vicinity, including Ms. Black.
When Steven Hachtman of Sea Oats Trail, who was the second public speaker, tied the perceived need for sidewalks to the cut-thru traffic and offered a solution to the traffic that involved sensor-operated gates to restrict access to Southern Shores, Mayor Elizabeth Morey intervened to direct the town hall discussion away from traffic.
“We’re here to talk about sidewalks, not traffic,” she said.
In introducing the town hall meeting, however, Mr. Ogburn cited “getting people out of the street” and out of danger from traffic as a primary objective in building sidewalks. He also mentioned improving access to the beach for tourists.
The estimated 60 people in the Pitts Center audience, exclusive of Town Council members and Town staff, applauded each speaker’s comments. One homeowner who received a loud and sustained round of applause was Ellen Barbaro of Hickory Trail who said, “I do not encourage sidewalks because they really interfere with my freedom.”
Damage to the natural environment and flooding that rainwater-impervious concrete creates were oft-cited reasons for not building sidewalks. The cost incurred in building and maintaining the sidewalks was also mentioned as a deterrent to their construction.
When one homeowner on Sea Oats Trail pressed the Mayor to explain the impetus for the Town Council’s preparation of a street priority list for sidewalks, she replied only that the Council had prepared the list at a retreat in March 2022, which was a few months after she assumed office. She never explained why.
We recall a former Town Councilman, Jim Conners, repeatedly trying to discuss at Council meetings the construction of a sidewalk system that would connect all of Southern Shores and being discouraged from doing so by former Mayor Tom Bennett, who anticipated opposition. Mayor Morey, Mayor Pro Tem Matt Neal, and Town Councilman Leo Holland all served two years with Mr. Conners and Mr. Bennett.
As we mentioned in earlier posts, we are unable at this time to report more fully on last night’s forum because of preexisting commitments. We will try to post a more in-depth report on the weekend. The Mayor said the Town Council will take up the topic at its Sept. 5 regular meeting, the agenda for which should be online tomorrow.
Tomorrow’s town hall/public forum about sidewalks, which begins at 5 p.m., is expected to last no more than an hour and a half, so the Town Council can hold a special meeting/closed session with the Town Attorney tomorrow at 6:30 p.m.
Both the town hall and the closed session will be held in the Pitts Center.
The Town gave first notice of the special meeting on its website last Friday.
For more information about the town hall/forum, see The Beacon, 8/24/23. This meeting and its agenda have been publicized extensively online by the Town, the SSCA, and resident homeowners, in addition to The Beacon.
The Town Council will hold a town hall/forum on Tuesday, Aug. 29, at 5 p.m., to hear from residents and property owners about their priorities regarding continued construction in town of sidewalks, also called multi-use “pathways.”
The discussion on sidewalks will be in the Pitts Center. (See The Beacon, 8/3/23, for first notice of the meeting.)
The Town is currently committed to installing a sidewalk along the east side of N.C. Hwy. 12/Duck Road from Triangle Park at the Duck Road split to East Dogwood Trail. Tuesday’s forum is being held to solicit public opinion about where the Town should construct future sidewalks after the Duck Road segment is finished and in what order of priority.
At its March 2022 retreat, the Council drafted the following priority list for future sidewalk segments:
1A: the Triangle Park-to-East Dogwood Trail walkway (in progress)
1B: N.C. 12/Duck Road from East Dogwood Trail to 13th Avenue (This would be new construction on the west side of the road, not repair and improvement of the east-side sidewalk, as some residents have requested. Mayor Pro Tem Matt Neal, who is running for re-election in November, indicated at the Town Council’s Aug. 1 meeting that he does not endorse this segment as a high priority because of the existence of the east-side sidewalk.)
2A: Hickory Trail from East Dogwood Trail to Hillcrest Drive
2B: Hickory Trail from Hillcrest Drive to N.C. 12/Duck Road
3: Hillcrest Drive from Hickory Trail to N.C. 12/Duck Road
4A: Sea Oats Trail from East Dogwood Trail to Hillcrest Drive
4B: Sea Oats Trail from Hillcrest Drive to N.C. 12/Duck Road
5: Wax Myrtle Trail from East Dogwood Trail to Hillcrest Drive
6: Chicahauk Trail from the cul de sac to Trinitie Trail
7: Skyline Road, its entire length from the cul de sac to N.C. 12/Ocean Boulevard
8A: Ocean Blvd. from Triangle Park at the Duck Road split to East Dogwood Trail
8B: Ocean Blvd. from East Dogwood Trail to Hickory Trail
The Town Council also indicated at its Aug. 1 meeting an interest in improving the pedestrian connections between Spindrift Trail in Chicahauk and Skyline Road and between North Dogwood Trail and Hillcrest Drive (i.e., the “fire road”).
At the same meeting, Council members said that they will not limit Tuesday’s discussion to a consideration of their priority list of street segments, expressing an interest in hearing residents’ and property owners’ opinions about sidewalks on other streets, as well as comments from people who are opposed to sidewalks.
Dare County Tourism Board grant monies are available for all sidewalk projects.
The redlined outline of Ginguite LLC’s property at 6195 N. Croatan Hwy. as it appears in the Dare County GIS.
Next Monday’s Planning Board meeting, during which the Board was expected to consider a SAGA investor group’s application for a Special Use Permit for the Town’s first-ever mixed-use development, has been canceled because not enough Board members can attend to constitute a quorum, according to a Town notice released today.
Ginguite LLC’s plans for a proposed development comprised of luxury condominiums, retail shops, and a restaurant, at 6195 N. Croatan Hwy. (U.S. 158) will be considered at the Planning Board’s Sept. 18 meeting, along with any other Aug. 21 agenda items, the Town release said.
In an Aug. 3 post, The Beacon expressed some surprise that this meeting, along with three other substantive meetings, had been scheduled in August, which is traditionally a vacation month for local Outer Bankers. The cancellation of the Planning Board meeting is proof of that.
Still on the Town’s calendar this month is a town hall on Tuesday, Aug. 29, at 5 p.m., in the Pitts Center, to give residents and property owners an opportunity to comment upon the desirability and location of continued construction in Southern Shores of “multi-use pathways.” (See The Beacon, 8/3/23.)
We will preview the sidewalk town hall/forum a few days before it is held. Until then, we will be on vacation, too.
Three people died in an early-morning house fire that destroyed an oceanfront cottage in Kill Devil Hills. The cause of the fire is under investigation. (Photo by Natalie Pugh)
Three people were killed and three others were injured in an early-morning fire at an oceanfront house in Kill Devil Hills that broke out about eight hours after fire destroyed a house in the Four Seasons development of Duck after an apparent lightning strike.
Fire crews were called to 1825 N. Virginia Dare Trail (the Beach Road) in Kill Devil Hills before 2:30 a.m., and arrived to discover a historic four-bedroom vacation home “engulfed in flames,” according to The Virginian-Pilot today.
The fire spread to a home next door, doing “minor damage,” but posing no harm to occupants, who safely relocated, Kari Pugh of The Pilot reported. A third cottage was also evacuated.
The house that was destroyed was built in 1948, according to county records.
Firefighters were called about 6:06 p.m. yesterday to a fire in the 100 block of Beachcomber Court in Duck’s Four Seasons. Both occupants of that house safely evacuated along with their two dogs, according to official reports.
The Town of Duck said in a news release that the fire “is believed to have originated from a direct lightning strike.”
The origin and cause of the fire in Kill Devil Hills are under investigation by town, county, and state officials.
The Beacon will not be following this story. We believe The Virginian-Pilot is providing the most thorough and up-to-date coverage.
A news conference was scheduled to be held at 10 a.m. today.
The Town Council proposes building sidewalks where the traffic is, especially along the summer weekend cut-thru route. (Photo taken during Memorial Day weekend this year.)
Mayor Elizabeth Morey will hold a Mayor’s Chat Wednesday, Aug. 9, in the Pitts Center—the first of four Town meetings worthy of your attention in August. Two others will involve Planning Board business, and the fourth will be what the Mayor promoted at the Town Council meeting two days ago as a “town hall” to enable residents and property owners to weigh in on future sidewalk construction.
The Mayor’s Chat next week will be her first chat since July 2022, when attendees primarily discussed cut-thru traffic. (See The Beacon’s report, 7/14/22.)
If the Mayor’s informal Q&A session lasts more than an hour, it will have to be continued in an upstairs room in the Pitts Center or in the parking lot because the Town Planning Board is scheduled to hold a special session on the same day and location at 5 p.m. to review the final draft of the updated CAMA Land Use Plan (LUP).
Mayor Morey protested at Tuesday’s Town Council meeting that the unusual heavy scheduling, which may prematurely terminate her chat, “was not my doing. That was staff’s.”
Having attended the July 17 Planning Board meeting, during which Planning Director/Deputy Town Manager Wes Haskett tried unsuccessfully to schedule a convenient time for the five Board members, representatives of LUP consultant Stewart Engineering, and himself to meet to discuss the final draft, however, we have to assume the Mayor had the more flexible schedule. (Just sayin’.)
The public is welcome to comment during the Planning Board’s session on the LUP final draft. If the Board recommends approval of the draft, it will be sent to the N.C. Division of Coastal Management (DCM) for its State-mandated review, a process that could take months to complete. The DCM serves as staff to the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission, which must certify the plan before it can take effect.
You may access the final draft at https://file.ac/zgMqa-4Mjt4/. The document is a 180-page PDF that takes a few minutes to download—at least, it did for us.
AUG. 21: The Planning Board is unusually busy during this traditional summer-vacation month. According to Mr. Haskett, the Board will take up at its Aug. 21 regular meeting the Special Use Permit (SUP) application submitted by Quible & Associates, a local engineering firm, on behalf of Ginguite LLC, the SAGA investor group that owns the land at 6195 N. Croatan Hwy. (U.S. 158), next to the Southern Shores Landing. The application includes plans for a future mixed-use development reportedly comprised of luxury condominiums and commercial buildings, including retail shops and a restaurant.
This will be the first time that the Planning Board has considered Ginguite LLC’s SUP publicly. The Beacon will cover the meeting, which will be held at 5 p.m. in the Pitts Center.
TOWN HALL ON SIDEWALKS
AUG. 29: At the Mayor’s suggestion, the Town Council will hold a town hall on Tuesday, Aug. 29, at 5 p.m., in the Pitts Center, to hear from residents and property owners about their priorities regarding continued construction in town of “multi-use pathways.”
Mr. Haskett asked the Town Council at Tuesday’s meeting to schedule time during its Sept. 5 meeting for public comments about priorities for future multi-use-path construction. He conveyed this request on behalf of Town Manager Cliff Ogburn, who was home recovering from surgery and could not attend the meeting, according to the Mayor.
During the Council’s discussion of the request, Ms. Morey suggested a longer town-hall-style meeting to hear from the public, and her four Council colleagues agreed.
The Town is currently committed to, and has financing for, installing a sidewalk along the east side of N.C. Hwy. 12/Duck Road from Triangle Park at the Duck Road split to East Dogwood Trail. The question the Town has for residents and property owners is where should it next install sidewalks? What should be the order of priority for future construction?
At its March 2022 retreat, the Council drafted the following priority list for future sidewalk segments:
1A: the Triangle Park-to-East Dogwood Trail walkway
1B: N.C. 12/Duck Road from East Dogwood Trail to 13th Avenue (This would be new construction on the west side of the road, not repair and improvement of the east-side sidewalk, as some residents have requested. Mayor Pro Tem Matt Neal indicated Tuesday that he does not endorse this segment as a high priority because of the existence of the east-side sidewalk.)
2A: Hickory Trail from East Dogwood Trail to Hillcrest Drive
2B: Hickory Trail from Hillcrest Drive to N.C. 12/Duck Road
3: Hillcrest Drive from Hickory Trail to N.C. 12/Duck Road
4A: Sea Oats Trail from East Dogwood Trail to Hillcrest Drive
4B: Sea Oats Trail from Hillcrest Drive to N.C. 12/Duck Road
5: Wax Myrtle Trail from East Dogwood Trail to Hillcrest Drive
6: Chicahauk Trail from the cul de sac to Trinitie Trail
7: Skyline Road, its entire length from the cul de sac to N.C. 12/Ocean Boulevard
8A: Ocean Blvd. from Triangle Park at the Duck Road split to East Dogwood Trail
8B: Ocean Blvd. from East Dogwood Trail to Hickory Trail
The Town Council also indicated an interest in improving the connections between Spindrift Trail and Skyline Road in Chicahauk and between North Dogwood Trail and Hillcrest Drive (i.e., the “fire road”).
Council members said they will not limit the town hall discussion just to a consideration of their list of street segments, expressing an interest in hearing residents’ and property owners’ opinions about sidewalks on other streets.
Dare County Tourism Board grant monies are available for sidewalk projects.
REVISED ORDINANCE ON BEACH DRIVING
In other action on Tuesday, the Town Council unanimously passed a revision of the current Town Code ban on beach driving to specify that operating “any vehicle of any type, excluding bicycles and e-bikes” is prohibited in the “ocean beach area” of Southern Shores—unless the operators are with Ocean Rescue, the police or fire departments, the U.S. Coast Guard, and other authorized entities, such as beach-nourishment contractors and sea turtle nest volunteers, or the operators are engaged in an “extreme emergency situation.”
The amendment (TCA 23-01) rewrites Town Code sec. 20-109, which prohibited “motor vehicles” from operating on the beach, and “aircraft” from landing or taking off on the beach, with the express exclusion of certain motor vehicles and aircraft, including those needed in an emergency.
The amendment retitles the ordinance from “Driving or landing aircraft on beaches” to “Driving on the beach” and, according to Mr. Haskett, “modernizes” it and “mirrors similar language” in other Dare County towns. The new ordinance defines “vehicles of any type” as “motor vehicles, pickup trucks, airplanes/helicopters, beach buggies, jeeps, motorcycles, any; one, two, three or four wheeled vehicles powered by any type of motor or physically propelled.” (We don’t know what that “any” means, either–perhaps a word was omitted?–and we’re not sure what physical propulsion is, but we’re don’t have a say. The Council approved the amendment as-is.)
The impetus for the revision arose during a staff presentation last year about the regulation of electric bicycles. The Council wanted to ensure that e-bikes, which might be considered motor vehicles, were expressly permitted on the beach.
TOWN COUNCIL ELECTION
As we previously reported, four candidates will be vying for three positions on the Town Council in the Nov. 7 election. They are incumbents Matt Neal and Mark Batenic and challengers Robert E. Neilson and Michael Guarracino. Incumbent Leo Holland is not running for re-election.
It is customary for political candidates not to start campaigning until September, although they are certainly not precluded from starting earlier. This tradition has developed because of State and Town regulations that restrict the placement of political signs in street and highway rights-of-way to the time period between the 30th day before the “one-stop” early voting period begins and the 10th day after the election.
Regulations also require candidates and/or their campaign teams to obtain the permission of the owner of the property that fronts on the right-of-way before erecting a sign there.
August is usually a vacation month for Outer Bankers, who are not keen on talking election politics quite yet. But, with a Mayor’s Chat, a new Land Use Plan, consideration of the Town’s first-ever mixed-use development, and a town hall about sidewalks, which not everyone likes, that may change this year.
Two more Southern Shores residents have filed notice of their candidacies for one of the three Town Council seats up for election Nov. 7, joining two incumbents who are running and thus guaranteeing a contested race.
Robert E. Neilson, of 114 S. Dogwood Trail, filed his application with the Dare County Board of Elections last Tuesday, and Michael Guarracino, of 118 Tall Pine Lane—which is at the corner of Tall Pine Lane and South Dogwood Trail—filed with the Board yesterday, according to online BOE records.
Each candidate had previously applied for appointment to the Town Council in January 2022 to complete Elizabeth Morey’s unexpired term on the Council after she was elected mayor.
Dr. Neilson had a career in “domestic and defense-oriented agencies that culminated in a Senior Executive Service position in the Dept. of the Army,” according to a Jan. 14, 2022 article by The Outer Banks Voice. Mr. Guarricino formerly served as Deputy Marshal of the United States Supreme Court, which has its own security police service, The Voice also reported.
(The Beacon will delve more into candidates’ backgrounds after campaigning starts.)
Dr. Neilson and Mr. Guarricino join incumbents Matt Neal, a local builder (Neal Contracting) who has served as mayor pro tem for the past two years, and Mark Batenic, a former CEO of IGA Inc. who received the January 2022 appointment, in vying for one of the three four-year terms on the Town Council that are up for election.
Thus far, incumbent Leo Holland has not indicated that he will seek re-election.
To run for town office in Dare County, a candidate must have lived in the municipality for at least 30 days, be registered to vote in that municipality, and be at least 21 years old by the date of the election.
For more information about running for the Southern Shores Town Council, please see: https://www.darenc.gov/departments/elections/candidates. The two-week candidate filing period ends at noon Friday. (See also The Beacon, 7/8/23.)
BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT DENIES VARIANCE FOR LARGE STORE SIGN
The Town Planning Board, sitting as the Town Board of Adjustment (BOA), denied yesterday a variance request by a sign company that would have enabled it to erect an exterior wall sign for discount retailer, Five Below, in the Southern Shores Marketplace, that would be considerably larger than the commercial sign size permitted by the Town Code.
Five Below plans to occupy the former store site of the Dollar Tree, between CVS Pharmacy and Food Lion.
The sign company, Cima Network Inc. of Chalfont, Pa., sought a variance that would have allowed it to erect a 156-square-foot sign to identify Five Below on its storefront—an increase of nearly 100 square feet over the maximum 58.2 square feet that the Town’s ordinance on sign size calculation would permit.
Pursuant to Town Code sec. 36-165(8) Table C, the maximum area of a wall sign for a store in a commercial group development, such as the Marketplace, is the equivalent of one square foot per linear foot of store frontage.
According to drawings submitted by Cima Network, whose representative Bill Lockett testified before the BOA in a hearing last night at the Pitts Center, the store frontage for the Five Below in the Marketplace is 58.2 feet, a length that limits the maximum wall-sign size to 58.2 square feet. The size of the store itself, he said, is 9650 square feet.
Mr. Lockett based his argument in favor of a larger sign on visibility from the highway and on safety, maintaining that people are more apt to avoid parking lot mishaps if they can see a store sign from farther away.
Describing Five Below as an “anchor tenant” of the Marketplace, he displayed for the BOA a proposed wall sign that identified the store name and had the tag line, “hot stuff. cool prices,” under it. (See example above.) Mr. Lockett said the tag line was added by the company during the Covid pandemic when prices on more items carried by the store exceeded $5.
Five Below, Inc. is a large U.S. chain of “specialty discount stores that sells products that are less than $5, plus a small assortment of products from $6 to $25,” according to Wikipedia. (See The Beacon, 6/21/23, for more background on the retailer.)
In ruling upon a variance request, the Board of Adjustment, which is a quasi-judicial body that functions much like a court does, must decide if an “unnecessary hardship” would result to an applicant from strictly applying a Town zoning ordinance to its situation.
Because strict application of Town Code sec. 36-165(8) Table C, would still allow Cima Network to erect a 58.2-square-foot wall sign on the Five Below storefront, the five-member Board had no trouble deciding that no unnecessary hardship would occur.
Representing the Town of Southern Shores, Deputy Town Manager/Planning Director Wes Haskett testified that the one-square-foot-per-linear-foot-of-store-frontage requirement has been in effect since 2001 and that other businesses currently in the Marketplace have wall signs that are less than 58.2 square feet. He also testified that the new Marshalls and Rack Room Shoes wall signs are in compliance with the Town Code.
The Board of Adjustment—Chairperson Andy Ward, Vice-Chair Tony DiBernardo, and members Ed Lawler, Jan Collins, and Robert McClendon—voted unanimously to deny the variance.
In analyzing the Town Code standards for the grant of a variance (Code sec. 36-367(a)(1)-(4)), which generally involve the nature of any hardship that may exist, each BOA member expressed an interest in preserving the “aesthetics” of the Marketplace.
Cima has the right to appeal the BOA’s decision to the Superior Court of Dare County.
UPCOMING: Mr. Haskett announced that the Planning Board will take up the site plan submitted by the SAGA investor group, Ginguite LLC, for its mixed-use development at 6195 N. Croatan Hwy., next to the Southern Shores Landing; the new zoning text amendment on lot width; or both items, at its next regular meeting, Aug. 21. Chairperson Ward said that if the site plan is ready to be discussed, he would prefer to have it be the sole item on the Board’s agenda.
The Planning Board also will be meeting soon to critique with consultant Stewart the final draft it prepared of the new Land Use Plan, which will be posted on the Town website. The Board did not settle yesterday upon a date and time for this meeting.
The Southern Shores Beacon 