Before cut-thru traffic hits gridlock like this at the intersection of Hillcrest Drive with Sea Oats Trail on Memorial Day weekend, many residents say drivers excessively speed on the open stretches of residential roads.
The Town Planning Board will discuss proposed revisions to the draft Land Use Plan update—including a welcome rewrite of the all-important “Community Vision Statement”—at its 5 p.m. meeting Monday, and the Town Council will meet the next day at 9 a.m. to consider speed bumps on residential streets and other business left over from its June 6 meeting.
Although the Council agenda does not specify that Police Chief David Kole is to present the report on speed bumps and their use in Southern Shores, we assume that he will, as he was prepared to do so on June 6. There is no preview of Chief Kole’s report in the Council’s meeting packet.
There is only one public-comment period on the Town Council’s agenda, and it occurs before any business is discussed.
PLANNING BOARD: DRAFT LAND USE PLAN
Property owners who objected to the new Community Vision Statement presented by consultant, Stewart, in its April 21 draft Land Use Plan, which was discussed at a public workshop on April 26 and open for public comments until May 17, will be pleased to learn that the statement has been substantially revised. It now resembles LUP vision statements of the past that better capture the essence of Southern Shores and is as follows:
“The Town of Southern Shores is a quiet coastal community comprised primarily of low-density single-family homes interspersed with passive and active recreational facilities, maritime forests, and open space. The Town’s identity is intimately tied to its natural resources, history, and residential nature. We strive to protect Southern Shores’ environment, enhance the small commercial district located on the southern edge of town, and preserve the Town’s unique character by maintaining the existing community appearance and form.”
For comparison purposes, we print below the current Community Vision Statement, which is in the 2008 Land Use Plan, which was not approved by the State of North Carolina until 2012:
“The Town of Southern Shores (TOSS) is a quiet seaside residential community comprised primarily of small low density neighborhoods consisting of single family homes primarily on large lots (i.e., at least 20,000 sq ft) interspersed with recreational facilities (e.g., marinas, tennis facilities, athletic fields, and parks), beach accesses, walkways and open spaces. These neighborhoods are served by picturesque local roads (rather than wide through streets) along the beach, in the dunes, or in the sound-side maritime forest. The scale and architecture of new development and re-development is compatible with existing homes. The community is served by a small commercial district, located on the southern edge of town, which focuses on convenience shopping and services. The desired plan for the future is to maintain the existing community appearance and form.”
The Planning Board also will be considering revised policies in the draft Land Use Plan prepared by Stewart. You will find these polices, highlighted in red type, in this file:
The public is welcome to comment at the Planning Board meeting about the Community Vision Statement and the revised policies.
REQUIRED MINIMUM LOT WIDTH
According to the public notice of the Planning Board meeting, which was published on the Town website just yesterday, the Board also may consider Zoning Text Amendment 23-05 to amend the applicable sections of the Town Code on lot-width requirements that were just amended, by a Town Council vote of 3-2, on June 6.
The ZTA approved 11 days ago was numbered 23-03 and was represented as a “stopgap” measure by Planning Director/Deputy Town Manager Wes Haskett. A quick fix, if you will, of a perceived ambiguity in the current Code. The “fix” mandates that all lots created after June 6, through recombination or subdivision, are to be rectangular, the expectation being, Mr. Haskett said at the Council meeting, that the Town would revisit the issue later and “figure out how to address irregularly shaped lots,” including pie-shaped lots.
We would like to tell you how ZTA 23-05 differs from ZTA 23-03, and how the width of “irregularly shaped lots” is to be measured, but ZTA 23-05 is not on the Town website for us to peruse.
In our 6/13/23 writeup of the Council’s June 6 meeting, we briefly gave an overview of how the “stopgap” lot-width changes in ZTA 23-03 alter the current regulations in the Town Code (we previously delved into ZTA 23-03 on 4/20/23 and 6/4/23), but stopped short of a full examination, concluding:
“We will resume our analysis of ZTA 23-03 and the Council’s discussion and vote in a separate blog post. We believe it is both instructive and illuminating of the Town’s legislative process, as well as the process by which zoning becomes ‘gummy,’ a term used by [Mayor Pro Tem Matt] Neal, who argued for a ‘cleaner’ bill [in voting against ZTA 23-03].”
Now that we know there is a proposed ZTA to amend what the Town Council just approved, we will hold off on that “separate blog post.”
TOWN COUNCIL: ANOTHER CLOSED SESSION
As has become a common practice at its meetings, the Town Council will hold a closed session with a Town Attorney—the Town is represented by the firm of Hornthal, Riley, Ellis & Maland—after the June 20 workshop business agenda is finished. When members return from that session, according to the agenda, they will consider the renewal of Town Manager Cliff Ogburn’s contract—an item they presumably will discuss in the closed session.
Unstated in the agenda is that it is time for Mr. Ogburn’s annual evaluation, which is permitted by N.C. statute to be performed in a closed session.
Mr. Ogburn became Southern Shores town manager in 2020 during the Covid-19 shutdown.
Judging from the statutory reasons cited for having Tuesday’s closed session, however, the Council will be talking about more than just Mr. Ogburn’s contract. (The “permitted purposes” for public bodies to hold closed sessions are enumerated in N.C. Gen. Stat. section 143.318-11.)
The agenda cites permitted purpose 143-318.11(a)(3), the attorney-client privilege purpose, which is to be used when the Council considers and gives “instructions to an attorney concerning the handling or settlement of a claim, judicial action, mediation, arbitration, or administrative procedure.” The Council may not avail itself of this purpose simply to discuss general policy matters with an attorney.
In other local news, the Network for Endangered Sea Turtles (N.E.S.T.) reported the first sea turtle nest of the season this month in Kitty Hawk. The eggs were laid June 6. A second nest was laid June 12 in Carova. (The photo above is representational, only.)
The Town Council approved all of the staff recommendations on three zoning text amendments that came before it for public hearing last Tuesday—enacting a new method of calculating lot width of newly created lots and rejecting a ZTA permitting “shared space occupancy dwellings” in the commercial district and a ZTA proposing to protect planning unit developments (PUDs) from adjacent commercial development.
It also postponed until its June 20 workshop meeting Police Chief David Kole’s report on speed bumps and their potential use in Southern Shores.
(The Beacon previewed all of the zoning text amendments on 6/4/23.)
Noteworthy in the Council’s discussion were 1) a split in the vote on the lot-width ZTA, with Mayor Pro Tem Matt Neal and Councilwoman Paula Sherlock dissenting, for the first-ever 3-2 vote on a proposed zoning change in Mayor Elizabeth Morey’s tenure, and 2) confusion over what a “special use” is in the C general commercial district and how the permit process for one is conducted.
Planning Director/Deputy Managing Editor Wes Haskett recommended using the special use process to address the concerns of the two applicants who filed the ZTAs on shared space occupancy dwellings and on setback protections for PUDs, which the Southern Shores Landing is. The westernmost housing in the Landing is in a commercial zone and, therefore, not entitled by right to setbacks that the Town Code mandates for residential districts next to commercial development. (Originally permitted in a residential district, PUDs are now permitted only in the town’s commercial district.)
We will look in more detail at both of these ZTAs below.
ZTA 23-03, the lot-width change, retains the minimum number of feet currently required in all residential districts and in the government and institutional district (GI), but changes the method of calculating that width. Mr. Haskett described it as a “stopgap” ordinance.
Until such time as the Council “fine-tunes” what the ZTA achieved, all lots created after June 6—through recombination or subdivision—in these districts must have a uniform width from side-lot line to side-lot line of 50 feet (in GI), 75 feet (in the RS-8 and RS-10 districts), and 100 feet (in RS-1 and R-1), thus making them rectangular. No irregularly shaped lots will be allowed, nor will lots be permitted to have even a slight variance in the width—say a rear width of 95 feet in a lot in the RS-1 district where a 100-foot width is required.
(RS-1 is the single family residential districts, where most homeowners live.)
The language of ZTA 23-03 was written by the Town Attorney, Mr. Haskett explained at the two meetings (April and May) during which the Planning Board considered the measure, and was designed to fix an ambiguity in the current Town Code language on width.
“There’s a lot of edits” of the Town Code mandated by ZTA 23-03, Mayor Pro Tem Matt Neal said, in opposing the measure’s approval, “and the ambiguity was where the front setback is. Wouldn’t it be simpler to fix the front setback at one static location?”
The simple answer to that question is yes, but that is not the route that the Town Attorney took.
For years, Mr. Haskett has interpreted the current Code language that specifies lot width is to be measured “at the building setback line,” as being the width at the 25-foot front building setback from the public right of way (the street). He has interpreted it as a static location.
Planning Board Chairperson Andy Ward, who initially opposed ZTA 23-03 until the Town brought it back to the Board a month later with the understanding, he said, that the Town Attorney was concerned about liability, indicated a similar view in considering the measure. In litigation with the Town last year, however, property owners on Skyline Road argued that the Code language was susceptible of a different interpretation.
We will resume our analysis of ZTA 23-03 and the Council’s discussion and vote in a separate blog post. We believe it is both instructive and illuminating of the Town’s legislative process, as well as the process by which zoning becomes “gummy,” a term used by Mr. Neal, who argued for a “cleaner” bill.
Tuesday’s Council agenda was unusually time-consuming because of the ZTA public hearings. A fourth hearing, held for citizen comment on the Town Manager’s recommended fiscal year 2023-24, proved to be perfunctory. No one spoke, and the Town Council unanimously approved the budget, as well as a $500,00 increase in the minimum amount that must be maintained in the town’s Unassigned (aka Undesignated) Fund Balance, from $3 million to $3.5 million.
The UFB typically has over $6 million in it.
Mayor Morey initiated the delay of Chief Kole’s report on speed bumps—scheduled as the last item on the agenda—and another item of new business at 7:45 p.m., after the Council had been in session for more than two hours. Citing the “the [late] hour and the darkness approaching” for the delay, she later observed that the Council had a closed session scheduled after the meeting, which would further lengthen the Council’s time.
Closed sessions with legal counsel infrequently occurred in the previous mayoral administration, but now are held almost as a matter of course. Tuesday’s session involved two Hornthal, Riley, Ellis & Maland (HREM) attorneys: Lauren Arizaga-Womble, who joined the firm in January and handled Tuesday’s meeting and public hearings, and Robert B. Hobbs Jr., a Nags-Head based HREM partner and longtime Town Attorney for Duck who arrived just for the closed session.
Also postponed until the June 20 workshop, which will be held at 9 a.m. in the Pitts Center, was the Council’s consideration of a building maintenance contract that would cover repairs and upgrades to Town Hall, the police station, and the Pitts Center.
THE ZONING TEXT AMENDMENTS
In unanimously disapproving ZTA 23-04, which was submitted by Matt Huband, a property owner in Southern Shores Landing, the Town Council accepted the recommendation by Mr. Haskett that the setback, buffer, and stormwater protections the ZTA would give planned unit developments, such as the Landing, could and should be more specifically addressed through special use permits when a special use, such as a restaurant, drive-through facility, or mixed-use group development, is proposed by an adjacent commercial property owner.
A special use—formerly known in North Carolina as a conditional use—is a use of property in a zoning district that is NOT permitted “by right.” They are uses of property that must be approved by town government.
Many common uses of property in Southern Shores’ commercial district are special uses. Enumerated in Town Code sec. 36-207(c), they include restaurants, with or without drive-through facilities; child day care centers; veterinary clinics; garden centers/nurseries; group developments of commercial buildings, and mixed-use developments of residential and commercial buildings.
The Town has considerable leeway in imposing conditions on special use permits and takes into consideration the effects of a proposed new development on adjacent properties. The Landing, which is roughly situated at the corner of South Dogwood Trail and U.S. Hwy. 158, is next to the SAGA investor-owned commercial property at 6195 N. Croatan Hwy (158).
It would have been helpful, we believe, for Mr. Haskett or Ms. Arizaga-Womble, to have elaborated upon the nature of special uses and to have explained how decisions on their permits are made. Questions asked by Town Council members suggested a lack of familiarity.
Matthew Huband, a homeowner in the Southern Shores Landing, submitted ZTA 23-04 to establish minimum 50-foot setbacks between PUDs and restaurants, drive-through businesses, and mixed-use developments (all of which are special uses that require Town permission). The ZTA also extended to PUDs other protections that Code sec. 36-207 gives residential districts from abutting commercial development.
Because of mistakes made by the Town, the western third of the Landing is zoned commercial, while the remainder of the development is zoned RS-10 (high density) residential.
During his presentation of ZTA 23-04, Mr. Huband, who lives in the commercial third, meticulously laid out actions taken since January by both the Town and Landing homeowners to rectify the Town’s “unprecedented” split-zoning mistake. He also disclosed that the SAGA investors, known collectively as Ginguite LLC, who own the adjacent commercial property, “beat the clock” that afternoon by filing “an application” with the Town Planning Dept. for a proposed special-use development.
Had the Town Council enacted ZTA 23-04, it would not have applied to that development, but it certainly would have applied to a different proposed development plan, if Ginguite LLC were to withdraw the proposal it filed June 6 and substituted it with another. It also would apply throughout the commercial district, which concerned Council members.
The Planning Board unanimously recommended approval of ZTA 23-04 at its May 15 meeting. Planning Board Chairperson Andy Ward spoke Tuesday in support of Southern Shores Landing homeowners, pointing out that Sumit Gupta, who represented Ginguite, LLC, before the Board multiple times last year in negotiating a mixed-use commercial/residential development ZTA, said he was “amenable” to a 50-foot residential setback. At the time, however, both the Town and Mr. Gupta, who is a co-founder and CEO of SAGA Realty & Construction, assumed the Landing was exclusively zoned RS-10 residential.
“The residents of Southern Shores Landing have had the rug pulled out from under them,” Mr. Ward said.
This messy conflict is not going away. We will undoubtedly write about it in the future.
All Council members seemed inclined to help Landing property owners, but they were restrained by Ms. Arizaga-Womble from talking about their options. If Ginguite LLC’s application goes forward in the Planning Board and arrives at the Town Council for a quasi-judicial hearing, they will be ruling on a permit that has conditions attached to it, some of which may benefit Landing property owners.
In unanimously disapproving ZTA 22-08, submitted by attorney Casey Varnell on behalf of Pledger Palace, CDEC, the Town Council rejected a new permitted use in the Town’s C general commercial zoning district of “Shared-Space Occupancy Dwellings,” a form of affordable rental housing that the applicant proposed offering to J-1 work-visa students and other single persons in a boarding-house type of arrangement.
Although, if approved, the ZTA would apply to all property in Southern Shores’ commercial district, Patricia Pledger, the president of Pledger Palace, focused in her application on how she would convert a child-care center she owns at 6325 N. Croatan Hwy., which is in the Martin’s Point commercial district, into a shared-space occupancy dwelling that could house up to 95 people.
The Town of Southern Shores currently has extraterritorial jurisdiction over Martin’s Point commercial district, but it soon may vote to transfer jurisdiction to Dare County.
Mr. Neal and Ms. Sherlock led the Town Council’s discussion of Ms. Pledger’s application, focusing principally on the population density of such a shared-space dwelling. Mr. Neal pointed out that the maximum number of people that the State of North Carolina permits in apartments in a building the size of Ms. Pledger’s—7400 square feet—is 35. (We assume he was referring to a State requirement. He did not cite his source.)
The Mayor Pro Tem also keyed in on space requirements for the “shared space” or room, where people would sleep, and for a kitchen and common areas, and on the number of toilets and showers per person that Ms. Pledger planned. Her ZTA did not include these figures.
Ms. Pledger explained that she had used as a square-footage guide a requirement from the N.C. Building Code that each adult have 50 square feet of space per bedroom.
Said Ms. Sherlock: “I’ve known jails that offer larger accommodations than 50-square feet . . . That’s a tiny space.” (We made the same analogy!)
Ms. Pledger explained that she was referring to 50 square feet between beds. Her model proposes 10 bunk units per shared space, which can accommodate 20 people, an arrangement we would compare to a barracks or a youth hostel, rather than a group home.
In public comments before the hearing, Tim Baker, who identified himself as president of the Martin’s Point Homeowners Assn., called the proposed density “frightening,” and fraught with “public-health risks,” such as the spread of communicable diseases. Ms. Pledger responded during the hearing by citing her high standards for cleanliness and her commitment to “doing things right.”
Mr. Neal elicited from Ms. Pledger that she had used Dare County health department standards for determining the required number of toilets, sinks, and showers in her dwelling. The health code mandates one each per 10 people, she said.
Mr. Neal also probed the parking requirement of one space per seven people, which is in Ms. Pledger’s ZTA, and learned that Mr. Varnell based this requirement on the number of spaces currently at the building and the 95-person maximum occupancy. Both Mr. Varnell and Ms. Pledger commented on the propensity for students to ride bicycles, not drive cars.
Councilman Leo Holland asked Ms. Pledger what her “break-even number” of occupants was, a question to which she replied, “Can he ask that?,” before telling him it was 65.
One question that the Council did not ask was what Ms. Pledger planned to charge renters, i.e., what amount she considered “affordable,” a word she used in defining a shared-space occupancy dwelling. Most local ordinances nationwide define rent in affordable housing by providing a mathematical equation that takes into account the prevailing rental market. It is not a subjective standard.
Councilwoman Sherlock, who was complimentary of Ms. Pledger’s aspirations and business acumen, and supportive of affordable housing, seemed to speak for everyone on the Council when she said, “A ZTA is the wrong way to go here.” She suggested pursuit of a special use, and Mr. Neal noted that any such use should have a lower maximum occupancy than 95; square-footage standards; parking requirements, and the like.
The Planning Board also endorsed the concept of affordable housing, but recommended denial of ZTA 22-08, by a 4-1 vote.
CUT-THRU TRAFFIC
The only time that the problem of cut-thru traffic came up at the meeting was during the question period after Police Chief Kole presented his department’s calls/incidents/arrests statistics for May. He reported that four motor vehicle accidents had occurred during the month.
“Were the motor vehicle accidents related to . . . cut-thru traffic or were they other accidents?” Councilwoman Sherlocked asked the Chief.
“Honestly, I’d have to check,” he answered, having no knowledge.
He was equally uninformed about a drug charge about which Ms. Sherlock inquired.
This is not the first time that a Town Council member has asked Chief Kole to elaborate upon the facts of motor vehicle accidents and arrests and been informed that he doesn’t know them.
The Councilwoman, who is a retired family court judge, was also spot-on in her “two cents” about the increase in the hourly legal fees being charged by Hornthal, Riley, Ellis & Maland, which the Town Council unanimously approved.
Noting that while $235 per hour for an attorney’s time is reasonable, Ms. Sherlock also pointedly observed that an increase of 15 percent, from $205 to $235, which is what the firm requested, is “a bit steep.” Indeed.
She further confirmed that attorneys’ travel time is billed at the same hourly rate.
As we reported 6/4/23, the Town’s contract with HREM, which may be terminated at will by the Town, requires the payment of a non-refundable monthly retainer of $3,000, from which all fees for services must be debited first.
Ms. Sherlock confirmed with Town Manager Cliff Ogburn that the retainer monies are “lost,” not carried over, if they are not used. Mr. Ogburn commented that only twice in the past five years has the Town consumed less than $3,000 worth of legal services in a month.
Four public hearings, including one for citizen comment on the Town Manager’s recommended fiscal year 2023-24 budget of nearly $10 million—the largest budget ever requested in Town history—distinguish a busy agenda for the Town Council’s regular monthly meeting tomorrow.
The Council will meet at 5:30 p.m. in the Pitts Center.
FY 2023-24 BUDGET: We are disappointed with both Town Manager Cliff Ogburn’s written presentation of the FY2023-24 budget, which is thinner on detail and less readable and standardized per department than budget presentations of recent years, and with the Town Council’s decision not to hold any budget workshops this year. Mayor Elizabeth Morey eschewed the need for a workshop at the April 4 Council meeting, saying, “We have had significant budget discussions since the first of the year, periodically”—just not in public.
While not required, the presentation of budget requests by the different department heads at a public workshop has always been a valuable service for citizens. It gives a view into the inner workings of the town government and important budgetary decision-making and adds a layer of accountability. We would have liked the Town Council to have accepted Mr. Ogburn’s offer on April 4 to present “Cliff’s notes” about his recommended FY 2023-24 budget, with highlights brought to the forefront, at an April or May workshop.
The Town Manager’s requested budget for FY 2023-24 is $9,731,450, about 11 percent higher than the $8,790,776 budget that the Town Council adopted last year at this time for FY 2022-23.
As so often happens during fiscal years, last year’s approved budget grew with amendments that the Council approved for additional unbudgeted expenses. The $8,790,776 FY 2022-23 budget ballooned to $10,937,428, an increase of more than $2 million, or about 24 percent.
According to Mr. Ogburn’s budget report, revenues exceeded expenses last year, so the Town did not have to dip into its Undesignated or Unreserved Fund Balance (UFB) to cover unanticipated expenses. As we understand his report, the Town Manager expects to use UFB funds in 2023-24 for construction of the new Trinitie/Juniper Trail culvert.
Town policy dictates that the UFB have a minimum balance of $3 million—an amount the UFB usually eclipses by millions—to ensure coverage of extraordinary expenses, such as those incurred in guarding against the effects of natural or other disasters, providing for unanticipated capital expenditures, or protecting the Town in an economic downturn.
According to Mr. Ogburn, projected Town revenues in FY 2023-24 remain strong, with sales, occupancy, and land-transfer tax revenue estimated at $3,876,770, and revenues from all ad valorem taxes, including those assessed for the beach nourishment project, estimated at $4,325,237.
Although Mr. Ogburn suggested last year that ad valorem taxes might need to be increased this year, he is not recommending a tax hike.
Personnel account for much of the Town’s cost of doing business.
All Town employees are receiving a 6.5 percent COLA raise in FY 2023-24, for an expense of $122,022, according to the budget report. The Town contributes 7.65 percent in FICA benefits per employee. Mandatory Town contributions to the State Retirement System are expected to increase from 12.13 percent to 12.88 percent for general employees, and from 13.04 percent to 14.10 percent for law enforcement officers. And medical insurance premiums for employees are expected to increase 5 percent over last fiscal year.
The requested budget for the Police Department in FY 2023-24 is $2,334,697, or about 24 percent of the total budget. Of this amount, $1,229,744 is earmarked for salaries.
The requested budget for the Administration Department is $1,337,842 (14 percent), of which $409,244 goes to salaries. An additional $114,113 is budgeted for merit funds and bonus pay.
The Town Council’s compensation, which is a separate item in the Administration budget, is $18,600: $4200 for the Mayor, and $3600 for each Council member. (We thought you might be interested.)
The requested budget for “Streets, Bridges, Beaches and Canals” is, at $2,690,329, by far the largest allocation (28 percent of the total), but considerably less, so far, than the $4,021,216 spent in the 2022-23 fiscal year for infrastructure repairs and capital improvements. This budget is administered by the Public Works Dept. and includes in FY 2023-24, $1,182,088 in payment of debt service (third year) for the 2022 beach nourishment project and $1 million for infrastructure.
This year, the Town staff is asking the Council to increase the minimum required UFB balance to $3.5 million, as a hedge against the possibility that the Town will have to assume “ownership of the assets and responsibility to provide fire services,” should its contract with the Southern Shores Volunteer Fire Dept. become void.
Mr. Ogburn has allocated $1,073,539 in FY 2023-24 for fire services, $734,519 of which goes toward contractual obligations with the SSVFD, which are not detailed, and another $314,020 of which is the annual payment for the debt the Town incurred to construct the new fire station.
ZTAs: The other three public hearings concern the following zoning text amendments:
1) MINIMUM LOT WIDTH/ZTA 23-03, submitted by the Town to amend ordinances in the Southern Shores Town Code pertaining to the definition of lot width and the minimum lot width requirements in all residential districts and in the government and institutional district, in order to make the method by which lot width is calculated less ambiguous than it currently is in the Code.
We wrote about this ZTA on 4/20/23 after the Town Planning Board took a first crack at it and will not delve here into all of the new proposed Town Code language vis-a-vis the current Code language. If the Town Council approves the changes, we will discuss them in a later blog.
The Planning Board revisited ZTA 23-03 on May 15. Thanks to the quick thinking of newly appointed Planning Board second alternate Michael Zehner, who is a professional planner, the new definition/measurement of lot width will apply only to lots created by recombination or otherwise after the Council’s adoption of the ZTA. If the new language had applied to all existing lots in town, many properties—especially those irregularly shaped or non-rectangular—would have been rendered nonconforming.
The current definition of “lot width” in Town Code sec. 36-57 is “the width of a lot at the required building setback line measured at right angles to depth.” (This necessitates looking up the definition of “building setback line,” which is subject to more than one interpretation, and the definition of depth.)
ZTA 23-03 would change this definition to “the minimum horizontal distance between the side lot lines of a lot measured from the front lot line at right angles to the rear lot line.”
In the RS-1 residential district, where most people live, the minimum lot width for lots created after June 6, 2023, if that is the adoption date, would be “100 feet from the front lot line at right angles to the rear lot line,” rather than 100 feet “measured at the building setback line.” (Town Code sec. 36-202(d)(2).)
What do you think? Does this language compute for you?
How would you measure the 100-foot width that is required for a residential lot in the RS-1 district to be buildable?
Planning Board Director Wes Haskett informed the Board on May 15 that ZTA 23-03 is a “stopgap” measure to prevent problems with recombinations of lots, such as occurred when property owners sought last year to recombine an 80,000-square-foot tract land at 55 Skyline Road into four smaller buildable parcels. Mr. Haskett denied their recombination request on the grounds that two of the four proposed lots, which were situated behind two streetfront lots, did not meet the 100-foot minimum width requirement, even though they actually measured 100 feet in width. Mr. Haskett based his ruling on his interpretation of the building setback line as essentially the front building setback of 25 feet from the public right of way. (See The Beacon, 10/1/22 and 4/20/23, for more details.)
The Town Board of Adjustment upheld Mr. Haskett’s decision, 3-2, on appeal, and the property owners appealed its ruling to the Superior Court of Dare County. The Town Council intervened in the litigation and approved a Consent Order in favor of the Skyline Road property owners.
The new ZTA language, if adopted, could be fine-tuned later, Mr. Haskett said.
Mr. Zehner is director of planning and community development for Berkley Group of Kitty Hawk and a former planning director for the Town of Nags Head. He is a huge asset to the Town Planning Board. We would prefer that he, rather than the Town Attorney, draft the Town’s new lot-width ordinances.
2) SHORES SHORES LANDING/ZTA 23-04, submitted by Matthew Huband, a homeowner in the Southern Shores Landing, to amend the Town Code to establish minimum 50-foot setbacks between restaurants, drive-through businesses, other commercial buildings/facilities, and mixed-use developments AND planned unit developments (PUDs), which the Landing purportedly is, so that Landing homeowners will have protection from any commercial or mixed-use construction on the SAGA investor-owned adjacent property at 6195 N. Croatan Hwy.
This ZTA is the result of a mess. As best as we understand it, the Town approved the Southern Shores Landing as a PUD in 2005, when PUDs were a permitted use in the RS-10 (high-density) residential district. Subsequently, the Town changed the ordinance on PUDs, allowing them only as a permitted use within the C, General Commercial District. It also rezoned the Landing development from 100 percent RS-10 to two-thirds RS-10 and one-third General Commercial.
ZTA 23-04 is an attempt to give PUDs setback, stormwater, and buffer protections from adjacent commercial and mixed-use developments, which they do not have if they are zoned commercial.
Although the Town Planning Board unanimously recommended approval on May 15 of ZTA 23-04, Mr. Haskett has taken the position that these protections can be more specifically addressed through Special Use Permits when a Special Use, such as a restaurant, drive-through facility, or mixed-use group development, is proposed. He is recommending that the ZTA be denied. We agree with the Planning Board.
3) SHARED SPACE HOUSING/ZTA 22-08, submitted by attorney Casey Varnell on behalf of Pledger Palace, CDEC, to create a new permitted use in the Town’s C, General Commercial zoning district of “Shared-Space Occupancy Dwellings,” a form of affordable rental housing that the applicant proposes offering to students and other single persons in a boarding-house type of arrangement.
Pledger Palace once operated a child education center at 6325 N. Croatan Hwy., which is located in the Martin’s Point commercial district, over which the Town of Southern Shores currently has extraterritorial jurisdiction, although it has indicated an interest in allowing Dare County to take over jurisdiction.
Although, if approved, the ZTA would apply to all property in Southern Shores’ commercial district, Patricia Pledger, the president of Pledger Palace, focused in her application on how she would convert her child-care center into a shared-space occupancy dwelling that could house 95 students, in four-walled “shared spaces” that could accommodate up to 10 bunk units for a maximum of 20 occupants.
The Planning Board endorsed the concept of affordable housing, but recommended denial of ZTA 22-08, by a 4-1 vote. John Finelli, who represents Martin’s Point on the Board, adamantly argued that the ZTA lacks fundamental standards (pertaining to square footage needs per occupant, and sanitation requirements for group housing, for example) that must be established before such housing can be considered.
CONTRACTS: In addition to consideration of the FY 2023-24 budget and the three ZTAs, the Town Council will decide upon contract matters, including:
1) Awarding contracts for two street improvement projects, each of which the Town staff recommends should be awarded to Fred Smith Co. Construction, the lowest bidder and the company that has been in charge of all of the rehabilitation projects since the Town’s 10-year street-improvement plan started. Fred Smith Co.’s combined bids total $1,072,799.95, about $72,800 more than the $1 million budgeted this fiscal year for street improvements.
2) Considering the two bids received for performing repairs and building upgrades at the Town Hall, the Pitts Center, and the Southern Shores Police station and possibly awarding a contract to one of the bidders, either C&T Contracting ($98,450.00), which the Town staff recommends, or Cynergy Home Solutions LLC ($122,725.00).
3) Considering a request by the Town’s legal representative, Hornthal, Riley, Ellis and Maland (“HREM”), to amend its contract with the firm to increase the hourly rate it pays for legal services from $205 to $235 for attorneys and from $140 to $160 for paralegals, effective July 1. The Town’s current contract with HREM took effect July 1, 2019, with then-rates of $195/hour for attorneys and $140/hour for paralegals. HREM’s attorney rates increased, pursuant to the contract, to $200/hour on June 1, 2020, and to $205/hour on June 1, 2021.
The contract, which may be terminated at will by the Town, requires the Town to pay a non-refundable monthly retainer of $3,000, from which all fees for services must be debited first.
Mr. Ogburn has budgeted $60,000 for legal services in FY 2023-24 and believes this amount will cover the increased hourly rates.
4) Approving a proposal by Coastal Protection Engineering of N.C., the Town’s beach nourishment agent, to conduct annual beach profile monitoring in 2023. CPE conducted such monitoring of the Southern Shores shoreline in 2017, 2019, 2020, and 2021. The cost of CPE’s services for 2023, which involve gathering profile data and analyzing it for sand-volume and shoreline changes, and preparing a report, is $33,471.25, according to CPE Senior Program Manager Ken Willson.
After all of this business is conducted, Police Chief David Kole will present “staff” findings—as the Town Council requested at its May 2 meeting—on the use of speed bumps on residential streets, according to the agenda. (See The Beacon, 6/3/23) Nowhere else on the agenda is a discussion of traffic problems indicated.
A frustrated west-bound driver in a Land Rover used this right-of-way corner of Wax Myrtle Trail at Hillcrest Drive last Saturday as his means around a gridlocked Hillcrest Drive, then continued along the right-of-way until he could re-enter the roadway.
As some of you have heard, a pedestrian was struck last Saturday afternoon by a vehicle at the congested intersection of Hillcrest Drive and Wax Myrtle Trail and attended to by emergency personnel. While we have not read the police report of the incident—which we trust Chief David Kole will share at the Town Council meeting Tuesday evening (5:30 p.m., Pitts Center)—we have learned from neighbors, who prefer to remain anonymous, what occurred.
By mid-afternoon last Saturday, one homeowner told us, the cut-thru traffic near the Wax Myrtle-Hillcrest intersection had become “so congested that people were driving down both sides of Hillcrest toward the intersection with Duck Road. [Once there,] only a few cars at a time were getting to turn left on to Duck Road, and on some light cycles, none, pushing everyone along Hillcrest toward madness.”
The intersections of Hillcrest Drive with Wax Myrtle Trail and Sea Oats Trail “became scenes of tension and conflict,” the homeowner said, “because the people on Hillcrest wouldn’t let” motorists turning off of the other two streets into the flow of traffic.
A conflict apparently arose between a pedestrian who was trying to cross the Hillcrest-Wax Myrtle intersection and “started to get cut off by a minivan trying to force its way [from Wax Myrtle] on to Hillcrest,” another resident reported. The pedestrian “stood his ground,” and the minivan struck him, and he fell to the ground.
After police, EMS, and fire department personnel responded to the incident, another dangerous situation apparently occurred, according to the homeowner. A driver in a Land Rover, who was trying to drive up the blocked Hillcrest Drive in the opposite direction from arriving vacationers, drove on to rights of way and people’s yards in order to get around the gridlock in the street.
According to an eyewitness, the Land Rover driver got “exasperated, throwing up his hands, hitting the steering wheel,” and exiting Hillcrest Drive by driving onto someone’s yard, over rocks and behind emergency vehicles, then crossing Wax Myrtle Trail, and continuing “up Hillcrest along the right of way until he was out of sight.”
The eyewitness described the Land Rover driver as “volatile” and was shocked that the police did nothing to stop his progress.
We do not know the identity of the pedestrian who was hit or the extent of his injury. The eyewitness to the Land Rover driver’s off-road driving thought the driver was probably a local resident.
In explaining at the Town Council’s May 2 meeting why she did not support the use of “Local Traffic Only” barricades along the cut-thru route this summer, Mayor Elizabeth Morey said she thought the “potential for conflict” between and among drivers and residents over their use “outweighs their efficacy,” an opinion she based on her personal observations last summer and one that she has consistently expressed since last June.
The Town Council unanimously rejected the use of the barricades. (See The Beacon, 5/3/23)
It would appear that Mayor Morey and her Town Council colleagues should have given more thought to the “potential for conflict” along the cut-thru route in the absence of barricades, which discourage some drivers from entering roads and certainly slow down the flow of traffic. People are at least warned of the risk they take by using the cut-thru route.
To our knowledge, no two-way Southern Shores streets became one-way at Duck Road last summer, in the direction of the northbound cut-thru traffic, because of vehicle congestion and driver frustration. And no pedestrians were hit by minivans. (We are aware that arriving motorists have made Hillcrest Drive one-way before its intersection with Sea Oats Trail.)
We have long maintained that with barricades closing key access roads and police on the ground controlling traffic at key intersections, the traffic flow on both the cut-thru route and Duck Road can move more smoothly and safely than it currently does on summertime weekends. We frankly do not understand why the police are not involved in moving the traffic through town.
According to its website, the Southern Shores Police Dept. has a complement of 11 police officers, including the Chief, Deputy Chief, and school resource officer, and it is seeking to hire a twelfth. The Town has financial reserves to pay Southern Shores police officers overtime for Saturday afternoon duty, if necessary, and to hire off-duty police from other towns to help during the peak weekend times. (According to its website, the Town of Duck Police Dept. has 12 officers!) Why aren’t we using police officers to do what they’re trained to do?
We hope today’s traffic will be much improved from last Saturday’s. We also hope that the Mayor, the Town Council, and the Police Chief are looking ahead to what they can do differently during the peak season to ensure public safety through better management of the traffic through town.
TOWN COUNCIL MEETS TUESDAY AT 5:30 P.M. IN THE PITTS CENTER
SPEED BUMPS?
The Town Council’s Tuesday (June 6) meeting is top-heavy with four public hearings, three of them on Zoning Text Amendments and the fourth on the Town Manager’s recommended budget for fiscal year 2023-24. We will report briefly on these hearings and the budget either tomorrow or Monday.
Today we mention only that the last item listed on the meeting agenda under “New Business” is a discussion/consideration of speed bumps on residential streets. Homeowners on South Dogwood Trail, Wax Myrtle Trail, and Sea Oats Trail, in particular, have publicly complained about speeding on their streets. After hearing some of these complaints again at its May 2 meeting, the Town Council tasked the Town staff with researching the use of speed bumps.
It is unfortunate that this item was assigned such low priority, with all four hearings, several Town contract matters, and even the reappointment of a Planning Board member for another three-year term being taken up before this discussion. We believe this discussion should come under the “Old Business” agenda and occur before all of the other time-consuming “New Business” agenda items.
We are also dismayed that Police Chief Kole will be presenting the “staff” findings on the use of speed bumps. Chief Kole has not previously supported speed bumps because they are perceived as impediments to first responders. We would have preferred to have heard from the Town Manager on the subject.
Southern Shores homeowner Mark Dailey posted the above photograph on Next Door late yesterday afternoon. It depicts cut-thru traffic at the intersection of Sea Oats Trail and Hillcrest Drive, looking north.
As The Beacon reported 5/3/23, the Town Council unanimously voted earlier this month not to take any action on the street to prevent cut-thru traffic. Mayor Elizabeth Morey and her colleagues on the Council decided, based on anecdotal evidence, that the “No Thru Traffic” barricades employed last summer were not effective.
“Mayor Morey,” we wrote 5/3/23, “said she thought the ‘potential for conflict’ between and among drivers and residents over [the use of the barricades] ‘outweighs their efficacy,’ an opinion she based on her personal observations last summer and one that she has consistently expressed since June, when people acted out angrily over the closure of Hickory Trail at East Dogwood Trail.
“Town Councilmen Matt Neal and Mark Batenic agreed with the Mayor, saying that their informal observations last summer led them to believe that too many cut-thru drivers were ignoring the barricades. Town Councilwoman Paula Sherlock expressed her dislike for the ‘eyesore’ that the barricades created.”
The Beacon has been writing about the scourge of cut-thru traffic since we started this blog in April 2018. We have suggested many problem-solving tactics and reported upon those that were employed. We also have reported on many public meetings about how to address the cut-thru traffic, including those held by the citizens’ Exploratory Committee to Address Cut-Thru Traffic, which was sanctioned by the Town Council, and the traffic engineering consultant hired by the Town to evaluate traffic conditions.
(To read about the findings of the exploratory committee and the outside traffic consultant, J.M. Teague Engineering and Planning of Waynesville, N.C., see The Beacon, 3/29/21 and 2/18/21, respectively. The Town paid $7500 for Teague’s study and report.)
As those of you who have been in the trenches for a while know, action by the Town Council comes slowly. None of the suggestions made by the traffic engineer, which were chiefly physical barriers, was even considered for implementation by then-Mayor Tom Bennett, who served from 2013-21, and the Town Council.
Indeed, it took four years and a radical change in Town Council membership before the left-turn prohibition at U.S. Hwy. 158 and South Dogwood Trail, which emerged as a solution from a 2014 townwide traffic workshop–for which the Town hired a professional mediator–was tried on a trial basis, and then opponents mischaracterized the results, to discourage its continued use. (See The Beacon, 6/25, 6/29, and 7/6/18.)
Police Chief David Kole was one of the primary detractors of the turn prohibition. He did not want to commit resources to enforcing it.
For six years Mayor Bennett consistently voted against prohibiting the left turn at South Dogwood Trail or taking any other actions suggested by property owners to reduce traffic. He repeatedly said in public that he considered the summertime traffic “the burden of living here.”
Mr. Bennett cast the sole dissenting vote against holding three “manned” no-left-turn weekends during the summer of 2020, the first of the Covid-19 summers. “Manned” meant having the Southern Shores police monitor the intersection for violations.
Two weeks later, however, the Mayor abruptly reversed course. The unprecedented traffic jam-up of the first two weekends in June, during which the left turn was not prohibited, was “not a healthy situation,” he said. At the Mayor’s initiative, the Council added two “unmanned” no-left-turn weekends in June.
Is that what it is going to take for Mayor Morey and the current Town Council to take further action this summer, including restoring some barricades? An “unhealthy situation”?
The Town of Kitty Hawk, which has jurisdiction over the left-turn lane at the U.S. 158-South Dogwood Trail intersection, refused to cooperate last summer with a left-turn prohibition on weekends, citing “safety concerns,” according to then-Town Manager Andy Stewart. (See The Beacon, 5/13/22.)
Would Kitty Hawk abruptly change course and support its neighbor if the situation became “unhealthy”?
If so, would the Southern Shores police, with assistance from the Kitty Hawk police, commit the necessary resources to enforcement of the ban to make it effective? “Unmanned,” as experience teaches, doesn’t cut it.
The arriving northbound cut-thru traffic yesterday–judging from our observations–was steady on South Dogwood Trail, not backed up, as it can be during peak season. It is only going to get worse when schools close for the summer.
It has been nearly a year since Mayor Morey held a Mayor’s Chat. We think one is well overdue.
Although Next Door has become the go-to forum for residents’ traffic complaints, and we are publishing less frequently, we still welcome your comments here.
(We apologize for the technical difficulties earlier, which resulted in subscribers receiving notice of this blog post twice.)
When Town Manager Cliff Ogburn asked the Town Council at its May 2 meeting what measures it would like to take this summer to prevent the scourge of cut-thru traffic on residential streets, the four members present were quick to disparage the use of “Local Traffic Only” barricades, as were used last summer, but not to offer any new ideas at the street level.
(Town Councilman Leo Holland was absent. See The Beacon, 5/3/23, for our meeting report.)
We would have liked to have heard the three elected Council members, and one appointed member, engage in a creative problem-solving session, with the objective being to design an enforcible plan to prevent cut-thru traffic and thereby promote public health, safety, and welfare.
The Town has tools available to it now to improve upon traffic conditions on summertime weekends, if it chooses to use them.
In the spirit of creative problem-solving, we offer the following plan that combines street closures, which are legal and can be effected with the barricades that the Council rejected for this summer—on the basis of only one configuration of their use—with police control of key Duck Road intersections:
Part One: Street Closures
We propose 1) Blocking access to Ocean Boulevard at the Triangle cell tower park (the Duck Road split); and
2) Blocking access to all streets off of N.C. Hwy. 12, between the Duck Road split and the East Dogwood Trail intersection, that lead to Wax Myrtle Trail, and blocking access to Eleventh Avenue, which connects Duck Road with Sea Oats Trail. Thus, no motorist driving on Duck Road could jump off of the thoroughfare by turning left on to Porpoise Run, Dolphin Run, or Eleventh Avenue.
Other optional closures include Trout Run (which is a right turn off of Duck Road) and Hickory Trail, where it intersects with Hwy. 12.
Part Two: Police Direction of Traffic
We next propose:
Assigning police officers to direct vehicle flow at the traffic-light-controlled intersections of Hillcrest Drive and Duck Road and Sea Oats Trail and Duck Road, and consider adding a third officer at the Hickory Trail-Duck Road intersection. These officers would move the northbound Hwy. 12 traffic along and allow, at most, two vehicles at a time to join the flow from Hillcrest Drive and Sea Oats Trail and, optionally, Hickory Trail.
Any motorist who elects to circumvent Hwy. 12 by cutting through on the South Dogwood Trail-to-East Dogwood Trail-to-Hickory Trail-to the dunes route should encounter a major delay and be discouraged from ever doing it again.
Police know how to clear congestion through a bottleneck. They know how to keep intersections unblocked and open. We should take advantage of their expertise at least every Saturday afternoon this summer, and perhaps also on Sunday afternoons during the peak season.
With the cooperation of the N.C. Dept. of Transportation, the traffic lights at the key Duck Road intersections could be set so that they are blinking yellow on the thoroughfare and red on the side streets. We do not believe N.C. DOT would object to either local police traffic control or blinking lights on Hwy. 12. The State is very familiar with the summer weekend traffic nightmare.
Part Three: Duck’s Participation
We further propose:
Enlisting at least two officers from Duck’s well-staffed police department to control traffic and pedestrian flow at the most-popular Hwy. 12 crosswalks in its downtown. Their objective would be to keep the traffic moving so that a backup does not undermine the police efforts on Hwy. 12 in Southern Shores. Duck year-rounders, who are also beleaguered by the northbound traffic on summer weekends, would welcome their presence and efforts.
**
What Do You Think?
Southern Shores residents already plan their summer weekends to avoid the traffic congestion in town, especially on Hwy. 12. We do not believe our plan aggravates the inconvenience that residents who rely upon Hwy. 12 to come and go—for example, those who live on or off of Duck Road, such as in Seacrest Village—already experience. It it works, we believe it would improve their weekend road travel considerably.
Please let us know what you think about our proposal for traffic control and share with us any proposals that you may have, keeping in mind the tools that the Town already has and can exercise.
THE TOWN’S AUTHORITY
Lest you wonder, we assure you that the Town of Southern Shores has the authority to close its streets to ALL traffic, when and where it chooses.
According to section 160A-296 of the N.C. General Statutes, a “city [or town] shall have general authority and control over all public streets, sidewalks, alleys, bridges, and other ways of public passage within its corporate limits,” except when authority and control “over certain streets and bridges” are vested in N.C. DOT.
The Town owns all of the streets within its corporate limits, except N.C. Hwy. 12 and U.S. Hwy 158, which are within the jurisdiction of the State, and a few private roads, such as Mallard Cove Loop and a section of Fairway Drive.
Section 160A-296 further states that a municipality’s “authority and control” over its public streets includes “the power to close any street or alley either permanently or temporarily,” and “the power to regulate the use of the public streets, sidewalks, alleys, and bridges.” Sec. 160A-296(a)(4)-(5).
Cities and towns have this regulatory authority because the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution reserves to the states all “rights and powers” that are not delegated elsewhere in the Constitution to the United States (i.e., the federal government.)
Such powers are known as “police powers.” They enable municipalities to act to protect the public health, public morals, public safety, and the general welfare of their communities.
If the Town were to close its streets to non-resident motorists and others who do not have business in Southern Shores, and keep them open to temporary and permanent residents, property owners, and others who do have business in Southern Shores, it could face a legal challenge.
But legal challenges are not the same as court victories.
In any lawsuit based on a constitutional claim, the Town would rely upon its police powers to assert that it has a “rational basis” for taking action, i.e., it is protecting the public health, safety, and welfare and using reasonable means in doing so.
THE TERMS OF THREE COUNCIL MEMBERS EXPIRE THIS YEAR
We conclude our plan by pointing out that the terms of office of three current Town Council members expire in December: They are Mayor Pro Tem Matt Neal, Councilman Mark Batenic, and Councilman Holland. Three people on the Council constitute a majority.
The municipal election for these seats will be held Nov. 7.
Candidates wishing to run for Southern Shores Town Council must submit their applications to the Dare County Board of Elections during a two-week filing period that opens at noon on Friday, July 7, and closes at noon on Friday, July 21.
We encourage residents who are fair, open-minded, and creative people with problem-solving, leadership, and communication skills to consider running for town office. We need fresh perspectives and a diversity of opinion in our government representation. We need brainstormers who will fight to protect the public’s interests.
The Southern Shores Town Council unanimously approved last night adopting the No-Thru Traffic Resolution, no. 2023.05.02, whose purpose, Mayor Elizabeth Morey said, is to “affect navigation applications,” such as WAZE, so that they will not direct motorists to the cut-thru residential streets, and rejected by consensus the placement of any barricades on the cut-thru streets, including on Ocean Boulevard at the Duck Road split or at any other intersections, where anecdotal evidence by residents might have suggested they were effective.
(See The Beacon, 4/28/23, for the text of the resolution and other background.)
The intent of the resolution, as the Mayor made clear, is not to legislate a cut-thru traffic ban, but to provide WAZE, which is owned by Google, with a municipal order that authorizes it to withhold from motorists alternate routes around congestion on U.S. Hwy. 158 and N.C. Hwy. 12.
The Mayor said she, Mayor Pro Tem Matt Neal, and Town Manager Cliff Ogburn had a Zoom conference with WAZE representatives to effect the resolution.
According to Police Chief David Kole, this new traffic-control tactic “can’t hurt,” but “we cannot enforce it.”
It was unclear from comments last night whether the Town would erect “No Thru Traffic” signs on any residential streets.
In dispensing with the “Local Traffic Only” barricades, Mayor Morey said she thought the “potential for conflict” between and among drivers and residents over their use “outweighs their efficacy,” an opinion she based on her personal observations last summer and one that she has consistently expressed since June, when people acted out angrily over the closure of Hickory Trail at East Dogwood Trail. (See The Beacon’s coverage last June.)
Town Councilmen Matt Neal and Mark Batenic agreed with the Mayor, saying that their informal observations last summer led them to believe that too many cut-thru drivers were ignoring the barricades. Town Councilwoman Paula Sherlock expressed her dislike for the “eyesore” that the barricades create.
It is a shame that the Town did not present any objective data about the barricades’ effectiveness or report on the number of hostile incidents (what, when, and where) that could be attributed to their deployment.
The Council also showed by consensus an interest in exploring the implementation of speed bumps or humps on residential streets in response to a Wax Myrtle Trail property owner’s complaint about speeding by weekend cut-thru motorists on his street.
While the idea of installing temporary speed bumps/humps has come up repeatedly during the past eight years, elected officials have declined to act upon it.
“I’d be willing to try [speed bumps],” Mayor Morey said last night, “maybe.”
The other three Town Council members present were equally tepid about their use. Town Councilman Leo Holland did not attend the meeting.
Last summer speeding complaints came from residents on South Dogwood Trail, Sea Oats Trail, and East Dogwood Trail (between Hickory Trail and South Dogwood Trail), in addition to Wax Myrtle Trail. (See The Beacon, 6/23/22, 7/14/22.) Such complaints are long-standing.
As we mentioned in our 4/28/23 post, we were not able to attend last night’s meeting or to live-stream it. We have watched most of the meeting videotape today, but, unfortunately, are not in a position to do more than submit this short report on the Council’s and the public’s discussion of seasonal traffic mitigation efforts.
We are disappointed that the Council adopted an all-or-nothing approach to the use of barricades, rather than examining where their placement might serve as a deterrent to cut-thru traffic (Ocean Boulevard**), and also did not consider any other means that might be employed this summer, such as preventing left turns off of residential streets on to Duck Road during certain hours of the weekend.
Andrew McConaughy, who lives on Wax Myrtle Trail, said in public comments that he thought the barricades “were working well.”
The Mayor heard similar comments from residents at her July 13, 2022 chat, which was held after the Town temporarily removed the barricades. (See The Beacon, 7/14/22.) Robert Green Sr. of Hillcrest Drive told her then: “The barricades were working.”
Even a closure of the Dick White Bridge, which is located on East Dogwood Trail between Hickory Trail and South Dogwood Trail, during certain hours on summer Saturdays merits some discussion. Mr. Ogburn mentioned the bridge closure as an idea that the Town has not tried, but no Council member picked up on it.
If ideas are going to be recycled, the bridge closure is certainly one that should be reconsidered.
The No-Thru-Traffic Resolution was originally prepared in 2014-15, according to Mr. Ogburn, who said he basically did a “cut and paste” job in drafting it. It is a shame it took the Town Council eight years to get back around to it.
We were hoping that the resolution showed more commitment by the Town to protect the community from cut-thru traffic. It is not news to us that the navigation-app companies will respect town ordinances and resolutions regarding use of Town roads. Tommy Karole, the chairperson of the citizens exploratory committee on cut-thru traffic, often referred to this deference and the need for the Town Council to enact a resolution like the one that was adopted.
While we support the resolution, we also call upon the Town Council to do more to prevent the cut-thru traffic this summer.
IN OTHER NEWS . . . Mr. Ogburn presented a recommended budget for fiscal year 2023-24 of $9,731,450, which is 10 percent higher than the FY 2022-23 budget that was approved last June.
Although he suggested last year that a tax-rate increase might be necessary this year, Mr. Ogburn said last night that “A tax increase is not recommended at this time.”
The public hearing on the FY 2023-24 recommended budget will be held during the Town Council’s June 6 meeting, which starts at 5:30 p.m. in the Pitts Center.
The No-Thru-Traffic resolution that the Town Council will consider at its Tuesday meeting consists of 16 whereas clauses and two paragraphs of operative clauses, which read:
“Now, therefore be it resolved, the Town has approved implementation of No Thru Traffic at the intersections of all Town streets and NC158 and NC12 from the Friday before Memorial Day and Labor Day.
“Now, therefore be it further resolved, all users of Town streets, neighboring jurisdictions and mapping and traffic application providers are hereby provided notice of the above referenced No Thru Traffic so that they act accordingly.”
The Beacon first reported yesterday on what appears to be a breakthrough commitment by the Town to prevent summertime cut-thru traffic on residential streets. See The Beacon, 4/27/23.
According to the agenda posted online yesterday, the resolution, which is no. 2023.05.02, will be considered at the meeting in the course of a discussion about seasonal traffic mitigation, led by Town Manager Cliff Ogburn. It is “new business” that will be taken up between the two public-comment periods, so residents will be able to comment on any actions taken by the Council.
The Town Council meets Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in the Pitts Center. The meeting will be live-streamed on the Town’s You Tube site.
In other important meeting business, Mr. Ogburn will present his recommended budget for fiscal year 2023-2024, which begins July 1, 2023, for the Town Council’s review and discussion. The FY 2023-24 budget is not currently online for public review. The public hearing on the budget will be held during the Council’s June 6 meeting.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
The first thing you might notice about the resolution’s operative wording is that the time period for the “implementation of No Thru Traffic” needs correction. It should be “from the Friday before Memorial” until or through “Labor Day,” or alternatively between “the Friday before Memorial Day and Labor Day.”
You next might ask: What does it mean to “implement” No Thru Traffic?
We expect this question will be elaborated upon at the meeting, with Police Chief David Kole participating.
Resolutions are not ordinances; they are not laws. We leave to Town representatives the task of explaining how the resolution, which is titled “Resolution of the Town Council of the Town of Southern Shores, North Carolina Providing Notice of Traffic Control on Certain Streets and Specific Days during the Summer of 2020 [sic],” will be implemented and enforced, if at all. (The year needs correction to 2023.)
If the resolution is designed simply to serve notice to WAYZ, Google, and other “mapping and traffic application providers” that they are not to direct motorists to residential streets in order for them to avoid congestion on U.S. Hwy. 158 and N.C. 12, then we believe its effect will be very limited.
The 16 whereas clauses, which are the resolution’s “preamble” or “preambular clauses,” effectively describe the Town’s authority in regulating the use of its roads, the road conditions that lead to the excessive amount of traffic upon residential streets during the summer vacation season, the hazards and problems that the cut-thru traffic causes residents, the uncertain future of the Mid-Currituck Bridge “which will not begin to alleviate the substantial traffic through the Town for multiple future Summer Seasons,” and much more. They all coalesce into the 16th preambular clause, which states:
“WHEREAS, it is in the interest of the public’s health, safety, morals and general welfare that the Town of Southern Shores execute upon a plan to provide for No Thru Traffic during the Summer Season and provide notice of the change in traffic pattern to third parties and appropriate authorities.”
What that “plan” may be is not clear from the resolution.
The residential streets that intersect with either U.S. Hwy. 158 or N.C. 12 and that may be used as cut-thru roads by summertime motorists are South Dogwood Trail, Juniper Trail, Chicahauk Trail, Ocean Boulevard north of the cell tower, Porpoise Run, Trout Run, Dolphin Run, East Dogwood Trail, Periwinkle Place, Hickory Trail, Hillcrest Drive, 11th Avenue, and Sea Oats Trail.
South Dogwood Trail is the main artery that both arriving and departing vacationers use to drive around the congestion on the State-owned roads, 158 and 12.
We believe the principal operative clause of the resolution, which speaks to an approval of implementation of No Thru Traffic, could and should be strengthened, but we refrain from saying more until we hear Tuesday about the Town’s intent and potential enforcement means.
We encourage all residents to attend Tuesday’s meeting and to show in number how critical it is to you—to your safety, your health, and your general welfare, and that of your family—for the Town to take additional measures to prevent summertime cut-thru traffic.
Regrettably, we will be unable to attend the meeting or to live-stream it because of preexisting commitments out of town. We will report on it as soon as we can.
The Town Council will consider Tuesday a breakthrough resolution that would authorize the prohibition of summertime thru traffic on all residential streets that intersect with U.S. Hwy. 158 or N.C. Hwy. 12, according to its meeting agenda, which was posted on the Town website today.
The Town Council meets Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in the Pitts Center.
Mayor Elizabeth Morey previously invited residents to appear at Tuesday’s meeting and offer their ideas and solutions for alleviating seasonal cut-through traffic, a problem that came up yesterday in heated remarks at the public workshop about the draft of the new Land Use Plan.
The Beacon will publish more details about the resolution and the upcoming Town Council meeting tomorrow. Stay tuned.
The Town will hold a public workshop Wed., April 26, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., to receive comments about the draft of the new Land Use Plan (LUP), which the Town posted on its website this morning, two days later than consultant Stewart said it would be available for review.
We will try to publish an analysis of the draft LUP by Wednesday morning.
We draw your attention now to a significant change in the Community Vision Statement that is in the update.
Found on p. 79 toward the back of the 105-page draft LUP, the new Community Vision Statement reads:
“The Town of Southern Shores is a coastal town whose identity is intimately tied to its natural resources, history, community, and small-town charm. We strive to preserve and protect Southern Shores’ unique character, environment, and tourism-based economy while supporting the local livelihoods and ensuring a high quality of life. The community’s close-knit bonds create a transparent, responsive, and participatory local government.”
Contrast this with the Community Vision Statement that is up front on p. 8 of the current 91-page Land Use Plan, which contrary to references to it in the draft LUP, is dated 2008 (not 2012), per a note by the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission (CRC) on p. 2 of the Plan:
“The Town of Southern Shores (TOSS) is a quiet seaside residential community comprised primarily of small low density neighborhoods consisting of single family homes primarily on large lots (i.e., at least 20,000 sq. ft.) interspersed with recreational facilities (e.g., marinas, tennis facilities, athletic fields, and parks), beach accesses, walkways and open spaces. These neighborhoods are served by picturesque local roads (rather than wide through streets) along the beach, in the dunes or in the sound-side maritime forest. The scale and architecture of new development and re-development is compatible with existing homes. The community is served by a small commercial district, located on the southern edge of town, which focuses on convenience shopping and services. The desired plan for the future is to maintain the existing community appearance and form.”
The Community Vision Statement in Duck’s 2021 LUP is also at the front of the document on p. 8. (See above.)
The Coastal Area Management Act (“CAMA,” a statute, not an agency) requires North Carolina’s coastal counties to have land use plans, which are made up of policies and maps that provide a blueprint for the community’s growth and development. Although CAMA does not require coastal towns and cities to have land use plans, all towns in Dare County have them.
The CRC certifies all land use plans prepared by coastal counties and towns and has promulgated guidelines to assist them in their preparation.
The CRC’s guideline about community vision states that “The vision shall describe the general physical appearance and form that represents the local government’s plan for the future. It shall include objectives to be achieved by the plan and identify changes that may be needed to achieve the planning vision as determined by the local government.” (Quoting 15 N.C. Administrative Code 07B .0702.)
We do not believe the new Community Vision Statement is responsive to this guideline. For starters, it says nothing about the town’s “general physical appearance and form.” It seems to be more of a general political statement than a precise statement about the town’s environment, which is CAMA’s concern.
The Community Vision Statement serves as a guiding policy for all zoning decisions in Southern Shores and is vitally important. In recommending zoning changes, a majority on the Town Planning Board must agree that they comply with the Land Use Plan. In enacting zoning changes, a majority of the Town Council must make the same assessment. The words “low density” have long been defining words for Southern Shores and its future growth and development.
Please plan to attend the workshop next Wednesday and urge your neighbors to attend, as well.
The Southern Shores Beacon 