The curfews established yesterday for all areas of Dare County except Kitty Hawk have been extended until 3 p.m. today, except in Nags Head, where the curfew has been lifted, according to a noontime bulletin from the Dare County Emergency Management.
I have been adding updates to previous posts and to The Beacon Facebook page via comments.
Ocracoke was hit hard this morning when the waters of the Pamlico Sound rose 7 feet in two hours, starting around 8 a.m. There is widespread flooding on the island, as well as a power outage. Hatteras island is also without power and experiencing flooding.
I will add to this post when I have further updates about the curfew and damage in Southern Shores.
Hurricane Dorian made landfall at Cape Hatteras at 8:35 a.m. today, according to the National Weather Service. Its winds were estimated at near 90 miles per hour, making it a Category 1 hurricane.
Closer to home, a northeast wind of 26 mph, and gusts of 39 mph, were registered at 9:15 a.m. in Manteo at the Dare County Regional Airport, according to the National Weather Service.
A flash-flood emergency is in effect for the Pamlico Sound in Hyde and Dare counties. (See graphic above.) I just received a report from a reader in Ocracoke that some people there have knee-deep water in their homes.
(Update: People are stranded in Ocracoke, inundated by flood waters and without power. The Cape Hatteras Electric Cooperative reports on Twitter that the electricity is out throughout Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Repairs to broken transmission poles will not occur until the area is deemed safe for workers to enter.)
Dorian is continuing to move northeastward, but its speed has increased to 14 mph.
Dare County Emergency Management advises all residents to “stay indoors, shelter in place” throughout today, as the storm’s strong winds and heavy rains affect our area.
In a bulletin issued this morning at 7:45, DCEM also warns that water levels on the sounds are dropping, as “water is pushed away by the wind,” but when the winds shift, “the sound water will rapidly return, bringing extreme soundside flooding.”
Those of us who live on or near the Currituck Sound have witnessed this phenomenon before. DCEM advises that you may access flood gauges online to view water levels in real-time at fiman.nc.gov.
Contact information for reporting power outages and viewing power outage maps, etc., is available at darenc.com/hurricanedorian.
For updated weather forecasts, watches, and warnings from the National Weather Service, see http://www.weather.gov/mhx.
Please feel free to comment here on the conditions in your area. If you would like to send a photograph, please email it to ssbeaconeditor@gmail.com.
Stay safe!
(A reminder: The curfew is still in effect until noon and may be extended.)
A doe and her piebald fawn graze in a yard on East Dogwood Trail this evening. Although piebald deer are rare, they are more common than albino deer, which lack all body pigmentation and have pink eyes, noses, and hooves.
Curfews are in effect in all areas of Dare County, except for the Town of Kitty Hawk, starting at 8 p.m. today and continuing through noon tomorrow, according to the most recent bulletin from Dare County Emergency Management. There also will be no access into Dare County starting at 8 p.m.
As of 6 p.m., the eye of Hurricane Dorian was located 45 miles south of Myrtle Beach, S.C., The Weather Channel (TWC) reported.
The category 2 hurricane, which has had winds ranging from 105 mph to 115 mph today, according to TWC’s Mike Bettes, is moving 8 mph north-northeast. In describing Dorian’s projected track, Mr. Bettes said the hurricane will “skirt” the South Carolina and North Carolina coastlines until it reaches Cape Hatteras, where it will “pull away” and move out to sea.
The Weather Channel is forecasting a storm surge of 4 to 7 feet and rain amounting to 4 to 6 inches for the northern Outer Banks.
Rain has just become heavy in Southern Shores–at 6:35 p.m.–after periods of light rain alternated with bursts of sunshine throughout the afternoon, starting around 2 p.m.
(By 7 p.m., the rain had slacked off.)
I drove down the 158 Bypass around 5:30-6 p.m. and found only one restaurant open in Kitty Hawk: Shipwrecks, which is just south of Wings and across the street from the Mobil station, where the pumps were still operating. Barefoot Bernie’s, long a holdout during storms, was closed.
Quite a few Dominion Power and Spectrum trucks were parked at the Hilton Garden Inn, which was open for business.
The wind was blustery, but not strong, on the beach at the nearby Kitty Hawk Pier. The ocean, which was at low tide, had moderate-size waves–nothing that remarkable (yet).
TWC’s Mr. Bettes said we will be through with Dorian, and it with us, by midday tomorrow.
I am going to take my sighting of the piebald fawn, which I saw with his/her mother and more skittish sibling on my return to the Southern Shores woods, as a harbinger of good tidings. Have a peaceful night, everyone.
UPDATE FROM DARE COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AT 7 P.M.:
If you need last-minute supplies, head to Harris Teeter, not Walmart.
If you need supplies from Home Depot today, you have until noon before the Kitty Hawk superstore closes. It will be closed tomorrow also, according to signs on the store’s doors, and open on Saturday, if possible.
Nearby, Harris Teeter, which enjoyed a brisk business this morning, will be open today probably until 6 p.m., according to the store’s florist, Maggi, who told me that a closing time had yet to be announced.
As you can see from the photo above, Walmart has battened down its hatches.
If you need a prescription filled, Bear Drugs owner and head pharmacist, Steve Archbell, said he plans to put in a full day. If “winds start to pick up,” Mr. Archbell said, he will close at 5 p.m., rather than the usual 7 p.m.
The ABC Store is closed today and tomorrow. Han-Dee Hugo’s BP gas station is still open.
If you would like to grab a fast-food lunch, McDonalds is still serving. Wendy’s is not.
If you’re a news junkie like me, you will not find today’s print newspaper for sale anywhere, not even The Virginian-Pilot.
As for the weather, it’s still hot, humid, and overcast with occasional bursts of sunshine.
Walkers are enjoying the deserted, but calm Southern Shores beaches. The wind is mild. It’s a beautiful day.
I’ll update the forecast later. (The Weather Channel is currently focusing on Charleston, S.C. The watch words for the northern Outer Banks continue to be storm surge.)
The Southern Shores beach at the E. Dogwood Trail access around 12:30 p.m. today. Some people are nonchalantly soaking up the sun.
It is hot. It is humid. It is overcast, with occasional bursts of sunshine. The beaches are scarcely populated and wide-open. Beautiful, despite the red “No Swimming” caution flags fluttering in the breeze. The road traffic is steady, but much lighter than usual at this time of year. Construction crews are working. Harris Teeter in Kitty Hawk is doing a booming business . . .
This is Southern Shores on the Wednesday before the arrival of Hurricane–or, more likely, Tropical Storm–Dorian, the day that Dare County ordered permanent residents to start evacuating.
Judging from the number of grocery carts I observed loaded with bottled water, beer, and wine, I would say that quite a few people are not heeding the “mandatory” order.
FOR YOUR INFORMATION:
Grocery stores: Harris Teeter is open its regular hours today, which means 24/7, according to an employee I asked on-site. Walmart is doing the same. Already shuttered, Food Lion in the Marketplace is closing at 8 p.m. and will not reopen until Saturday.
Pharmacies: CVS and Walgreens are closed. Bear Drugs is open until 7 p.m. I suspect Walmart’s pharmacy is open until 9 p.m., but I did not confirm this.
Gas is available at the Han-Dee Hugo’s in Kitty Hawk.
The Southern Shores Town Hall is open today until 5 p.m. It will be closed Thursday and Friday.
The Kitty Hawk Post Office closed at the end of business yesterday. There will be no mail delivery today.
The Southern Shores beach at the site of one of the two remaining unhatched sea turtle nests was unpopulated today. The tire tracks bear witness to patrols by Ocean Rescue.
Good morning, everyone.
And so the wait begins.
In all of my decades of living and vacationing on the Outer Banks, I cannot recall another time when Dare County issued a state of emergency and ordered mandatory evacuations of visitors and residents ahead of a hurricane that was stalled over the Bahamas—which is about 750 miles from here.
Formerly a Category 5 hurricane, Dorian, which caused substantial damage in the Bahamas, was downgraded yesterday by the National Weather Service to a Cat 2 storm. As of 11 a.m. today, it was located off of the northern Florida coast, traveling 9 mph north-northwest, according to the National Weather Service.
As you undoubtedly know, Dare County imposed mandatory evacuation on visitors, effective at noon yesterday, with the expectation being that all visitors would have departed by sunset. The County’s mandatory evacuation for residents went into effect today at 6 a.m. Needless to say, it also has temporarily banned swimming in the ocean.
I believe in being cautious and putting public safety first, but I have to question the timing of these decisions, which were made Monday afternoon by the Dare County Control Group of Dare County Emergency Management (DCEM). Evacuation orders have widespread rippling effects, especially for people who cross the Wright bridge for work or who depend on workers who cross the bridge.
According to a bulletin that DCEM issued yesterday at 4 p.m., all Dare County towns are under a hurricane watch. The bulletin states that there will be unrestricted access to Dare County through today to enable people to make their evacuation plans. So, if you have to go to Elizabeth City or Chesapeake or elsewhere today, you will be able to return to your Dare County home. You will not be prevented from crossing the bridge.
I have noticed a lot of questions on social media about reentry permits. A permanent resident who wishes to reenter Dare County after the county has lifted its state of emergency and mandatory evacuation orders does not need a reentry permit. He/she only needs a valid N.C. driver’s license or an identification card with a local address or a current Dare County tax bill or parcel data sheet.
Nonresident property owners who wish to reenter the county to check their homes must present either a current county tax bill or parcel data sheet with matching current government-issued identification or a reentry permit with a government ID.
Reentry is done in stages, with the first stage, referred to as “priority one,” restricted to reentry of essential personnel. Permanent residents and essential personnel for critical businesses may return during the priority-two stage, and nonresident property owners and nonresident employees of non-critical businesses may return during the priority-three stage. The general public and all other visitors may return during priority four.
Hurricane Dorian did widespread catastrophic damage to the Bahamas, especially in the northern islands, such as Apaco Island. The Weather Channel is reporting eight deaths as a result of the Category 5 hurricane and tens of thousands of displaced people who are in need of food and water and other disaster relief.
As of 10 a.m. today, according to the WLC, the storm was “lashing” the Florida coast, around Daytona Beach, with heavy rain and winds up to 30 miles per hour. (The reporters on the beach there did not seem to be in severe weather, quite honestly. The winds were not having a visible effect on them or their clothing.)
According to my sister, niece, and their families, who live in Jacksonville, Fla., which is north of Daytona, Dorian has been a non-event for them. They experienced “some small wind gusts” and have not lost power. None of them lives on the coast, however.
The WLC forecast for our area calls for some late-night thunderstorms today. Thursday and Friday look to be rainy days, with the heaviest rain expected on Friday. TWC is predicting a beautiful clear and sunny weekend, with highs in the low 80s.
Dorian’s slow-moving track is difficult to predict, but in all of the case scenarios I have heard and read, it is most likely to be a rain and storm-surge event for us. The National Weather Service issued a storm-surge warning for our area at 11:08 a.m. today.
Please feel free to comment below. Have a good week!
If SAGA is allowed to proceed with reported development plans, this vintage flat-roof cottage at 1213 S. Virginia Dare Trail in Kill Devil Hills (as pictured on Dare County GIS) will be demolished and replaced by a 28-bedroom wedding venue with a gazebo-chapel that accommodates 100 guests.
Happy Labor Day weekend, everyone.
I have been laboring elsewhere of late and, hence, have let The Beacon blog and Facebook page go silent for a while. I will resume my Southern Shores life after Monday.
Before I left, I met briefly with one of the Kill Devil Hills homeowners who is organizing a campaign against SAGA Realty and Construction’s proposed oceanfront “mini-hotels” at 1207-1209 and 1213 S. Virginia Dare Trail. She contacted me because I manage the website, nominihotels.com, and distribute “NO! MINI-HOTELS” yard signs.
You may have seen some of these signs pop up in KDH recently. The homeowners also have started a Facebook page, which you may access by searching for “KDH Against Mini-Hotels” on your Facebook account. For background on the SAGA’s proposed developments, see:
SAGA’s KDH plans reportedly call for the demolition of a modest flat-roof cottage built in 1952 at 1213 S. Virginia Dare Trail (see photo above) to make way for a 28-bedroom event building that will have 28 parking spaces, a two-story tiki bar, and a gazebo-chapel that will seat 100 people. This mega-mansion/church/commercial wedding venue–whatever it is–will be wedged between two beach-box cottages built stacked on one oceanfront lot to the north and a cottage court to the south.
Acting as a limited liability corporation known as SVDT LLC, SAGA purchased this property, which consists of one lot and a portion of another, from a family trust on Aug. 8, 2019, according to the deed that was filed with the Register of Deeds office on Aug. 15, and that I accessed through the Dare County GIS (geographic information system) website.
You can imagine how homeowners located adjacent to this proposed residential-commercial monstrosity feel. Never in their wildest dreams did they imagine the construction of such an offensive hybrid-use building to occur in their back yards.
Speaking only for myself, I think it is a disgrace that the KDH Board of Commissioners has allowed the threat of this potential destruction to occur.
Is KDH really that hard up for revenue that the Commissioners cannot reach consensus on changing the zoning code to save what’s left of the town’s family beach from SAGA’s scorched-earth annihilation? The KDH government has had years to take protective action and has miserably failed.
I say “potential” destruction because it is not too late for the KDH Commissioners to take emergency action to prevent SAGA from plundering the oceanfront in this area. As far as I understand, SAGA does not yet have “vested rights” in developing the property at 1213 S. Virginia Dare Trail. The Town can still intervene.
SAGA also reportedly plans to demolish a historic bungalow built in 1955 at 1207 S. Virginia Dare Trail and to replace it with a 24-bedroom structure. According to The Outer Banks Voice, the Kill Devil Hills-based developer intends to build a second 24-bedroom structure on vacant land adjacent to the bungalow at 1209 S. Virginia Dare Trail.
My Dare County GIS search reveals that each of these properties is owned by the same family group. Either SAGA has not purchased them yet, or, if it has, the deeds have yet to be registered. In either case, there is still time before SAGA’s rights of property use vest for KDH to take expedient action and prevent these developments.
[I have been advised by a reader, whose habitual snideness guarantees that his comments will never be published, that the family that owns these properties is developing them. I have not been able to visit the KDH planning department to check for permit applications, and I may not have the opportunity to do so. My reporting is based on The Outer Banks Voice, conversations I have had with the KDH homeowner, and the Dare County GIS. I welcome any factual corrections supported by evidence and submitted without insult. One reason I write is to further the exchange of information.]
I have not been able to visit the sites of these reported proposed projects, but I can tell you that the Outer Banks Beach Club is located to the north at 1101 S. Virginia Dare Trail, and that an old strip shopping center containing The Lamp Shop is on the west side of the road, just to the south. I locate addresses along the beach road by landmarks, and The Lamp Shop, which I have frequented for as long as it has existed, is one I know well. This is around milepost 9.
The first permit an oceanfront developer must secure is a Coastal Area Management Administration (CAMA) permit, issued by the State with a local permit officer’s approval. The CAMA statute applies because the oceanfront is an “area of environmental concern.” Thereafter, SAGA would proceed with applying for town permits that would allow it to demolish the two existing structures and to build.
A property owner with legal standing may appeal a zoning permit issued by the town if there is cause to do so. I have taken only a cursory look at the KDH zoning code, but nowhere among the permitted and conditional uses of property in the Ocean-Impact Residential Zone did I see a use that encapsulates the wedding venue that SAGA proposes. I have advised the homeowners to consult a local land-use attorney.
I have been told there is an online petition that you can sign to support “KDH Against Mini-Hotels,” but I have not located it yet. I will provide the website address for the petition as soon as I have it.
STATUS OF NO! MINI-HOTELS LITIGATION IN SOUTHERN SHORES
As I acknowledged above, I manage the website, nominihotels.com, which pertains to litigation in Southern Shores regarding SAGA’s 12-bedroom, 12-bathroom, hotel-amenity-filled structures at 98 and 134 Ocean Blvd. The mini-hotel at 98 Ocean Blvd. has been rented through Carolina Designs (see “Aquadisiac”) since early August. The mini-hotel at 134 Ocean Blvd., which is also offered for rent through Carolina Designs, is still in construction.
As some of you may have read in The Outer Banks Voice recently, an administrative law judge issued a ruling Aug. 12 that was adverse to the homeowners who appealed the CAMA permits granted to SAGA for these two developments. I have not reported on this decision, which was a grant of a summary-judgment motion made by the N.C. Dept. of Environmental Quality—and, therefore, a dismissal of the homeowners’ legal claim based on the Southern Shroes land-use plan— because the petitioners have until Sept. 11 to appeal it. I will update the nominihotels.com home page after that date has passed.
In the meantime, I can assure anyone who donates money to the No! Mini-Hotels GoFundMe litigation fund that his or her money will be well-spent. The homeowner who owns property across the street from 134 Ocean Blvd. has an appeal of a Southern Shores Board of Adjustment zoning decision, which went 3-2 against her, pending in Dare County Superior Court. I also can say that any lawyer who reads the administrative law judge’s Aug. 12 ruling is like to find cause to question the judge’s legal reasoning.
To reach the GoFundMe page, please go to nominihotels.com. Thank you for any support and/or donation you may give.
Planning Board Vice-Chairperson Andy Ward has his eye on SAGA’s nearly 6,000-square-foot, 12-bedroom/12-bathroom “Aquadisiac,” at 98 Ocean Blvd., which has been rented since early August.
The wheels of the Town Planning Board grind slowly and sometimes they veer totally off-track.
That is what happened Monday evening when all Board members gave credence to legal obstacles being touted by Porter Graham, lobbyist for the Outer Banks Assn. of Realtors (OBAR), and Chris Toolan, a realtor with Century 21 Nachman Realty in Kitty Hawk, and unanimously voted to postpone any action on a special-events policy out of concern that it might be illegal to have one.
The Planning Board’s well-intentioned “open forum” Monday on possible special-event regulation in Southern Shores devolved into the Board’s unquestioning deference to the OBAR. The only “stakeholders” from the community who spoke were Mr. Graham and Mr. Toolan, who both gave their addresses as Kill Devil Hills, and I.
Rather than attempt to find consensus on the matter of formulating a policy on weddings and other special events, the Board veered off-track into thinking that such a policy might now be illegal. Mr. Graham and Mr. Toolan raised this preposterous idea, and they prevailed over more knowledgeable “heads,” including my own. (You may consider this an editorial.) The Board put off any further discussion on a special-events policy for another month, in order to give Town Attorney Ben Gallop an opportunity to weigh in.
I was very disappointed by the Board’s action, or, more precisely, its lack of action.
Mr. Graham and Mr. Toolan misrepresented the effect of a new amendment to the N.C. Vacation Rental Act, arguing that it could render a town policy on registering special events illegal. Both suggested that the town might be sued if it were to proceed.
[8/22/19, PLEASE NOTE: I previously had written here that Mr. Graham raised the prospect of people going to jail. He has contacted me by email and advised that he did not make such an assertion. I thought he had, but I cannot confirm my notes without a videotape to consult, and Planning Board meetings are not videotaped. I will take Mr. Graham at his word. Apparently, it was Mr. Toolan who made the assertion.]
I could say more about the indefensible legal position that Mr. Graham and Mr. Toolan advanced, but I am going to let Mr. Gallop clean up the mess.
For those who are interested, here are the legal citations you need to read:
This amendment passed the N.C. House of Representatives and N.C. Senate unanimously, and Governor Roy Cooper signed it into law July 1.
2) N.C. General Statute section 160A-424, which pertains to cities and towns and now, because of SL 2019-73, pertains to vacation rental properties, as well as other rentals:
N.C.G.S. sec. 160A-424 is titled “periodic inspections for hazardous or unlawful conditions.”
I would like to suggest to Planning Board members that in the future they skeptically and critically evaluate any and all legal arguments made by Mr. Graham and not passively defer to him. If the Outer Banks Assn. of Realtors wants to talk law, it should send an attorney to Southern Shores Planning Board and Town Council meetings.
Mr. Graham played lawyer Monday night, reading aloud sections of N.C. general statutes, that he took out of context and does not understand and, I doubt, the Planning Board understood either. In so doing, he succeeded in scaring the Board into doing nothing. That’s not the way town government should work.
Board Vice Chairperson Andy Ward heavily promoted the adoption of a town special-events policy at the Monday meeting. Calling himself a “lone ranger” on the Board, he said he would prefer an ordinance, but would settle for crafting a policy that is “framed for achieving certain goals,” such as minimizing the adverse effects of large social gatherings on neighbors, ensuring that traffic jams do not occur, and the like.
Mr. Ward did not get much support from the four other Board members who serve with him. Board members David Neal and Donald Sowder said they were not inclined to go forward now with such a policy, and neither Chairperson Elizabeth Morey nor member Ed Lawler clearly stated her/his views.
I strongly urge Mr. Ward to write a policy and to present it to the Planning Board at its September meeting for discussion. He does not need the Town Attorney or the Town Planning Director to draft it for him. Duck’s wedding-registration policy provides an excellent prototype. If the other Board members reject it, fine. That is their prerogative. You have to start somewhere.
(Please see The Beacon’s 8/18/19 blog for background facts and links to materials.)
CHANGING BUILDING HEIGHT AND FILL REQUIREMENTS
The Planning Board was much more at ease in considering new language that it has drafted to alter the Town Code sections pertaining to building height and fill requirements.
I quoted this language in The Beacon’s 8/18/19 blog and will not repeat it here. The Board voted unanimously to incorporate the new language into a zoning text amendment, which likely will be subject to public hearing at the Board’s Oct. 21 meeting.
John Finelli, who represents Martin’s Point on the Planning Board, expressed an interest in discussing other fill issues that were not addressed in the new Code language, such as the type of material that a builder may use for fill and the construction of retaining walls that create a “doming effect.” Mr. Finelli’s concerns, which he documented after the Board’s July meeting, will be discussed at the Board’s Sept. 16 meeting.
As soon as the new ZTA on height and fill is prepared and posted online, The Beacon will publish it.
In comments at the end of Monday’s meeting, Mr. Sowder brought up the problem of blue-green algae in Southern Shores ponds, and Mr. Finelli warned of alligator weed in ponds and ditches. Mr. Sowder, who was appointed in July to a three-year term on the Planning Board by the Town Council, lives on the Mallard Cove pond.
ON A PERSONAL NOTE . . . A BIG THANK YOU TO DARECOUNTYEMS
I would like to extend, again, an enthusiastic and heartfelt thank you to all members of the Dare County Emergency Medical Services who responded to a 911 call placed by one of my mother’s caregivers Monday night while I was in the Planning Board meeting. Everyone who assisted my 95-year-old Mom after she fell on the front deck at her home was outstanding: kind, caring, conscientious, professional, efficient, respectful, courteous, and the admiring adjectives could go on and on.
Not only did Dare County EMS assist with caring for Mom after her fall and with transporting her to the Outer Banks Hospital Emergency Department, these wonderful people were there, at our request, when I returned home with Mom hours later, to transport her safely into her home.
I am very grateful to everyone and happy to report that my mother, a tough survivor who tried to convince paramedics not to take her to the hospital, is doing well.
(As a patient advocate and caregiver for many years now, I have had many experiences with Dare County EMS, and they have all been outstanding.)
Ironically, I decided on Monday night to turn off my cell phone during the Planning Board meeting. I have been known to leave it on at town meetings just in case a frantic caregiver needs to reach me. Clearly, I must figure out how to set it on vibrate, so I can avoid the embarrassing ringing that I’ve previously experienced and still be readily available in an emergency.
The Town Planning Board will be looking north to Duck to evaluate how it handles wedding-related events when the Board takes up options for regulating special events in Southern Shores at its meeting tomorrow, in what is being called an “open forum,” similar to a Town Hall discussion. (The Beacon promoted this forum on Facebook yesterday.)
The Board will meet at 5:30 p.m., in the Pitts Center. Also on the agenda is a continued discussion of the Town’s current requirements for building height and fill and their possible amendment. (See below.)
Vice-Chairperson Andy Ward spoke at the Board’s July 15 meeting about determining a “balance” among special-events “stakeholders” and “getting the word out” about tomorrow’s forum so people can “talk about it some more.” The Board emphasized that it would like to hear the viewpoints of all interested people.
“We need to have some type of policy moving forward,” Mr. Ward noted.
Among the meeting materials that the Planning Board has posted on the Town website are links to the Town of Duck’s wedding-related event registration policy and a form that registrants must fill out and submit to the town at least 30 days before the event date. See:
The Duck policy on wedding events defines “a wedding-related gathering” as “50 or more people in a private residence” in town for the purpose of attending a pre- or post-wedding party, a rehearsal dinner, a wedding ceremony, a wedding reception, or a brunch.
Duck’s registration form is designed for a wedding planner or other responsible party to complete. It asks for basic contact and event information, as well as the registrant’s plans for parking and traffic flow and trash collection and removal. It also advises the registrant of Duck’s noise ordinance, asking for details about the type of sound system that will be used during the event and the hours and location of its operation, and the town’s regulations on signage and decorations.
According to the wedding-related event registration policy, the registrant’s form is “circulated to neighborhood associations, the property manager or owner of the proposed venue, and the Town of Duck Police and Fire departments in order to ensure that they are aware of your event plans and also so that they can contact you prior to or during the event, should this be necessary.”
The policy further notifies registrants that the Duck Police Dept. will be “routinely monitoring conditions” during the event, in order to “preempt” noise and parking issues.
Unlike Duck’s governing body, the Southern Shores Town Council elected to approach the matter of regulating special events in town, such as weddings and other large social gatherings, via a new Town Code ordinance, rather than a policy. This approach did not pan out. In fact, it became a public-relations nightmare.
Although the Town Council unanimously voted in June to reconsider the “Special Events and Occupancy Limitation Ordinance” that Town Attorney Ben Gallop drafted in December 2015, and the Council rejected in January 2016, and send it to the Planning Board for evaluation, the Council decided 3-2 in July not to discuss the ordinance further.
In so doing, the majority ignored 19 suggestions that Planning Board Chairperson Elizabeth Morey, Mr. Ward, and Planning Director Wes Haskett, who is now acting town manager, had prepared as proposed modifications of the ordinance. You may view their suggestions here:
Chairperson Morey increasingly has encouraged Town Hall-type discussions at Planning Board meetings that do not limit the speaking time of members from the community. The Beacon applauds her for opening up the Board’s meetings to the public for responsive, respectful, and inclusive dialogues. So far, the give-and-take process among Board members and meeting attendees has worked well.
BUILDING HEIGHT AND FILL REQUIREMENTS
In this same spirit of open and collaborative government, Ms. Morey invited two local builders who spoke at the July Planning Board meeting about the Town’s current requirements on fill and building height to submit draft language to amend the Town Code, specifically sections 36-171 (lot disturbance and stormwater management) and 36-202 (which addresses the RS-1 single-family residential district).
The Beacon is pleased to see from the materials posted on the Town website that not only did a follow-up meeting between Planning Board members and local builders occur, but results of that meeting and subsequent related emails have been documented and made available to the public. The Planning Board is exhibiting the kind of transparency that The Beacon has long sought from the Mayor and the Town Council.
On Aug. 7, Mr. Ward, Mr. Haskett, and Planning Board member David Neal reportedly met with Southern Shores builders Mark Martin and Matt Neal—who had spoken at the Board’s July meeting—and Jeff Haskett to discuss potential amendments to the Town’s current building height and fill requirements, which you may access here:
The group suggested the following new language, which would apply in all zoning districts, not just the RS-1 single-family residential district:
“Maximum building height shall be 35 feet, measured from the average of the existing grade at the building corners. If the average of the existing grade at the building corners is less than 8 feet above mean sea level (msl.), the maximum building height may be measured from up to 8 ft. above mean sea level (msl).”
Currently, the ordinance refers to “original” grade, not existing grade, and addresses situations when the average grade of the corners is either higher or lower than 7 feet msl.
The group also agreed that the Town’s current 3:1 slope requirement in side setback areas should be added to rear setback areas, as well.
This draft language was modified about a week later, according to an email written by Mr. Ward, to incorporate suggestions made by Chairperson Morey and Mr. Matt Neal, both of whom are running for Town Council this fall. With their modifications inserted, the suggested language now reads:
“Maximum building height shall be 35 feet, measured from the average of the existing, undisturbed grade at the building corners. If the average of the existing, undisturbed grade at the building corners is less than 8 feet above mean sea level (msl.), the maximum building height may be measured from up to 8 ft. above mean sea level (msl), provided that the horizontal-to-vertical slope criteria can be attained.”
In an Aug. 15 email to Mr. Haskett, Mr. Ward also asked that the following “potential” fill language, along with a sketch he drew, be circulated to Planning Board members for the meeting:
“No fill material may be re-distributed or placed on a lot in the rear or side setback areas unless the final horizontal-to-vertical slope is equal to or less than 3:1. This shall be calculated from the finished final grade to the rear and side property lines.” [Boldfaced language is new to the ordinance, Code sec. 36-171(1).]
The Beacon commends the Planning Board, especially the Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson, for their followup between meetings on potential special-events regulation and amendments to the Town Code on building height and fill requirements and for disclosure of some of their research and communications on these issues. Now anyone who attends tomorrow’s meeting will have the opportunity to inform him or herself and to come prepared for a meaningful discussion. Bravo!
The Southern Shores Beacon 