thank you
good evening everyone and welcome to the town of Southern Shores regular Town
council meeting for October the 4th 2022.
if you all please join me now in the Pledge of Allegiance thank you
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and
justice for all foreign
I would ask just for a moment of silence now please
thank you
Council we have the opportunity to adopt our agenda or
amend it at this time many amendments or can I hear a motion
to adopt our agenda I move that we approve the agenda as presented second
we have a motion and a second everyone in favor please signify by
saying aye aye opposed we have an agenda thank you Council
on our consent agenda we have two budget related items
and the approval of the minutes
any problems with providing us with a motion to approve the consent agenda as
presented a move that we approve the consent
agenda as presented our second oh second thank you
no no hearing no discussion all those in favor all right aye opposed motion
carries we have an approved consent agenda
we are extremely excited and pleased to welcome back to our town
our wonderful auditor Theresa Osborne thanks for coming tonight Teresa good to
see you for that lovely introduction absolutely
sort of at that time where I'm in between trying to figure out if I
if I can see how this works um so I'm here tonight to present the
results of your June 30th 2022 annual audit the town has received what's
called an unmodified opinion on its financial statements and that is the
best opinion that you can receive on your statements and that's outlined on
pages one to three of the financial statements I will tell you that that
letter used to only be two pages long um that aicpa and the powers that be
have lengthened that to three pages it's just got a little it's got a few more
disclaimers in it than it used to have um but still the same overall opinion
um that opinion confirms that your financial statements are presented
fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting standards
additionally there were no significant deficiencies or material weaknesses
noted and this is outlined in the internal control report which is on
pages 59 to 60 of your financial statements
so the audited financial statements are about 60 pages long
um and so then I'm not here with you all
all night I'm gonna just pick out a few highlights for you tonight
um believe it or not
we're really going to be able to see where the town stands looking at um
pretty much just two of these statements um the report begins with what is called
the management discussion and Analysis on pages four through ten you may find
this to be a more user-friendly summary of the town's finances
and it includes some discussion and Analysis that you might not get from
just looking at the financial statements and the numbers so that might just be
something you want to go back and highlight after the meeting
exhibits one and two on pages 11 and 12 are what we call the government-wide
full accrual financial statements typical government financial statements
do not include fixed assets and debt but
um I'm going to say it's probably about 10 years ago we they came up with this
thing called Gatsby 34 where they decided governments needed to be needed
to present their financial statements more like businesses
and that's where they came up with these government-wide financial statements and
that's what you're going to find on exhibits one and two again typically the
statements that you get monthly and what I consider to be the good statements
that you need to be making decisions with they're not going to have the fixed
assets and debt on it so I'm going to come back to those two exhibits in just
a few minutes I'm going to start tonight on pages 13 and 14. these are what are
called your governmental fund statements so if I could get you to join me on
those two pages you'll notice on page 13 there are four
columns across the top these statements are divided between what is known as
major funds and non-major funds and we decide that based on
um how big the assets are of that fund how big the revenues are how much there
is in expenses and sometimes you might not have enough in assets or revenues
and expenses and some agency says we want you to even though this might be a
minor fund we want you to show it as a major fund and that happened this last
year with the American Rescue plan funds that you all got that might typically
not meet the definition of a major fund but because of the type of money that it
is the government said that they wanted us to show those as a major fund so so
um over on the balance sheet you'll see under major funds you've got general
fund and capital project fund you don't see the special Revenue fund there which
is your which is your arfa money because you didn't have any you weren't holding
on to any cash at the end of the year but you do see that over on page um 14.
you see the general fund the capital project fund and the special Revenue
fund that special Revenue fund is your arpa fund American Rescue plan funds
again the reason you see it on the you don't see it on the balance sheets
because there was no money there at the end of the year but you see it on page
14 because you actually had Revenue come in and it went back out
um in the same year
that non-major fund that's your Cemetery fund
so over on page 14 in the First Column under the general fund and um I also
want to add that even though we call it the general fund North Carolina General
statutes require you to combine your capital reserve fund with your general
fund so that general fund includes both of those
if you go down towards the bottom it says net change and fund balance your
revenues over your expenses and your general fund again which includes the
capital reserve fund was three million 306 528 off the cuff that's going to
sound like a whole lot of money to you and you might say why were we so much
revenues over expenses but there were there's some actually very good reasons
for that last year as you all recall um last fiscal year was when you
implemented your Municipal Service District taxes one and two or A and B I
can't remember how you refer to them but and you also did the four Cent town wide
Beach nourishment tax last year so those tax that four Cent town wide in
the msda and B brought in about 1.7 million dollars last year that didn't
get spent last year because you implement that in the year before you
have your first debt payment so of that 3.3 million 1.7 million dollars of that
is actually from those taxes and that's sitting in your capital reserve fund at
June 30th in addition to that you received 471
354 dollars in American Rescue plan funds again those were not budgeted and
but those were received and they were transferred into the general fund to
offset police salaries and benefits you all probably remember doing a project
resolution sometime last year where you decided how you were going to use that
money um in addition to that
um you um took two hundred and thirty three
thousand dollars from your bond funds when you all when you all first started
doing Beach nourishment you were paying for those expenses out of your general
fund um and then you got your bond debt last
December and you were able to take two hundred and thirty three thousand
dollars out of that Bond money and reimburse the general fund for the
expenses that were fronted by the general fund so that's another two
hundred and thirty three thousand dollars that rolled into the general
fund and then lastly shared revenues came in over budget by approximately
nine hundred thousand dollars that would be your occupancy tax your sales tax and
your um occupancy sales and land transfer tax
so when you all were working on your budget in May of 21 you hadn't finished
fiscal year 21 so you really weren't you didn't fully know what an amazing year
that was going to be um and that just ended up to be a you
know it ended up being a phenomenal year and that really rolled into fiscal year
21-22 as well the um you know tourism remained very strong and
um property sales remained very strong as well so again those numbers came in
over budget
um on page 13 again this is the BET 13 is the balance sheet that matches up
with the revenue and expenses if you look in the first column on page 13 down
towards the bottom you can see that your total fund balances are 11 million 571
941 and you can see how that's broken down 2.1 2 million 186 of that belongs
to the capital reserve fund that's um the biggest piece of it
um two million dollars of that is um what's called stabilization by State
Statute that's revenues that you have recognized as income at June 30th but
you didn't actually receive the money until July or August so even though
you've recognized it as Revenue North Carolina says we're not really going to
let you call that unassigned because you didn't actually have the cash in hand at
June 30th but what that leaves you with in your unassigned is 6 million 557 121.
that's an increase over the prior year of 1 million 368.005.
um the primary reason for this increase or the re or the things that I just
mentioned the arpa funds the um Beach nourishment expenses and the revenues
over budget that on assigned fund balance represents
a hundred and ten percent of total general fund expenses for last fiscal
year the town has a fund balance policy that
requires a minimum of three million dollars so that six million is you know
significantly above that amount um certainly gives you some flexibility
As you move forward and make decisions um
so back to the the exhibit one and exhibit two that I was telling you about
what we do is we take exhibit three and four and we convert that over to what we
call the government-wide financial statements which is exhibit one and two
and you'll see at the bottom of exhibit three and four there's these conversion
schedules there that shows how we add the debt and the fixed assets to exhibit
one and two um so exhibit one which is the balance
sheet the government-wide balance sheet that's on page
it's page 11. yeah page 11.
you can see there that um you've got all of your debt included here
um you've got your you've got your bond debt and you also have your
um actuarily determined liabilities for post-employment benefits for things like
pension and retiring health insurance you can see those liabilities are going
to be detailed on page 38 of the notes to the financial statements
and I just always like to mention that although the liabilities for the law
enforcement officer special separation allowance and the retiree health
insurance they're required to be reported in your financial statements
there is no funding requirement there's no law that says that you have to set
that money aside um the LGC has started recommending that
local governments maybe take a look at that and decide you know is it time to
set is it time to start setting that money aside
um I'll tell you that not a not a whole lot of governments have done it because
there's a lot that money is very restricted once you put it into a trust
fund you can't ever get it back out um
just just a lot of rules you got to follow
something that we find becomes mandatory as time goes on but right now it's not
um overall I just want to say that the town ended the year in very strong
financial condition I would like to thank Bonnie and the rest of the staff
for their assistance with the audit and I'm happy to answer any questions that
you might have thanks Teresa okay I see it's uh still
pending to the LGC has that been it is still pending it has been submitted to
them and I would expect sometime over the week week or 10 days will probably
um we'll hear back from them and generally it would just be like a
format they're never going to question the
numbers that are in here it might just be a formatting question or something
that they may have um I've never had any that were not
approved the first time so um it's just just a process that we've
got to go through okay
anybody have any questions for Teresa
we're glad there's no Majors or minors thank y'all very much thanks Teresa very
much
next on our agenda is uh staff reports
we have our staff report from our Deputy Town manager playing director Wes
haskett good evening Wes thank you good evening mayor members of
council um I have a brief report for y'all
tonight for the month of September with respect to permits there were a total of
55 permits issued that consisted of non-zoning permits 25 building permits
one of those was for a new construction 17 trade permits three lot disturbing
stormwater management permits one lot disturbance demolition permanent and the
total amount of fees that were collected in September was 22 327 and 30 cents
with respect to code enforcement in September there were 11 warning
citations issued for solid waste violations and one warning citation was
mailed for a Fallen Tree over a canal moving on to with respect to land use
Plan update with respect to where we are there we are looking at scheduling the
community kickoff day meeting with the consultant or meetings rather with the
consultant on November 15th that has not been finalized yet that day would
consist of a joint planning board Town council meeting possibly department head
meeting a community tour with the consultant and then that would also that
evening that would be the day of the first public Workshop meeting with the
consultant um
again the project schedule has not been finalized and once it has been we will
make sure that it's posted on the website
um so that everyone can see and plan accordingly
with respect to the planning board board will be meeting uh tomorrow actually
here at 1 pm for a special meeting and the purpose of the special meeting is
for the board performing the duties of the town's Board of adjustment to hold a
public hearing to consider apa-2201 an appeal application submitted
by Adam Ward to appeal of the zoning administrator's decision to deny
approval of a recombination plot for the property located at 55 Skyline Road
the board will also meet on October 17th here in the Pitt Center at 5 5 PM
at that meeting the board will discuss potential commercial design standards
and they may consider the ZTA 2208 from Casey Varnell on behalf of pleasure
Palace cdec the one that was submitted back in I believe July or August
um and has been pushed back and pushed back
um lastly the historic landmarks Commission
they may be meeting on October 25th I reported at the last meeting council
meeting that uh there was a certificate of appropriateness application submitted
by Courtney Clements for 23 porpoise run that meeting was pushed back from last
month and it may be pushed back again that's why I say they may meet on
October 25th um we'll know for sure by the beginning
of next week any questions
nope I'm sorry I was writing why you said this the next paying board meeting
date and time regular plan board meeting data time is October 17th at five
o'clock
and then there's a special meeting is tomorrow at one call got it
what else I just have one question and the whole scheme of things this is
pretty minor but there are so many trash cans that have
been turned over on Ocean Boulevard I mean scads of them ever since last week
are the rental companies at all Cooperative about going to pick those up
I mean the houses are empty that's pretty obvious
some of them are yeah can we give you the names of some of them that don't
appear to be very Cooperative I mean you know they're in the I know the officers
they're in the road they're you know people are pulling them out well I've
moved a bunch of them the other day yeah I mean it just seems like you know we've
had two storms and that's bad but just some cooperation in getting those cans
off the road would be very appreciated we'll see what we can
do okay would some sort of written request letter from the town
two individual property owner companies property management companies
blasted out food or Association okay I think the Challenger is getting the
renters to understand to bring some of them back too if they get there as a
turnover and I'll see cars there and they're still out there matter of fact
Sunday somebody was trying to put some over on while I was on the North going
north uh put them on the west side instead of having it out on the east
side so they truck could pick it up I mean it assumes that there should be
some protocol when you have a big storm come through town
and they're trash cans and they just lay there for days oh yeah I mean there
should be some protocol that these rental companies and there's still some
down here and they've got most of them are picked up I think but there's some
down here at the end yet yeah anyway just a minor point I'm glad
that's the only storm damage we had but yes ma'am
was anything from uh the activity at Marketplace
um they as you can see the walls were going up
um they've done more work in the parking lot
um we have been in communication with um not only the property owner but
um a company that represents um the shoe stores where they're the
contractor that's doing work now they're gonna for that store they're building
the shell of the store and then another company is going to come in and do the
upfit the the work inside in the interior so there will be a separate
building permit issued for that store um but things are moving along there
very well and um I think they look to be in there March
or April oh great Marshalls would like to be in there by March or April wow and
still pretty quiet on the complaint front in other words we don't
people aren't calling you no ma'am I haven't I have not heard of any
complaints um
in the last since I spoke with you last terrific it's great to hear okay thank
you anybody else have a question for us what was the tentative data that public
Workshop the land use plan uh tentative date is November 15th
so good and we will be in touch with you all obviously once if that's the day
we're going to be able to make work for everyone
thank you thank you very much
next week we're going to hear from our um
police chief chief David Cole
good evening Chief Cole
good evening mayor members of council the police department report for
September 2022 you can see the calls for service we had
1491 compared to uh 1670 uh the prior year a lot of that is
the cro is pretty much done so there's a little bit less activity there and also
there's not as many businesses to check as there was the year before
uh as you can see under the incidents which were the actual crimes reported we
had two breaking and entering one larceny we had three vandalism
seven that were drug related uh uh that also involved drug equipment
we had one communicating threats one forgery we had the airplane crash
one found property and and I'll get a little bit into the airplane crash at
the end here uh one found property we had four requests for our canine
and uh two hit and runs for a total of uh 23 offenses
because we had six criminal arrests uh seven of those were for all the drugs
and the drug equipment related and the commuting cating threats for a total of
eight charges officers they conducted 94 traffic stops
and out of that they handled the handout 23 written citations and another 55
warning citations there were 24 local ordinance violations
and we had nine motor vehicle accidents for the month of September
just a couple of quick things to note and I'm sure the fire chief may hit on
some of these things um the trash cans yeah our officers pulled a lot of them
out of the road during the storm and did not take them up to the house
but they got him out of the road um mostly on the midnight shift and as
far as the last storm we had we had some high water but I think because we
haven't had as much rain it didn't it didn't pool as long and we had two or
three pretty good sized trees come down uh in the fire department and I give
kudos also to David Bradley in public works they did a a very good job of
clearing up the road and getting it open quickly
ah let's see as you already know for the most part we
had a uh a two a two-man aircraft which was an ultralight that had unfortunately
had experienced some kind of a malfunction and ultimately crashed about
a half a mile out into the ocean in the year of 120.
um duck Road
and without getting into a lot of the specifics I can tell you that the Fire
Department EMS and air central um and I won't get into all the
specifics because they'll end up for getting or leaving someone out but
they did a tremendous job considering the circumstances
um locally a little more frustrated with the other entities
from the government but I commend the two local divers that we were finally
able to get one was through the fire department one was through Merrick from
Ocean rescue they did a tremendous job of recovering the victim which was
important to all of us to give the family some closure
uh we uh Cliff set up a debriefing and after action
uh meeting that all of us met and talked it out talked through it some of the
things that were short-ended that that we need to prepare for in the future
hopefully that we never have to use again but that you know some of the
shortcomings that that we noted and ultimately we finally found out that
the actual people that investigate these are the NTSB
it's not the New York or the highway patrol it's not the state police it's
not the SBI it's not the Coast Guard and it's not the FAA and it's not
we got a phone number for the call and it was the United States Air Force I
said yeah we investigate it but not commercial or not private one so
ultimately we finally turned it over to the NTSB and we have not heard another
word so and that was about a week and a half
ago any questions did that group been on site pardon is
that mtsb the group's been on site not that I'm aware of but by the time
um one of the comments they made was when we told them the type of aircraft
they said that probably didn't have insurance so I don't even know if they
were going to show up because it was just going to be a
recovery but I can tell you if this start if if this crash should happen the
next day uh
it would have been a lot different because it's it was kicking as it was
then but it was even worse the next day and I can guarantee you that
the aircraft had when they had pulled the parachute to try and pull it up with
him in it it snapped then he went down about 22 feet two other people want to
commend our Weeks Marine their boats their survey and boat
uh unbelievable they did an awesome job
they were able with the sonar they had they popped the line and and the two
divers went right down and right there right on top of it so they did a
remarkable job um
so there's an un did the aircraft did they
rent it or was one night or did the people own it to the best of our
knowledge we located their two vehicles they were at first light at the air it
uh the airstrip there um they were from Lansing Pennsylvania
and it was their aircraft
and the gentleman who didn't make it was actually a pilot I believe it was a
helicopter pilot too so yeah it was an unfortunate
I just had I was on the beach during most of this time and I was just
amazed and so impressed at the community effort from I couldn't begin to name
everybody who was there um and I would like to see our Council
recognize some of these people particularly those two divers who were
just individual citizens who I know um
heard you call them on the phone and to ask them to come over and I'm just so so
I don't know mayor maybe you could work with the police chief and come up with a
list of people that we need to say thank you too
and I also like to commend uh the volunteer fire department chaplain she
did an awesome job this is the victim's wife wanted to come to the scene and our
officer in in the chaplain were able to keep them at the hospital because the
last thing we wanted them to do is to come to the scene and just watch us
standing there waiting for right but I think thanks to Weeks
Marine because they were definitely out there yeah
anything else thank you thank you thank you Cole
Chiefland Barker good evening Ed
good evening mayor council uh just to while we're on the topic I think the
chief basically covered it all but um I will say that we're pretty fortunate to
just have two divers actually in the fire department that it's not a task we
normally do but we do have a guy that's been diving for 30 years he's certified
instructor he teaches it and he happens to be our Treasurer so a phone call away
which was very very nice because we were having some difficulty but um it was
nice to get that victim out of the water for the family so yeah there's any
questions for me regarding that I'll just say I thought the incident went as
well as possible obviously us and the police worked very well together but all
the other agencies I thought locally did a good job
and just to point out the two divers that totally volunteer they were under
no obligation to say yes when we when we called them they totally did it all on
their own that is correct yeah so so there's no more questions on that
I'll get into the fire reform report for the month of September
uh that's actually wrong it's 67 there's one report that's not closed out because
the structure fire report's not done yet for Mark's point but um going through it
there were two structure fires one was in Kitty Hawk and one was in Martin's
Point last month one vehicle fire 30 EMS calls
one extrication of rescue which I might have was just uh not really funny but a
guy was on his roof and the ladder just collapsed he was on the roof so he
didn't get hurt or anything he just couldn't get off because he was down I
just need a ladder so I'm sure his wife will never let him live that down but uh
anyway he was fine so nothing happened to him but um
the water accident or the water rescue was actually the glider one or two gas
leaks one electrical equipment one power line down
seven service calls which are either wheelchairs or our sign program
three Public Service one assist the police or other agency which was the
Fire Marshal's Office I'm in public service two dispatch
canceling route one smoke scare Road or smoke
one Hazmat with no Hazmat and 11 alarms including one Co and one
citizen complaint
and that's all it compares to last year was
59 so we're a little head any other questions
[Music] thank you Chief you're welcome
as always we appreciate all the volunteer efforts
and professional efforts
next we'll hear from our town manager Cliff Ogburn good evening Cliff thank
you um I can't stand up here without also thanking the police chief and the
fire chief for the work from the very beginning to the very end of that day
throughout the entirety they did an outstanding job uh and so
I'm just very thankful for the two of them and that they're here and
supporting us uh there there is a long list of folks that that were there and
supported that day there was uh one other I'll mention the ti Coastal was a
survey boat and I'm mentioning that because both of them told me not to
forget how uh valuable those guys were um and uh so there's a lot of folks to
thank and we'll we'll do that moving forward uh on my agenda I had the vacant
lot right beside you right behind you um it's really just to keep that on your
radar as you know that block was purchased back in 2015
uh it's Zone government institutional gni
um it there's we've started making some discussion about what we might
potentially do with that lot one of the things we've talked about is a community
garden that's gained some interest uh the sscas has mentioned interest there
the Outer Banks Community Foundation has and so I'm not suggesting we do anything
with that right now but I do just want to make sure
um if you know one of the things I was taught early on no surprises so if
you're hearing discussion about that lot you know that's kind of where it's
coming from um on the on beach nourishment we had
our first uh public input meeting last week uh there were about 13 here in this
room uh first time it had been in Southern Shores we had about 13 people
total uh most of those were online uh had some really good questions
um so here's the latest the uh this before the dredging can start there has
to be there has to be some surveys they have to do before dredge surveys and
then of course it's dragged and then they survey to see the quantity that was
put ours was done more than 10 days ago and 10 days have expired so we have to
resurvey um the two dredges are supposed to start
coming back and be here either late Wednesday night or early Thursday
morning but the survey boats are probably going
to take a little bit longer to get that work done before we can dredge but so
right now both directions will go to Kitty Hall they've got about 5 000 feet
they have to finish there as soon as our beach is surveyed then the Magdalene the
bigger of the two will come to 60 Ocean Boulevard and start pumping South
um I've stood up here four or five times
and told you the dredge is coming and this is number six so
um about if they start Monday they're
supposed to finish in 40 to 45 days and that would take them right up until
Thanksgiving Day and then of course they have to go to
duck and be done by the end of December so they've got they've got their work
cut out for them but that's the latest news as of this
morning provided there's no more storms correct or or equipment breakdown or
equipment yeah so that's all I got all right thank you
Cliff thank you anybody have any questions for cliff
I'm good okay thank you very much
next on our agenda is the opportunity for our town attorney to address US good
evening Phillip thank you um I would like to bring you guys an update on the
mid County kerto Bridge litigation uh which remains pending in the full circle
fields in Richmond on Monday October the 3rd the full circuit advised us that
more arguments in this case would be scheduled for the December 6th through
9th argument session the attorneys are being directed to
inform the court of any conflicts by October 11th and will later be informed
the specific date between the sixth of the night that arguments will be heard
uh this is the first real development since we filed our Amicus brief in
mid-june and we'll report any further developments to the council as they
occur
appreciate it and I also am here to answer any questions the manager advised
me there may be some questions about the recent U.S Supreme Court decision Reed
versus Gilbert about content neutral signs
um maybe once we get to the public hearing about signs well unless somebody
has a question now they want to probably not he's pretty straightforward and I
sent Clint an email which may be yeah something might pop up when we get to
that public hearing but yes thank you for that offer appreciate it Phil okay
very good um next on our agenda is the general
public comment
Mr Jeff Hummel would you like to come and address the council
I wouldn't stay back there and talk I've never been said I've never told wife
about anyone these things on hey no complaints I'm just here I'm uh probably
the most affected by the bridge the Culvert uh Universal Trinity Culvert
replacement um
my driveway is probably about 50 feet from it probably the closest one of the
four of us are on that corner nothing in particular I've been working with Cliff
I want to thank him uh he's been keeping me in the loop on things and I do hope
to stay involved as we go forward certainly safety and Aesthetics are the
two things I'm most interested in um so we don't end up with a an ugly
concrete structure sitting there so hopefully we can find some things I know
you guys decided on uh or at least preliminarily decide on option two
I like option three better personally but I think two is probably a good
answer since it saves us some money and hopefully we can use some of that money
for some of those Aesthetics things we may
want to do some different railings or stamped concrete or something whatever
it comes down to but uh just want to stay involved and thank you guys and uh
carry on any questions feel free which house if you're going if you're going
north on on June for which one over your shoulder over the shoulder on the right
yeah the one that has to drive up on the hill okay yes that literally that that
Creek is right there exactly right okay terrific okay thanks Jeff thanks guys
thank you in Jefferson engineer as well as a
neighbor so
we have nothing on our agenda under old business so we'll move on to new
business which consists of lots of public hearings
um but first we start with the Reconstruction task force appointment uh
council is on page 16.
and I believe is a clip oops no it's not on page 16.
16. hmm yeah
yeah item five page 16. you got plenty page numbers
oh okay sorry the item title at the top got okay Excuse me yes page 16.
um Cliff are you Wes is gonna handle this thank you
yes ma'am um this is something that we have to do annually
um part of our community writing system scoring
um this is established in section 12-69 of
the town code and it requires an annual appointment of the Reconstruction task
force which are activated upon the Declaration of a building moratorium
following a major storm event the primary purpose is to receive and
review damage reports and other analyzes of post-storm circumstances
um to discern appropriate areas for post
storm change and Innovation the representatives include two elected
officials two planning board members uh Town manager myself police chief fire
chief ssca president cpoa president and one
representative from the construction Community which is uh again Mr David
Buchanan has volunteer volunteered to fill that role
very good thanks Wes anybody have any questions for Wes
so council could I hear a motion to appoint the Reconstruction task force as
presented by staff so we have a motion of a second
second second any discussion
none all those in favor all right motion carries
okay now we have number six public hearing final
Subdivision plat submitted by Matthew Casella to subdivide the property
located at 267 Hillcrest Drive and I'm handing the public hearing over to our
able-bodied attorney Philip northall thank you madam mayor I now open the
public hearing for the final subdivision plot submitted by Matthew Casella by the
property located at 267 Hillcrest Drive called Mr Hat
thank you Mr warthog um the next item on y'all's agenda is uh
psp-2201 this is approval of the final subdivision plot for 267 Hillcrest Drive
you'll recall at a previous meeting you all reviewed the preliminary plot for
this subdivision the ordinance requires that for this kind of subdivision that
it goes the preliminary plaque goes to the planning board and Town Council and
the final plaque goes to the planning board and Town Council
uh this final plat um there are no changes other than the ones that were
requested in the conditions you all approved
um of the preliminary plot which was basically to remove references to uh
recombination and to add a certificate of approval for the planning board and
the Town Council other than that the ownership is the same the lot sizes are
the same all the measurements everything is the same this is simply the final
plot should you all approve it tonight then the surveyor for Mr Casella we'll
draw up the mylar plant which is a specific
material document and um the owner will sign it the surveyor will sign it and
seal it and then the mayor and planning board chair will sign it representing
the town then the owner will take it to the register of deeds for recreation and
it will be done
um the planning board staff recommends approval of the final plot and the town
planning board approved it at the September 19th meeting
any questions for me
sorry one side up to speak and when he would like to be
I'll now close the public hearing Thank You Phillip
Council um we've seen all of this material before
um so I think it's pretty much a straightforward
um
as presented and so I need a motion to approve
the oh the the final plan final plot
yeah I move that we approved the final plant to subdivide the property located
at 267 Hillcrest Drive we have a motion to have a second second
any any last discussion or questions at this time
hearing none I'll call for a vote all those in favor
I don't know any opposed motion carries five zero thank you
okay um next item of business
is public hearing ZTA 2108 submitted by the town of Southern Shores
to amend town code sections 36 to 57 and 36 to 165 and it's on page 20 in your
books Council
I will now hand this over to our attorney Philip lenthal
I will now open the public hearing for ZTA
21-08 application submitted about southern shoresville Midtown code
sections 36-57-36-165.
foreign
thank you sir the next item on y'all's agenda is eta-2108
um it's almost exactly a year in the month of November you all considered
this application November 9th 2021 and if you all uh recall from that meeting
there were several comments during the public hearing most of them were
related to the changes to the size of temporary signs for properties that were
for sale or for lease and rent um or contractor signs
so ultimately in November of 2021 uh you all Council voted to send this
application back to the town to town staff and the planning board for
revisions including in the vote in your motion allowing signs in the town
right-of-way during campaign season Town staff has made several revisions to
this proposed language since November 2021 those changes include but are not
limited to allowing temporary signs in the right-of-way during campaign season
with permission from the adjacent property owner or owners
revise right-of-way during um excuse me revised the requirements for signs on
properties that are for sale or lease provides the definition of sign revised
the definition of temporary sign provides the requirements for signs at
Major entrances to subdivisions advisor requirements for wall signs in the
commercial zoning district and revised requirements for temporary signs and all
the zoning zoning districts um with this last version the planning
board considered it at the September 19th meeting and they did recommend
approval of it and town staff recommends approval as well
very good thank you Wes thank you is there anyone here signed up to speak
when you would like to speak hearing that I'll now close the public
here thanks Phil
[Music] um I want to just take a moment to thank
the planning board for all their hard work on this
particular um
revision of our town code um I want to thank staff
for all of their hard work and also our attorney for his review of the legal
requirements of updating this particular ordinance this is a lot of work has been
done on this revision and um and I just I'm just very very thankful
um that we're seeing the light at the end of this tunnel
um because it's been a long road so again I can't I just want to say thank
you to Andy Ward Tony De Bernardo and all the rest of the
planning board members um Wes cliff
um and our attorneys mostly Ben but maybe some Phillip
um thank you very much having not been on the board then I
think this is really well done reading what it was and the table that's set out
now I think it's very easy to follow for anybody and it lays it out extremely
well after after I reviewed it I said wow this is a lot of work and it's well
done you know eliminated a lot of yeah dupe and misunderstanding what it did
yeah
I mean just one more thing to to write an ordinance that strikes a
balance between trying to accomplish what we want to
accomplish for us the Aesthetics of our town
but also um
recognizing people have free speech rights
um also recognizing that the town needs to have an ordinance that they can use
when necessary and all of that I think has become or
been worked into this in a pretty good balance and um so I'm very grateful
can we hear the legal dissertation about the Supreme Court case
illegal yeah you want to meet him to read the email I'm just curious yeah if
somebody puts an offensive sign up we had this off the cuff discussion earlier
um what what recourse the town might have
what's the difference between I mean if we can't regulate baseball content
there's nothing in here that says content but if there's a vulgar sign or
different various types of signs it might be more restrictive on
in the Gilbert case they were more restrictive on temporary signs for
church and events like that than they were on time 's political and they had
different size requirements for every sign
um and if they think it's content based it's going to be presumptively
unconstitutional and faced a strict scrutiny test where they have to you
have to narrowly tailor um in those strict scrutiny tests
whatever the issue they rarely Survive by the
Constitutional View and what I think you guys have done here has been very
content neutral and that you've treated most signs the same way and and
it's well done
and if you want to get down in the Weeds about this I could talk to you after I
when you can my email basically outlines holding in the analysis of the Gilbert
case and essentially they had three different types of signed ordinances for
three different types of signs and they were treated differently and the church
ultimately left their sign up longer than the hourly requirements for
temporary signs for that particular type of conduct and they got fined and then
they ultimately sued the town of Gilbert it made its wealth in some reports all
the way to the U.S area hmm I'll be curious to read it we don't
even talk about it yeah so let's grab the email
Thank You Phillip all right and I'll just say I agree with Mark that the um
charts that are provided really clarify a lot so I don't know who did all these
charts Wes but the charts are good yes
well specifically Define you know better definition between permanent and
temporary that's what I got out of it
or temporary permanence huh the uh
how does this handle grandfather like if there's a current house sign that is
greater than the square footage listed West I'm really asking you where did
West go he's hiding behind me I can't see him
were you asking is there a grandfather I mean if somebody's in non-compliance
once this is adopted what's going to happen to them well we looked at
um an amortization period okay um but that would have involved according Mr
Gallup um we would have had to had appraisers
appraisals done and to see if the town's interest
outweighs the value um we didn't pursue that much further
um but um I would say that um
when this becomes effective that it may create some non-conformities okay
enforcement will be as it always is primarily complaints Persona yes ma'am
has been primarily complaint driven well keep us posted we need to adjust
the size yeah what's on you adjusting I've got a couple in mind
[Laughter] yes sir you'll see them
I'm not even complainer
thank you Wes yes sir anybody else have any comments or
questions
Council I need to ask for a motion to approve ZTA 2108 as presented
so much second second any further discussion
all those in favor all right opposed finally
carries five to zero thank you yay
you won't have to be a collecting political songs we're up to
um number eight um
public hearings ETA 2210
page 40 in your books Council and I believe
I'm going to hand this over to our town attorney Philip today
[Music] 22-10 and applications today
section 36 207c or 11 and again about your
transcripts
thank you thanks thank you sir
um next item is zta-22-10
um on June 7th you all recall that you adopted zta-2206
which addressed mixed-use group development of commercial and
residential buildings um when that was adopted and prior to
that recommended by the planning board it Incorporated the dimensional
requirements for the seed General commercial zoning District
when that was done the language that was recommended by the board and ultimately
adopted by Council 36-207 c11i addresses Building height
and it comes from the building height requirements in the c commercial C
General commercial District the building height requirements in the
city General commercial District are the same in every other zoning District
um and somehow someway a sentence was left out
of that building height requirement there are two sentences to it and I'll
just read it uh maximum what was adopted was at maximum Building height should be
35 feet measured from the average of the existing undisturbed grade at the corn
at the building corners there's another sentence that was left
out if the average of the existing undisturbed rate at the corners of the
building is less than eight feet above mean sea level the maximum Building
height may be measured from up to eight feet above main sea level
so therefore uh Town staff believes that omitting that second sentence was an
oversight should have been included in the requirements and should have been
adopted when it originally went through um the town planning board agreed
and they adopted the uh what they recommended approval of the ZTA at the
September 19th meeting
foreign so this isn't changing anything it's
just keeping it consistent this is well it's it's changing
C 11 is changing the items um in 36-207 C11 there are items a
through I think l or M and this is changing I this is inserting that second
sentence that was left out right but so to speak it's not anything new it's what
is carrying forward what already applies everywhere else in the town so it's just
a defined actually defining it in the ZTA it is yes sir it's putting the
dimensional requirement in the requirements for this specific use which
is mixed-use group development of commercial and residential buildings
which a couple of y'all have had questions and concerns about initially
anyway well here we are but that was my question did you explore just getting
rid of the dimensional requirements out of the new schedule
out of the what schedule out of this youth schedule that they were added to
in this case we felt that we would just I got you add the my other missing
sentence I bear responsibility for this I should
have fought harder in June we wouldn't be here right
okay
any other questions
I have one other question the uh I'm imagining that you went through all the
other dimensional requirements that were added and make sure there wasn't
anything excerpted from that from there yes sir this is as far as I can tell
this is the only missing this is the only thing that's inconsistent yes sir
thank you
hearing no one here to speak or how close the public hearing Thank You
Phillip Council any uh further discussion on ZTA
22-10 as presented I would like to make a motion to adopt
ZTA 22-10 as approved by the planning board and presented by Town staff thank
you can I hear a second we have a second any other discussion questions all those
in favor opposed ZTA 2210 passes thank you very much
next on our agenda is number nine consideration of RFQ for Trinity Juniper
Bridge page 46. in your books
at your last meeting you heard a presentation from Kimberly horn you'd
ask them to evaluate three alternatives to replace the Culvert set it on
alternative to which is a chord slab bridge and at at your last meeting you
asked us to come back with an RFQ so we could start soliciting for an engineer
to design the bridge and so that's what this is I'll just point out a few things
in the description of the project it reads the town is Seeking a qualified
firm capable of providing planning and Design Services for a cord slab bridge
for the Juniper paternity Trail bridge replacement project the work will
include but not limited to hydraulic design geotechnical investigations with
Foundation recommendations location and surveys erosion control plans roadway
design structure design preparation of permit application preparation and
planning Document Preparation of Construction contract proposals and
estimate in utility conflicts so I hope we've captured everything there it one
note we need to ask for correction at the bottom of page 47 you'll see that uh
it's listed uh prior to submitting a letter of interest that should be prior
to submitting an RFQ um
and then over on the next page number three the statement of qualifications
when it's due if if you all are comfortable with this we would uh get
this out as soon as tomorrow and we would uh recommend at least 30 days for
firms to respond and so we would fill that blank in with all qualifications
packages must be received by 2 pm November 5th
uh 22. number four lists kind of some of the
contents of the soq and how we're going to be evaluating these and the the
evaluation team will be myself the town engineer the Public Works director and
the deputy Town manager um so
trying to really hone in on someone's capability we've asked for a list of
projects performed in the last 10 years which indicate experience with the scope
of work we've asked them to include pictures of finished projects and note
any projects in residential settings uh letter e under that we've just uh
asked them to describe in detail the firms or persons experience in cord slab
bridge design uh so the other thing that I would most
of its boilerplate the other the other part that I would bring your attention
to is uh under number seven the proposed schedule again if you're comfortable
with this and we can issue it we would uh issue this as early as tomorrow that
next line can be just struck through there's no deadline there's no letter of
interest you can strike through that uh we would give them uh until October
21st for any questions that they have uh and give us give ourselves a week to
respond to that so October 21st would be the deadline for questions October 28th
would be our deadline um to respond and the deadline to submit
would be November 5th
we'll advertise this locally we'll advertise it I've been speaking with the
town engineer there's a similar project going on in Elizabeth City right now I
mean almost the exact same size less residential but so we'll put this in the
Daily Advance in Virginia pilot in hopes of trying to get some widespread
recognition um
so any questions
what would what would be our uh
if we don't excuse me let me restart if we don't get
the interest that we think we should be getting what was what is our plan B so
to speak we could if we don't feel as though we have something we could
recommend to you we could resubmit do it again right okay
um do you have to come back for us to us to approve that or can you just do that
I think I don't think she can do that the plan
would be if we if we do get someone qualified and we can make a
recommendation to you we'd make that at your December meeting uh and give you
the reasons why I give you the score this is how we rank them this is why
we're recommending this firm uh and then you know you can ask questions and see
if you're comfortable with who we recommend okay
um and even if that mean you may decide no uh and we go back out okay okay
thank you anybody want to ask questions
does uh the people we had handling provide for or they would they be one of
the bidders can we horn would they be one of the yes sir I'm confident they'll
they'll submit okay
they have a head start yeah
do you you mentioned the project in Elizabeth City do you happen to know the
firm that got the I don't okay I just called Providence Road
foreign
[Music] all right so we need a motion to approve
the RFQ professional Engineering Services planning and Design Services
got a second second any more discussion
hearing none all those in favor aye aye opposed
motion carries thank you Cliff thank you
number 10 we're into double digits tonight
for agenda items um consideration of proposals Gene got
Trail drainage Improvement project it's page 52 Council in your book
Cliff yes uh we last Thursday we opened the bids for this project we only
received two bids uh Envirotech and Fred Smith Company and there's a pretty big
difference between the two the town engineer his estimates are
right in line with the low bid of Enviro Envirotech for 38
599.69 we're asking for you all to approve that
the budget amendment that's associated with this for the project on Gene guide
that's going to lower the ground water and make some capacity for rain water so
if you approve this we're asking you to approve the budget amendment the funds
would come out of the out of fund balance
and uh we can get get started on a contract hopefully have
this done by the end of the year
was there any I mean there was a tremendous spread
between uh between the two was there any reasoning from your point that
the um for that difference I mean that's a
pretty big one I think I think Fred Smith who who was they were came in at
101 000 I think they're probably loaded up with work and to fit this into
their schedule you know it was going to be costly you know
um I think that the Fred Smith wants to stay engaged with the town
um and I I think they want to for us to see their interest but for a project
like this I think they're probably doing bigger projects
um larger projects that maybe Envirotech
can concentrate more as the work low the capacity to be able to do this
but I just don't think Fred Smith was interested in doing this job yeah that's
that's what it sounds like but I didn't know if there was any other element in
there environment Tech have they had experience of doing this kind of work
yes sir this is this is what they that's what they do I'm not familiar with them
the part that I know of them
any other questions for cliff
project going need a motion to approve budget
management Amendment awarding Gene guide stormwater project to the lowest
qualified bidder so moved second okay any further discussion
all those in favor opposed
hearing none motion carries thank you very much
um general public comment when anyone liked a comment that hasn't signed up if
something struck if somebody wanted to talk oh Cliff wants to back up real
quick yeah I'm not sure how to do this procedurally but the the motion you just
made I don't think it included the budget amendment Oh I thought I did
budget amendment number 15. most YouTube budget member oh I didn't do the number
sorry
number 15. second second all in favor all right thank you thank you okay sorry
now public comment anything pop into anyone's head while
they were sitting there okay uh Council
business
um our next
regular meeting is
November Tuesday November well I can move it one way
let's see because that's Election Day election day isn't it yeah
tuition never versus not Election Day election day is Tuesday November 8th
yeah
um so our next scheduled council meeting is November the 1st
because we don't have a second meeting in October is that correct Cliff okay
um and we did hear and I'll we'll talk about some more the opportunity for us
to get together on the 15th uh for the kickoff for the land use planning and uh
looks like I'm seeing some nodding heads like people are going to try to make
some room on their calendars for that so that's wonderful appreciate that that's
kind of short notice but um I'm excited to get The Landings Plan
update process kicked off um
see individuals business Matt did you want
to start us off tonight I don't usually have much business thank you all for
coming okay Paula um I'm gonna just I'm sure the talent
attorney is going to keep all of us apprised of those oral arguments but I
unless there's some prohibitions about attending I may be interested in
attending those yes ma'am the only prohibition that we've been experiencing
poor circuit is they are really tight on code that's what I thought I was asking
a friend of mine who was arguing there recently why that was with count so low
and there explanation at least at the fourth
circuit was that they've had people out with covet and they're more worried
about having to close the court down because people aren't able to come to
work so but I'm not saying that you can't get in
um because technically you'd be a client that's true so
okay do they require like a negative test
before entry or is it just masking and I think they've required negative testing
and masking okay when my friend was arguing a couple weeks ago that's always
a change okay where's the courthouse located in Richmond
okay
Mark I don't have anything okay Leah
I'll give you an update on tourism board and meals and occupancy
uh meals for the month of July is up uh 9.2 percent
current here to date is up 6.4 percent uh comparing to the same period back in
uh 2019 that number's up 29 percent the occupancy Collections and then this
is what's really interesting it's the first time that they've
exceeded 200 000 or 200 million in a month
uh the uh July was up 27 uh percent Uh
current year date was up uh almost 13 percent
but going it was going back to July of 19. it's up 84 but you got to someone to
keep in mind there's a little bit uh price increase in there too that is
impacting it uh somewhat don't know how much
but that's a clarification so even though it sounds good I think somebody's
paying a little more than they used to is there any desire to try to figure it
out how much the cost increases heads on the beach versus
that has been I know uh Lee has brought it up but we haven't had any
it's hard thing to come by I think uh it's what I've we've been told not not
that it hasn't been on the radar screen yeah
and one other thing if you will mark your calendars for November 11th that is
Veterans Day uh the Knights of Columbus and the town
are collaborating to have a Veterans Day program again starts at 11 o'clock
it's 11 11. so um you'll see somewhat a little
different in the night's uniform uh
no longer are we allowed to wear the uh regalia we used to wear
and if we are found using it we get disciplined so we are not able to do it
in the new uniform looks more like the Green Beret one so
there's a little don't want to put all the dirty laundry out there on the lawn
I'm gonna google it now yeah you can Google it and I've had and personally
I've introduced resolutions and uh they never along with a bunch of others
in the state and we didn't get too far so but anyhow don't let that uh
be a deterrent we are going to we'll adapt so um anyhow
put it on your calendar and love to see you there to honor our uh our veterans
on Veterans Day that's all I got thanks Leo yeah the
Veterans Day ceremony is very special I'm glad that we do something here in
town I want to thank everyone for coming tonight
um as Matt already said good to see you all
here um and we will call this meeting to
adjourn thank you thank you