OCBA Draft Minutes from February
1. Blackbeard's Pirate Jamboree, including having businesses be venues for beer gardens and merchandise vendors.
2. The OCBA enhancing its marketing of the island and events vis-a-vis Hyde County wanting to create a full-time tourism employee paid for with Occupancy Tax funds
3. Ocracoke Navigator, an interactive smartphone app created by Stefan Howard, who will be at the meeting to explain it to the gathering.
Ocracoke Civic and Business Association
DRAFT Minutes
Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2015. Ocracoke Community Center
Meeting was called to order by President Rudy Austin at 7:02 p.m. Board members present: Connie Leinbach, Kenny Ballance, Justin LeBlanc and Jim Borland. Members/others present: Sundae Horn, Peter Vankevich, Kris Noble, Bob Chestnut, Arleen Burley, Darlene Styron, Mike Stockton, Sharon Brodisch, Philip Howard, Sarah Johnson, Alan Sutton, Dick and Janey Jacoby, George Chamberlin, Dave Hallac and Cyndy Holda.
New Cape Hatteras National Seashore superintendent: David Hallac was welcomed and he spoke at length.
He enumerated some of the latest projects:
Beach nourishment at Buxton will begin soon with the scoping period ending Feb. 20. It will cost $20 to $25 million to put sand on three miles of beach.
Public meetings will be held for input on the legislation regarding the Defense Authorization Bill, for modifying the wildlife buffer zones. The second part of this legislation deals with opening and/or closing the beaches during nesting seasons and extending seasonal ORV time frames, as well as accelerating the construction of beach access ramps.
2016 will be the centennial of the National Park system and the NPS director says he wants to rethink ways in which to get the next generation of users involved.
For this year, the budget for operations is about the same, though with a one percent cost-of-living increase for employees.
The park service will fully fund lifeguards at the three public beaches, seven days a week, from Memorial Day to Labor Day. This will again be with a contracted lifeguard service.
He spoke about several themes of concern to islanders. These concerns had been solicited before the meeting and several islanders had responded.
Sound-side access to the water: he said he did not know that this was such a concern but will be happy to look at it. Jim Borland also noted that people can’t even drive on the Sound-side roads without a permit and that perhaps this could be modified.
Right now, the plan unveiled in 2013 showed that the NPS wants to do 29 projects along the beach (and none along the Sound.) New ramps on Ocracoke would be #59.5 (south of the most northern ramp 59) in 2017 and Ramp 63 (2018).
A new (Sound-side) project added to that mix would have to go through an environment study and more, he said.
Hallac said that since February 2012, when beach-driving permits began, the Park Service has sold about 30,000 permits and collected about $2 million. About half of that is used in administering this program (staff, printing of permits, maps, overhead, etc.) Customers also can now purchase permits online. He also said the Park Service will soon post a breakdown of income and expenses at www.recreation.gov.
As for islanders’ requests for weekend and day passes, he said he is willing to look at it as well as opening the beaches earlier in the morning to accommodate those who want to go to the beach before they go to work.
Intimidating tactics by law-enforcement officers: Hallac said the officers are trained in a certain way, but he would look further into the concerns expressed by some islanders that visitors to the beach who may have been in (unwitting) violation of a law were treated as though they were armed and dangerous.
“We’re a welcoming committee to the National Seashore and we need to be friendly when out in the field,” he said.
He also said he will have a Park Service person attend the OCBA meetings to be a liaison.
Another of his concerns is additional parking at the Ocracoke Lighthouse. Eastern National, a business that is a Park Service partner that operates bookstores throughout the parks in the East, purchased a property across from the Lighthouse where more parking could be added.
George Chamberlin said that improvements to the airport are being considered, which will require cooperation from the NPS to go forward.
Travel & Tourism Director’s report: Sundae Horn reported on her research with Pyrotechnico of Columbia, S.C. They have a $10 million insurance policy included in their contracts. Hyde County at the Feb. 2 meeting agreed to be the sponsor/certificate holder. Justin Pruett of Pyrotechnico said the best they could do this year would be July 1. This would be shooting the fireworks from a barge placed in the Sound off the NPS public dock. She will work up the costs of this and it will be presented at the next Occupancy Tax Board meeting Feb. 11.
New walking maps will be available in early March. We printed 27,000 of them, which are distributed to welcome centers all over the state and beyond. Sundae is including a Park Service brochure when people request maps. So, OCBA’s postage bill will increase.
Ocracoke Navigator, a smart-phone app that’s like a docent for Ocracoke attractions, wants to speak at the next OCBA meeting.
Tourism Development Authority (TDA): Kris Noble, Hyde County planner and economic developer, gave a presentation about a proposal to create another authority on the island specifically for Ocracoke tourism. This authority, which was enabled by legislation passed in 2006 but not enacted, would be able to levy an additional 2 percent occupancy tax. Proceeds would fund a full-time county employee who would handle tourism marketing and be a liaison to the county. This authority would be able to make its own decisions about how the taxes collected are spent and not have to have approval from the commissioners. However, 3 percent of this tax collected would go to the county for administration. Surrounding counties currently have 5 percent occupancy tax rates, she said.
She said this proposal will be on the commissioners’ March 2 agenda for approval. Also, she will present this proposal again the next night (Feb. 11) at a public meeting of the Occupancy Tax Board.
Janey Jacoby asked if 100 percent of the local lodging industry was behind this idea. Noble said, “Not yet.” The proposed timeline would be to pass the resolution approving this in March. Then set up a five-member board of islanders; and have it and the additional tax ready to go for the 2015-2016 county budget.
Justin LeBlanc asked if there is anything in the legislation for this concept to be approved by voter referendum and Noble said that approval is at the discretion of the commissioners. (Secretary’s note: Owing to an outpouring of public comments against this idea, this item was not on the commissioners’ March 2 agenda.)
Treasurer’s report: Kenny reported that the beginning cash balance was $60,035.66 and the ending balance was $57,357.27. He also reiterated that the OCBA needs to find a new treasurer since he submitted his resignation effective Dec. 31, 2014.
Hyde County manager’s report: Bill Rich, via cell phone, noted that although this proposed TDA and an additional tax on lodging would preclude raising property taxes.
Ferries: The Ferry Division is optimistic in how the meetings on the island are productive. From a suggestion at the last one where Peter Vankevich suggested the workers at the Hatteras dock have flashlights at night to signal boarding has already been implemented.
The Ferry Division has commissioned a study for $300,000 to study how to keep the short route open and also cut 10 or 15 minutes off the longer route. At the same time, they’ve commissioned a study on having passenger ferries.
Animal control is no longer under the Health Department but is now under him and the sheriff’s department. “We will be enforcing the animal control ordinance,” he said.
Storm water remediation: The county is still waiting to hear back from Chip Stevens, owner of Blackbeard’s Lodge, for the go-ahead to construct a culvert in the right-of-way to drain the puddle off the road. (This would be a test case for the rest of the major puddles on the island.)
Trash: two or three containers have been added at the dump and David’s Trash Service is repairing the existing containers. They will have a new truck and driver within the next 60 days. They are getting ready to install a containment device for the juices that leak from the trash compactors at the entrance.
Minutes: The minutes of the Jan. 21 meeting were approved.
Announcements: Janey Jacoby announced that the British Cemetery Ceremony will be Friday, May 8.
The group agreed that OCBA should send a letter of congratulations to Ocracoke School for getting an “A” in overall test scores. It was the only Outer Banks School to receive an A.
The group decided the next meeting will be March 18 at 7 p.m. in the Ocracoke Community Center to accommodate Ocracoke Navigator.
Meeting adjourned at 9:11 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Connie Leinbach, secretary
