Nags Head hits signing goal but is short on value
South Nags Head has become the focal point of the push for beach nourishment. (Voice photo)
A petition asking the owners to allow themselves to be assessed reached the milestone last week, with 985, or exactly 50 percent, signing on as of Tuesday.
But those signing have to represent 66 percent of the property value, and the drive is still $164 million short of the $717.9 million threshold.
The town also announced Friday that it received its permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
One of those joining the list was the town of Nags Head. Commissioners — with Wayne Gray dissenting — have agreed to sign the petition, meaning the town will tax itself $64,000 a year for five years.
Nags Head owns $32.8 million worth of oceanfront property at its beach accesses.
The petition requires the signatures of at least 50 percent of the property owners east of N.C. 12 and old Oregon Inlet Road in South Nags Head. At least two-thirds of the property value must be represented.
Owners would be assessed 98 cents per $100 of value over five years, or a little less than 20 cents a year.
The goal is to raise $10 million of the estimated $36 million needed for the 10-mile project. Another $18 million will come from the existing Dare County Shoreline Management Fund with the balance being covered by another 1 percent of the occupancy tax. Raising the tax still has to be approved by the county Board of Commissioners.
The gap between the number of signatures and value suggests that the petition has resonated more with owners in hard-hit South Nags Head. But property along those beaches is generally valued less.
Meanwhile, officials are looking at a maintenance plan that could qualify the town for federal money for sand losses after a named storm.
One requirement of a maintenance plan is to outline where the money would come from, which is still up in the air.
Options available to the board are another special assessment, town property taxes or some other source, such as occupancy taxes, Mayor Bob Oakes told the board of commissioners.
The town has come under some criticism for moving ahead with a petition drive before settling on a maintenance plan.
“This should have occurred before the petition was sent out,” Reed Fisher told the board during public comments at its last meeting.
Oakes and Commissioner Anna Sadler said that the town had worked hard to provide complete information and hold open discussions about the project.
“And I have taken a lot of criticism,” Sadler said. “I will tell you this board has done its due diligence.”
Sadler acknowledged the uncertainties surrounding beach nourishment on the northern Outer Banks.
“Like I told the mayor yesterday, you know if this project is done and half the sand goes away in three years, I don’t think there’s going to be anybody that’s going to be saying we’re going to do a maintenance plan,” Sadler said. “I think it will have proven that probably the Outer Banks is just not the ideal place . . .”
According to a memo from Coastal Science & Engineering, the firm hired by Nags Head to plan the project, re-nourishing the beach with 600,000 to 800,000 cubic yards of sand would cost $7 million to $10 million.
But the memo said that if the town qualified for reimbursement from the federal government after a named storm, the town’s beaches could net as much as another 2 million cubic yards of sand.
The initial projects calls for pumping 4.6 million cubic yards of sand from offshore. The engineering firm based its estimates on an initial project using 3.6 million cubic yards “in case bid prices are higher than anticipated or project funding is somewhat lower than expected.”
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Join the discussion:
Blue Fisher says:
I was under the impression that the majority of Nags Head residents had to vote to put town property on the petition in the “yes” column.
After all, it is they who are paying the 64,000 in taxes. I understood that the council had to have the majority of voters approve the signing to represent Town(ie, resident voter) -owned property.
Did I get that wrong? Thank you.
Sam Cotton says:
Maybe I misunderstand what Nags Head is doing. They have in effect approved spending for a tax that they created. Is this just a under-handed way of passing the cost on to all Nags Head residents? Haven’t we had votes to approve expenses such as these which were rejected? I feel like I’m living in Disneyland!
Nags Header says:
Bob Oakes, Nags Head’s mayor, sends out expensive full color mailers campaigning for this. Other commissioners undoubtedly have personal interests in this. Then they sign the petition (w/ the exception of Gray who obviously has integrity & will be missed as he’s not serving again.:()to tax itself for it in order to reach “their” required goal numbers.
This after the voters overwhelmingly rejected it.
It’s obvious that the few will do anything to help themselves & their special interests, regardless of what the people want & voted for.
“They’re not there yet”, but with their creative loopholes all they have left to do is reach that value goal.
There’s no doubt that they’ll pull that out of their rear-ends somehow.
Too bad their tenacity displayed on this issue isn’t practiced on issues that would benefit the majority of the taxpaying citizens.
Rob Morris says:
Blue Fisher — Nags Head is like a corporation in the sense that the board makes the decision for the taxpayers in much the same way it approves the annual budget for taxpayers.
Shareholders of a corporation that owned oceanfront property would not each have a signature on the petition. The corporate board would decide. The state law concerning the petition process specifically addresses these situations.
I hope that helps.
Blue Fisher says:
yep, thx Rob Morris.
Ray says:
Wait a minute! Didn’t Nancy Pelosi say..”Let’s get this health care bill passed and we’ll worry about who pays for it later?
That seems to be the mindset of Commissioner Anna Sadler and others on the board. “Let’s do this project and we’ll worry about how we are going to maintain it later.”
And, you know the funny part? Proponents of beach nourishment have ALWAYS used the argument that you have to “maintain the beach” just like you would maintain your house or yard, etc. Yet, when it comes to a “maintainence plan” for beach nourishment, no one wants to talk and plan for it. Duh???
The Taxpayer says:
$164 million short = A dead project! We told you once that we didn’t approve of this project; how many more times do we have to say it?
Barbara says:
So does the Town of Nags Head get a complimentary subscription to “Dredging Today” magazine or are they paid subscribers lol. I thought this was a VOICE story?
Rob Morris says:
They linked to it. Actually, they copied and pasted it and put a link at the bottom.
Mabel Choate says:
You better hope a storm takes the beach away pretty soon after it’s completed because the longer it takes, the less sand you’ll get courtesy of the federal taxpayer.
Ibxer says:
Wonder how many Dare County residents have read the deficit commission’s report? One of the items it says should be cut from federal funding is assistance to pump sand in front of oceanfront homes. It says that local governments and/or homeowners should pay for sand since they are the ones that directly benefit from it. End of the gravy train folks!