The annual Association meeting will be conducted on Saturday, Apr 8th starting at 9 AM.  The meeting will be held at Sunset Grille, and we will serve light pastries and coffee/juice.  Please join us if you can.

For owners who can't physically attend, you can join the meeting via a Zoom call.

Attached is the meeting agenda.

Everyone is invited to join Rosemary, Christopher, Julie, Andrew, Haydee and me at 5 PM at our place (1356 Duck Road) to meet and greet neighbors and socialize.  We'll serve appetizers and refreshments.  Please RSVP if you plan to attend so we can be prepared.

I hope to see or hear you on the 8th.
​

As you know, last week we conducted two owner Zoom calls and received owner emails from others who couldn't join the Zoom calls.  Well over 50 owners directly participated in these.

The CDA Board then met on Monday to review your comments and feedback.  We also discussed next-steps to take.

In summary, here's what the Board heard from the majority of participants: 

Most owners want:

1. Beach nourishment, lifeguard support and beach maintenance & cleanup and don’t want to give these up or put them at risk.
2. Some legally enforceable document/agreement that spells out specific limits for the Town that can’t be changed by the Town Council.
3. CDA to write/negotiate rules surrounding limited usage by the Town, not the Town attorney or the Town Council to write them.
4. CDA to protect our community.
5. CDA to enforce covenants.
6. CDA to pursue multiple approaches to resolving issues in parallel.

Most owners do not want:

1. Public access to our beaches.
2. The Town to solely decide how it will use the property now and in the future.

In summary, here's what the Board decided as next-steps to be taken in parallel:

1. Actively engage our attorney for assistance and guidance.
2. Prepare for enforcement of our covenants.
3. Engage with the Town to discuss all options and methods to legally document binding limitations.
4. Attempt to explore with the Town options for CDA ownership of 145 BH and write a long-term agreement or lease with the Town that would limit thier usage to beach nourishment, lifeguard support and beach maintenance & cleanup.
5. Continue to assess revisions to our current covenants that would contain strict usage limitations for the Town. 
6. Other steps TBD.

Regarding #3, the Board decided to organize a group that would discuss issues and options with the Town.  The group will be composed of a few Board members and a few property owners.

It is our understanding that settlement on the property has already happened or will happen this week.   

While the Board will keep you posted as events happen, and we will discuss this at the CDA Annual meeting on April 8th, the process ahead of us will likely take some time.  

As always, if you have additions comments or questions, just email them to me.

Regards,

Ron Blunck
CDA President

Here's some information you may find useful.

1. The Town's Spring bulk pick-up date has been set for Friday, April 14th.
2. On that day, no later than 5:00 AM, please leave bulk waste out by the curb for collection.
3. Bulk waste can include all large items that you want to dispose of except the following: refrigerators or appliances that contain hazardous waste (refrigerant/freon), hazardous materials such as paints, solvents, chemicals, etc, building materials or demolition debris, roofing, soil, rocks, concrete and stumps. These materials will not be collected.
4. Yard and vegetative debris will be collected, however it must be bagged or tied in bundles of four foot lengths or less with each bundle weighing no more than 50 pounds, otherwise it will not be picked up.  
5. Questions should be referred to the Town at 252-255-1234.

As a reminder, you can also take bulk waste (regular waste & recycle waste) to the Recycle Center in Kitty Hawk at any time throughout the year.  You will need to get a permit for this from Duck Town Hall and take it with you.  Call the Town at 252-255-1234 to get the permit.  All of this is free, but you have to transport the bulk waste to the Recycle Center yourself.  Vendors are not allowed to use this service.

Here are two important updates:

1. The Town presently anticipates beach nourishment will be starting soon, maybe as early as 3/20/2023. Initially, this will include placement of equipment on the beach and installation of a subline at Dianne Street, slightly north of us.  The dredge boat is currently scheduled to arrive the first week of April, with pumping and movement of sand to begin upon arrival. I think nourishment will begin on the northern end of the nourishment and work south.
2. The Federal Appeals Court upheld the Mid-Currituck Bridge plan.  Thanks to Tom Dorsey, here's a link to an article with more details: www.wunc.org/news/2023-02-23/appeals-court-upholds-mid-currituck-bridge-plan​

Author:  Andrew Blunck

Carolina Dunes Association held two meetings for community members to receive status updates from the Board on the Town of Duck's intention to purchase the property on 145 Buffel Head Rd.

Minutes below.

I received many email responses from you in response to my 2/11 email with a variety of concerns and opinions.  I also received a number of phone calls and personal visits.  While a few owners didn't think the Town's purchase and intended usage is a big deal, most of you had some level of concern over their purchase and potentially expanded use of this property.

After getting your feedback, the CDA Board had another meeting and decided on the following actions:

1. Hire an attorney to give us advice.  The Board then hired Robert Hornik from Chapel Hill.  He reviewed the CD Covenants and sent a letter to the Town stating the Town's stated usage of this property would violate the 'Residential Usage' clause in our Covenants.  That's his opinion.  His letter is attached.
2. Send a CDA letter to the Town identifying additional concerns.  This was completed.  This letter is also attached.

Last week the Town Council had their monthly meeting and one of the agenda items was the purchase of this property.  Here's a youtube link to the part of the meeting where this property was discussed:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFIiyeSWW8o&t=1977s  

I strongly encourage you to watch this video.  It's not too long.

 

In summary, this is what the Town Council did:

1. They are moving forward with settlement on the property.  They made a motion to move money between Funds in order to go to settlement and to figure out a settlement date.  Settlement will likely happen within a month or so, maybe before the April 5th Council meeting.
2. There was a discussion about a potential Town Ordinance that would memorialize limits on the usage of the property (this was one of the requests in the CDA letter of concerns we sent to Town), but there was no motion to proceed with that.  The Council seemed to want to find another way to memorialize the limits that might be more permanent.  I think the Town staff will explore this, but it's uncertain what they will end up with or what the Council will end up deciding.

We had a CDA Board meeting following the Council meeting to discuss status and CDA options for going forward.  There are limited options available to us:

1. We do not fight the Town in their planned acquisition and articulated usage of the property.  
2. We update our current covenants and include specific language that puts limits and conditions on the Town's usage.
3. We fight the Town using a political approach through organized petitioning.
4. We fight the Town using a legal approach through enforcement of our current covenants. 
5. We attempt to influence the Town into memorializing restrictions on the usage of the property to the best of our ability.
6. Other means.

The CDA Board wants your input and guidance on how to proceed.  To that end, we have schedule two Zoom calls as follows:

1. Tuesday, 3/14, 7 PM
2. Wednesday, 3/15, 7 PM for owners who can't make the first Zoom call.

For any owner who can't join either of these Zoom calls, please email me as soon as possible with your guidance on how you want us to proceed.  

It's VERY IMPORTANT that all owners who have concerns join one of the Zoom calls or email me with your guidance. 

On Monday, the Town Mayor and Manager met with Andrew (CDA Secretary) and me to inform us that they are in the process of purchasing 145 Buffell Head and plan to use it for limited Town purposes, mostly associated with future beach nourishment projects.  The current owner had agreed to the terms of the Town's purchase offer, and the only remaining step, as I understand it, is for the Town Council to approve the contract one more time before settlement can be scheduled.  The Town Council will probably provide the second approval in their March Council meeting on March 1st.

Here's a summary of key points Andrew and I discussed with the Town on Monday.

1. The Town said they would limit the usage of this lot to 'Government Operations' as follows:
   • Primary - support beach nourishment every 5-7 years.
   • Secondary - support the lifeguards and beach maintenance/cleanup as needed to supplement their current access for these at other locations.
2. The usage would not include public access of any type, and the Town will legally fight any challenges they may get that argue for public access.
3. The house will be moved/demolished sometime after the 2023 rental season.
4. The driveway will remain but not expanded.
5. A security gate/chain will be installed.
6. The lot will be maintained by the Town from an appearance standpoint.
7. No parking on Buffell Head will be enforced,  especially next to this lot.
8. The dune will be maintained at the same height and not cut for Town/ nourishment-vendor vehicles to get access to the beach.
9. There will be no structures built or materials stored on the lot.
10. The Town seems willing to commit to bobcatting all CD walkways (community & private oceanfront) wherever there is erosion/escarpment that makes access to the beach difficult (I would propose a standard of 1.5 to 2 foot escarpment would trigger bobcatting).
11. The Town will communicate/coordinate in advance with CDA should any circumstances arise that may require other temporary usage.
12. Most of the time, the lot will look like a vacant lot with minimal or no Town activities.
13. There's an open question as to whether the Town's planned activities would violate the residential zoning code or the CD covenant restrictions regarding residential usage and nuisance activities on this lot.  The Town has the power to change the zoning but does not have the power to change the CD covenants.
14. The Town is willing to meet with the entire Board and/or CD property owners to discuss all of this if we want that.
15. The Town seems willing to put all of this in writing that would be legally binding so that future Town Council motions can't change any of this.  The Town is researching how to do this with the Town attorney.  CDA should probably get our own legal advice on this. 

The CDA Board had a conference call on Wednesday to discuss this matter.  There was mixed reaction to it.  Some were not happy with this, including not having advanced notice.  Some don't trust the Town to actually limit their activities to what they are saying (In other words, there's fear the Town could change plans at any future Council meeting.)  If the Town's usage is limited to what's described above, then maybe their purchase and use might be acceptable to you, as an owner.  Or, maybe not.  So, #14 above would be a critical item.  I think ultimate Board and community support should probably be contingent upon having a binding legal agreement signed by the Town and CDA.

Please review this and reply to this email with your thoughts and questions.

If you think we should schedule a zoom meeting or conference call to discuss this more amongst ourselves, let me know.

If you would like to schedule a meeting with the Town so you can directly discuss this with them, let me know.

If you are an attorney and would be willing to help navigate this issue, let me know.

Please respond as soon as you can.

2023 Reentry Permits Now Available
 
Reentry permits for residents, non-resident property owners, and businesses are now available through Dare County's website. Don't delay, get your reentry permit well ahead of hurricane season which officially begins June 1, 2023. 

For more information and to obtain a reentry permit, click here. 

The 2023 Duck Town Council Retreat will be held on February 15 and February 16 at 9 AM in the Paul F. Keller Meeting Hall.
The Retreat will be open to the public and live-streamed. During the two-day meeting, presentations will be made by Town Staff as well as by community partners and contract organizations. Topics include:
·         NCDOT Updates
·         Speed Limit Discussion
·         VHB Project Updates
·         Dare County Updates
·         Departmental Updates
·         Capital Improvement Plan and Financial Update
·         Beach Nourishment
·         Project Vesta
·         Beach Driving
·         Tents on the beach
 
Attached is the draft agenda for the retreat.
 
Several topics will have impacts on Carolina Dunes.  Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.  I will consolidate them and share them with the Town.

First of all, I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving day!

Yesterday, I called Bobby Outten (he is both the Dare County Executive and the Dare County Attorney), and he willingly and openly spoke with me regarding the nourishment project.  In summary, here's what he said:

1. Weeks Marine, the nourishment contractor, has a second current project/contract in Norfolk VA with the federal govt.  
2. Weeks can't complete both projects by the end of December 2022, so they made a business decision to do the federal project first and the Duck project second.  
   • I'm sure the federal contract involves more money for Weeks and the feds are more likely to sue Weeks than Dare Co if the Norfolk project isn't completed on-time.
3. Dare County has a couple of options:
   • Amend the Weeks contract.  This is the preferred option for Dare County.
     • New nourishment dates of March to mid-May 2023.
     • New requirement to add additional sand at no extra cost to cover any new erosion that may happen between now and March.
     • New requirement to add additional sand at no extra cost if there is a new major storm between now and March.
     • New requirement to repair any walkways at no extra costs if any walkways get damaged between now and March.
     • Add a 'liquidation penalty' clause that would pay Dare County for the larger of (a) actual damages or (b) $5-$6K per day if the Duck nourishment isn't completed by mid-May.  The purpose of this clause would be to 'make us whole' if Weeks fails on the amended contract.
     • Dare County and Weeks have already verbally discussed these points.  According to Bobby, Weeks is OK with them and appears to be ready and willing to amend the contract accordingly.
     • Dare County and Weeks will be meeting next week to actually amend the contract and re-sign it.
   • Sue Weeks for breach of the current contract.  This is not the preferred option for Dare County.
     • While this could be done, it would probably take a year or more to complete.  In the meantime, the Duck project would probably be completed anyway.

My sense is that Bobby Outten is dealing with this sincerely and expeditiously and is pursuing this with the best option available under the circumstances.  While the Town plays a small role in this, this is mostly a Dare County issue at this time.  I will follow up with Bobby next week to see how the contract amendment discussions go with Weeks.

I know this is not the best news, but it may be the best given current realities that we are facing.  If beach nourishment ends up being completed by mid-May, maybe we can live with that.