Happy almost summer. If you haven’t signed
up for the June 5 Kayak for the Warriors Kayak/
Paddleboard Race, please see the article on
page 1 in this issue for details.
What’s next for sidewalks in town? As
discussed here last month, the board formed a
committee to discuss this. Pedestrian Planning
Group IV met for the first time on April 9 to
review the existing Pedestrian Plan and discuss
sidewalks, safety, nature trails, connectivity,
funding and public input. If you are interested in this topic, keep an eye out for
a town-wide email from Town Clerk Charlie Rocci with the date of the next
meeting.
Town staff returns to town hall. Since the beginning of the COVID-19
crisis, as positive case spikes dictated, employees of town hall worked in every
variation from fully remote to everyone in the office daily donning masks
and keeping distant. By the time you read this, all town hall employees will
have returned to their workspaces. All town hall employees have been fully
vaccinated; however, town hall remains a by-appointment-only facility. The only
gatherings inside town hall and the public safety building are of official town
boards or committees. Our buildings remain closed to walk-in traffic for the
safety of our citizens and employees. This is sometimes difficult to enforce at the
public safety building where the fire bays are open most of the time, but I urge
you to respect the safety and privacy of that building and the police officers,
firefighters/EMTs and staff who work inside. Please call ahead for your business
needs and staff will arrange the safest way of accomplishing it. If you have a
medical or law enforcement emergency, please call 911. The governing body
and I continue to monitor the vaccination numbers in our area and the updates
from the CDC. We will open our buildings to full traffic when we feel it is safest
to do so.
FY 2021-2022 budget. The town board is in the middle of budget planning,
as is normal for this time of year. Though the budget ordinance has not yet been
approved, all indications are that the following items of interest will likely be
part of the final plan:
• There will be no tax increase, either for the regular property tax or the
sand tax.
• There will be a modest increase to our annual solid waste fee to account
for the CPI increase that is part of our contract with our solid waste.
• There are no rate increases for our water service.
Beach safety initiatives. Here are a few things we’ll be doing to promote
beach safety this season:
• Beach safety classes for kids on designated weekends. The Pine Knoll
Shores Fire Department will have some classes on the sand targeted
toward our younger beachgoers. Keep an eye open for these, which will
take place later this summer.
• Free parking for surfers. We will continue to have free parking for surfers
at the Iron Steamer and Memorial Park public beach accesses.
• Efforts to keep emergency accesses clear for rescue vehicles. We are
doubling up on signage to keep the emergency vehicle accesses from
being blocked by beach patrons, which can severely slow down a rescue
operation.
10 The Shoreline I May 2021
• Beach patrols. The police department will increase their beach presence to
four to five patrols per day.
• Life jackets (PFDs). Partnering with SeaTow, we will install life jacket poles
at the Iron Steamer and Memorial Park public beach accesses. PFDs for
various ages will be provided for use during your beach visit.
• Boogie boards and koozies will be available at the Iron Steamer and
Memorial Park public beach accesses. The boards provide a means of
flotation, and the koozies help us get the word out on rip current escape
strategies.
• The police department will distribute beach safety literature to area hotels/
motels and businesses. If you want this material for a home in Pine Knoll
Shores that will have multiple guests over the summer, contact Shelia Bupp
at psbadmin@townofpks.com.
• We will put out daily surf condition/flag warnings on Facebook. Please
make a habit of checking this before heading down to the beach.
• Life rings and ropes. We have expanded this and will have rings and ropes
at 10 locations throughout the town.
• New beach mile marker signs. We will have new mile markers on the beach
that will be programmed in the Active 911 system to improve response
times onto the beach strand.
• Electric sign usage. We will continue the use of the electric sign for surf
condition warnings. The sign will be positioned on the north side of
Highway 58 as you enter Pine Knoll Shores from the east.
East end stormwater project. We should be wrapped up with the Phase II
project by the time you are reading this. We are now taking a look at another
project to move water along the public rights of way on Laurel and Myrtle courts
to the collection vault on Myrtle Court. These are two of our most flood-prone
areas of town. We have programmed design costs in the FY 2022 budget for this
and hope to get the Coastal Federation to help us with construction funding in
the future.
Sand fencing planned for the upcoming winter. The commissioners directed
sand fencing to be installed along all 4.5 miles of the town this coming fall/
winter. If you live on the ocean, you should have received a letter from Town
Clerk Charlie Rocci regarding this project. We want to get the word out now so
folks do not start projects on their own. Contact Charlie at clerk@townofpks.
com if you have questions.
Solid waste contract. We are preparing a Request for Proposal to send out
later this summer for our solid waste (trash) services. We have been with Waste
Industries/GFL for decades, but we
are going to see what the market will
bear with some competition.
Town hall steps/Beach Access
A (eastern most access). We are
preparing to replace the stairs and
walkways around town hall as well
as the beach access across from the
former Hampton Inn. We will address
town hall this summer and the public
access later this fall after the summer
WILLIAMS HARDWARE
at Morehead Plaza
season.
• WIIMDOW & SCREEN REPAIR
• POWER TOOLS & EQUIPMENT
• LAWN & GAROEN SUPPLIES
• CHAINS & FASTENERS
• PLUMBERS & ELECTRICAL
• SHARPENING SERVICE
Gerber, Buck & Case Knives • Keys
Glass Cut to Size • We Cut Thread Pipe
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