Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Community Resilience topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Outerbanks Community Foundation pitches "Trusted Partners" outreach; planning staff report dune grants, shoreline modeling and Wellbone Park progress
Summary
During public comment, the Outerbanks Community Foundation introduced a 'Trusted Partners' disaster outreach program to pre-register local volunteers and businesses for rapid disaster response; staff also updated the board on 94 dune grants totaling $213,000, shoreline hydrodynamic modeling due in August, and Wellbone Park construction progress with custom flood-proofing lead times.
Chris Sin, CEO of the Outerbanks Community Foundation, used the public-comment period to introduce the foundation’s new Trusted Partners program, which aims to pre-identify community members, businesses and organizations that will be contacted first in a future disaster. Sin said the foundation’s disaster recovery work peaked after Hurricane Dorian, citing a $150,000 anchor gift from Town Bank and $1.5 million raised and distributed to residents with partners in the recovery effort. "The next time a storm hits, can we call you?" he asked the board, urging officials and businesses to sign up at obcf.org/trusted so vetted messaging and requests for assistance can be amplified quickly via social media.
In staff reports, the planning and development director told the board the town did not meet in June, will review a text amendment from TWWs that would reduce same-property building separation from 20 feet to 10 feet, and will continue work on a commercial outdoor recreation overlay district. Staff said shoreline hydrodynamic modeling and a basis-of-design report are being completed this month with community outreach planned for late August or early September. The town also reported that sand relocation and dune-management activity for the season has finished and that planning issued 94 dune grants totaling $213,000.
Town staff provided an update on the Wellbone Park project: construction is progressing with drywall, trim and electrical work pending; the unique flood-proofing elements of the building are expected to require 10–14 weeks for custom fabrication and installation, followed by engineering certification before public use. Staff said the town is learning from this in-house construction approach and will present further information to the board as milestones are reached.
Next steps: staff will provide a map and counts of properties using dune-grant permits for budgeting, continue community outreach on shoreline design once modeling is complete, and share Wellbone Park timing updates as flood-proofing details are finalized.
