Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Board of Commissioners meeting for September 14th, 2026. I call this meeting to order and invite everyone to please stand and join me in the pledge of allegiance. Before we enter into a moment of silence, I have a couple of things I'd like to share. On a personal note, I'd like to Send my heartfelt condolences to the family of Jay Bryant. Jay passed away late last week. He was a longtime Kill Devil Hills resident. He and his wife, Christy, are very active members of our community, part of lots of nonprofits, helping a lot of events and are real assets to our community. Jay was a friend of mine and very sad to learn that sad news and send my condolences to he and his family. This past Friday, I had the honor and privilege to join our community's first responders as we all walk from the first flight, first station to the Wright Brothers Memorial and back, observing the 25th anniversary of the 9-11 tragedy. As we transition into a moment of silence, I ask everyone to keep those individuals and families affected by those events 25 years ago in your thoughts and prayers. Please join me for a moment of silence.

Thank you.

All right. Good evening, everybody. Our next item of business this evening is our agenda. You have one before us. Set agenda. We have a motion and a second to approve the agenda. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. We have an agenda. Now is the time to set aside for public comment. This is an opportunity for anyone in the audience to address the board with any topic of their choosing pertaining to the town. When you're called upon, approach the podium right here in the center. Speak into the microphone and identify yourself by name and address. There will be no debates. Keep your comments to three minutes if you're speaking as an individual and five minutes if you are speaking on behalf of a group. And a friendly reminder that we'll have a second opportunity for public comment towards the end of the meeting after we've conducted all of our business. The floor is open if anyone would like to speak at this time. Go for it.

Good evening, commissioners, administrators, staff. My name is David Collins. I live at 1703 Padgett Road, Kill Devil Hills. While I'm here originally for the chapter 92 issue with the town attorney, I do have some words I'd like to speak about the ongoing e-bike issue. My wife and I ride e-bikes on the multi-use trail, which goes from the intersection of Collington Road and Veterans Drive all the way to the intersection of Moor Shore Road and West Kitty Hawk Road. We ride this trail three to five times a week, weather permitting. It winds up being a 12-mile round trip. It takes about an hour, so we don't go over 12 miles an hour. We're usually, well, we see other mature adults riding this trail as well. We do this for exercise. The trail gets busy sometimes. The riders have to be aware of walkers, and walkers have to be aware of riders. We are usually not the only ones on this trail for exercise. And I can speak to my experience only on this trail because I've not ridden on any other trails in the town or on sidewalks. There have been younger people on faster bikes on this trail, and I agree that speeding with e-bikes does present a danger. However, the bigger issue is e-motos. There's a difference between e-motos and e-bikes. E-motos are high-speed electric bikes. Basically, motorcycles, they don't have pedals. They have foot pegs. They're lower to the ground. They have different drive trains, and they present a whole new danger or a whole new different set of issues rather than e-bikes. Those, in my opinion, are what needs to be enforced are the riding of these e-motos. there have been some localities that have talked about prohibition of e-bikes in general um they have suggested that more mature adults riding the trail make suggestions to the younger speeders um i've tried that and i got mixed results one was a middle finger and the other result was a big fu so you know i won't be doing that anymore um Again, I don't believe prohibition is the solution. Not everybody is using e-bikes in an unsafe manner. E-motos, in my opinion, need their own rules and their own enforcement. Restricting where e-bikes may be used reduces the areas where certain peoples may be able to get some exercise. A ban on e-bikes based on someone's going to get seriously injured is flawed in a number of areas. If we start outlawing e-bikes or where they are ridden, I think you're going to create a bunch of outlaws. The premise would also require a lot of harmful things and behaviors to be banned. I believe enforcement of the existing ordinance, education and the difference between e-bikes and e-motos, And again, education and safe operation of e-bikes should be enough. It's enough when we operate a motor vehicle. I mean, we need education and training for motor vehicles, and that appears to be enough. I don't see any way law enforcement is not going to have any additional duties when it comes to policing e-bikes. It's just going to result in more problems. worked for police, I believe. Or maybe the town could move the flock cameras to the bike trails and reprogram them to take pictures when somebody violates a law. Mr. Collin. I thank you for your time.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Collin. Would anybody else like to speak at our first public comment period? Back or right ahead?

Jack McCombs, 3118 Bay Drive. I'm all in favor of e-bikes. I think it's a wonderful way of transportation, but I also recognize the danger. We live on Bay Drive, as I said, and when my wife and I are walking there, you cannot hear the e-bikes approaching you from the rear. What I would ask you to do is a couple things as you develop the rules or regulations or laws to govern the operation of the e-bikes. Please try to coordinate with the county government and the other municipalities. Obviously, you don't want a host of different rules as you cross town limits. Age limits. Some of these children running e-bikes are under the age of 10. I suspect some of them are under the age of eight. There's no way a child that age can operate a machine that can go that fast and do so safely for themselves or for the public. We need a speed limit on multi-use paths. a speed limit that's posted. I think 10 mile per hour is fast enough on a multi-use path. Whatever you do, whether it's 10 mile an hour or something more or less, please put a speed limit in. You need signs up to teach the public as the e-bike cyclist approaches people on the multi-use path. They need to warn people. Too many people right now, adults as well as children, come up on walkers. Don't say a thing and just scare the dickens out of you. If you're walking a dog or walking with your spouse and you step to the side as a bee bite comes by, then someone's going to get hurt seriously. And the last thing is enforcement. I don't recommend, because the police department has a lot to do, I don't recommend put policemen on bicycles, although one time in this town, there were bicycle patrols. I don't suggest that, but occasionally, the police can go out and just ride along the multi-use path. And when they see someone violating the rules, then do something about it and hold the parents, contact the parents. I'm not talking about punishing children. What I am talking about is contacting the parents. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Would anybody else like to speak at this public comment period?

Good evening. Thank you for your time, board. I have to agree. I agree with a lot of what has been spoken here about e-bikes. My name is Mac Boobin. I live at 1813 Bay Drive, and I see the craziest stuff go down in front of my house. I like everything the gentleman spoke to, but the thing I would suggest is making an age limit, maybe even a driver's license for e-bikes. You've got to follow the law. You've got to be able to get some kind of license to be able to do that. I'm here for another reason, though, really. I sent an email to the town last week. I'd like to propose an amendment to the town code section 96.21 that has to do with beach driving permits. Currently, both Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head do not allow street legal modified utility vehicles on the beach. Um, they are licensed in the same way that a Jeep or a heavy duty truck or anything else that can go on the beach is, um, I own one and, uh, it's a super convenient way to be able to get out on the beach. It takes up less space. Mine in particular is pretty slow and, uh, I don't really understand why that's not allowed to be able to happen right now, other than it's kind of following what the Cape Hatteras National Seashore has done. They do not allow them. Nags Head does not allow them. By all intents and purposes, they are the same as any other registered vehicle. They're insured. They have headlights, which wouldn't be an issue because you're not allowed on at night. So I see these vehicles as the same as any registered licensed motor vehicle. So I would ask the board to consider a amendment to that section. I know there may be concerns with erosion or something like that by driving that specific type of vehicle on the beach. but they're beholden to all the same laws that a motor vehicle is. They require all the same safety. You could tear the beach up in a Jeep Wrangler. It's all against the law. So I would please ask for your consideration and take a look at that amendment and hopefully allow something in the future. Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Any other takers for public comment? Opportunity number one.

Good evening. My name is Maggie Dennis, for the record, and I am a current chairperson of the Dare County Older Advisory Council.

Ms. Dennis, please identify yourself by address, too.

176 Swanview Drive, Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. Thank you. 27948. Technically, Collington. We won't hold that against you. So I'm just here to kind of let y'all know about what we do because we finding out that nobody knows that we even exist and we've been around since the 80s. Basically here, I'm here to change that and give you a brief overview, let you know that the older adult population of Dare County, has a direct and active representation. Our council is appointed to oversee and advocate for our elders across all three of our local centers, that being the Baum Center, which is a dedicated senior center, the Virginia Tillich Community Center in Manteo, and the Fezzian Center down in Buxton. Our mission is to ensure that Dare County residents can live a dignified, independent lifestyle. We want our residents to age actively right here in the Outer Banks while maintaining and improving their quality of life in their own homes, communities, and villages. We do this by distributing information, services, and opportunities for our older, seasoned citizens, as well as providing vital resources to the families caring for them. This last November, we just held a resource fair for the first time for families and caregivers. We had over 30 vendors and over 200 people attended. And most of the comments were we never knew that this stuff was here. We've also been able to acquire and advocate for the senior center to get a van to be able to do like day trips for seniors. And when I say seniors, and this is something I didn't know also because I was actively still working at 55, is it's 55 plus is what they're considering that. So anybody who's 55 plus can attend a senior center, but the other centers are multi-generational. So it's 16 and up. But statistics are now showing that Deer County alone, our older adult population is growing rapidly. And if we look at our neighbors, age 65 and older, they make up nearly 30% of our community. That's over 10,100 seniors. And this is according to the census and also the North Carolina Department of Home Health and Services. A concentration that is 45% higher than the average of the rest of the North Carolina. But the story deepens when we include our residents, including age 55 to 64. who are actively preparing for retirement or transitioning into our senior center programming. Together, the 55 plus demographic represents over 16,000 individuals, meaning that over 41% of Dara County's entire permanent population is 55 or older. We are no longer talking about advocating for a small slice of the community. We are representing nearly half of our county's residents. So the decisions we make today for our three community centers directly shape the future of the Outer Banks. And I'd just like to thank you for your time and continue to support our centers and listen to the voices of our older adult and our seasoned citizens. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

anybody else like to take advantage of our first public comment period all right seeing no takers uh we will move on to response to public comments um multiple people spoke about e-bikes since that is on the agenda a little bit later probably could get into that at that time um I will say, this dentist, dang, I was quick. I want to drop the mic. I was just going to get in and get out. But Sue Kelly, who has been on our...

Oh, gosh.

Community Peers Commission for many, many years has also been on the Older Adults Council for a very long time and has informed many of our members of this board, town staff, of all the work that group does. So we are well aware and appreciate everything they do. And I actually attended and presented at the resource fair last year. So they do a very nice job representing our seniors, and we look forward to continue working with them. I'll open it up for anybody else who'd like to respond to public comments. I'll wait for the e-mails.

Yeah, I'll wait for that. And then as far as the METV-S, I just would be interested to hear, you know, opposing position to that and just understand, you know, why they have been opposed.

Has it even been presented? I don't recall it ever coming up for discussion. Not that I'm aware of. And I'm not sure. Usually when it comes to beach driving, we work really hand-in-hand with NACCET. Our permits, I know in the past, have been interchangeable between both towns and really make it as user-friendly for whoever purchases one to be able to go to both places. I would like to continue that tradition of collaboration if we look at it. I know I spend a lot of time in the northern Currituck County, and there's a lot of that type of vehicle actively using the beach there, but it's a different beach than what we have here. And I would really like to listen to what our first responders have to say if we want to take a look at that.

Yeah, because on first blush, it seems that street legal should be okay. But I do know that the national parks have it prohibited for a reason. And I just want to hear the counterpoint to that argument as to why they shouldn't be allowed. But no, I appreciate your coming to us and asking for that.

Certainly is a fair point and a good topic for discussion.

And also just for, I guess you can call it the record, but nothing stops a citizen from proposing their own text amendment if the speaker would like to do that. It doesn't have to be something generated by... by council it could be something that he puts his thoughts forward um he can work with planning department um on that and then those thoughts could be considered so just throwing that out there making sure everyone knows the open avenues yeah this application process and go for it see what happens um any other response public comments

Hearing none, we will move along. Introductions and presentations. Item number one, 2026 sales tax referendum, Dale County Parks and Recreation improvements. Justin Bateman, welcome to Kill Devil Hill, sir. This is the first time in this room, so I'm very happy to have you here.

Didn't quite know where to go when I first got here. I've only ever stood outside and handed out. political literature to people so uh well good evening everyone thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak again uh my name is justin bateman i'm the chair of the parks and rec advisory committee um I'm here to talk to you all a little bit about this tax referendum that's coming up on the ballot. We've got the slides up on the screen. I'll just go through them and just kind of go over the information a little bit. After we're all said and done, if you all have any questions, I'd be happy to try and answer them for you the best way I can. Pennies for Parks is what we're calling it. Kind of a little play on words there in some ways, but this Dare County sales tax referendum will be dedicated to the improvement, the enhancements, all the things involving Dare County Parks and Recreation. So if we can, we'll go to the next slide. Sorry. That's okay. There we go. What's being proposed? Now, I thought about cutting up a penny and, you know, kind of coming and handing y'all each a cut up penny. But I feel like that would land me in a spot. I don't I think there's something the Constitution about that. But during the 2026 general election, Dare County voters will decide whether to approve a proposed one quarter cent vote. 0.0025, sales tax increase to fund Dare County Parks and Recreation improvements. And as you can see by the graphic there, you got a penny that's cut into a quarter. Give you an idea of reference point. All right, next slide, please. So what will the sales tax referendum look like? So let's go down just a little bit more. There we go. This is what your ballot is going to read in November. When you go to the ballot box in November, this is what it's going to look like. It's going to say exactly this. Local sales tax, sales and use tax at the rate of one quarter percent in addition to all the other state and local sales and use taxes. It doesn't say for parks and recreation at the end. It is a tax that is allocated by the state that you can use per county for certain things. We are choosing to try and use this or try to implement this tax to use dedicated specifically for parks and recreation. So that's where everybody reads it and they look at it and they, well, it doesn't say anything about parks and rec on there. Well, it can't. So you can select for or against. There you go. Keep rolling. All right, example of how much the new sales tax would add to a common purchase. Anybody got a $10 t-shirt on in here? $11, $12, regardless. That's how much your sales tax would be if you look, just kind of give you an idea of reference. It would be two and a half cents. It would be a quarter on a pair of $100 tennis shoes. And you might got a $400 TV. I think they're going down in price these days. You can find one probably that cheap, but it would be a dollar, an extra dollar on a $400 TV. So based on current spending analysis, the average resident in Derry County should expect to pay less than three cents per day. which by the finance gurus at the county level, they came up with the $14 per year for individuals or $22 a year for families. And of course, down at the bottom, you can see the little asterisks talking about the calculations. And it would apply to all items that currently the 6.75% sales tax applies to. So that includes retail sales, most general merchandise, restaurants, admission charges, repairs, installation services, things that they're already able to apply to those things. All right, go on down just a little bit more. So who's going to pay this tax? All right, that's a big question. Big question I get. Anyone making purchases in Dare County, anyone, making purchases in their county, which includes the visitors and the residents. They're going to pay the sales tax. Now, unlike a property tax, sales tax is also paid by visitors who shop, dine, and stay here. 70%, again, the financial gurus at the county level claim that 70% of this sales tax increase would be paid by the visitors. the increase would not apply to purchases like groceries, gasoline, prescription medications. And if you go down to KDHG for one of our fine local car retailers, it won't apply to that either. So you can go buy a car and you don't have to pay the tax. All right, next slide. So why, that's the question, the why. Dare County Parks and Recreation Recommendations and Implementation Plan, which was created by McGill and Associates, as well as some of the surveys that went out a couple years ago from the county, identified significant needs for improvements that exceed what can be funded through the county's annual budget. So the sales tax would provide a long-term funding source for parks and recreation improvements, avoids placing the full financial burden on property owners since visitors contribute by paying the same sales tax. Now, occupancy taxes are restricted by state law. That's a big question we get a lot of. Why can't you use occupancy tax? Well, they're restricted and cannot be redirected to fund parks and recreation projects in Dare County. How are we going to benefit? Well, Parks and Recreation provides a safe, accessible places for residents of all ages to stay active, healthy, and connected. I believe we just had someone talking about a minute ago to healthy and active of the elderly, I guess we'll say. Additional funding would address the issues identified in the study, which we'll look at here in just a moment, provided by McGill and Associates. So this is to meet the growing demand for youth sports recreation programs and community events, improve and modernize aging parks, athletic fields, and recreation facilities. Does anybody know how old Family Recreation Park is? Real quick, you have an idea? Give an idea? No. 35 years? I don't think it's quite. I think it was, what, 96? Was it 94? So we're looking at 30-some years, okay? And all we've done is a little touch-up paint here, little things here and there. Expand opportunities for children, families, adults, and seniors, and support healthier lifestyles through outdoor recreation and wellness programs. Everybody screams about child obesity these days. This is a way to help combat these types of things. All right. We'll scroll on down just a little bit more. All right. This is the one that I kind of get hung up on, and I'll try not to get too long-winded, y'all. I know I can talk a lot. Recreation for 100 miles. Y'all know tip to tip in Dare County. We're 100 miles from the northern part of Duck all the way down to the ferry docks. All right. Dare County Parks and Recreation serves residents across three regional divisions. You've got your Roanoke Island Division, your Northern Beach Division where we are, and you've got your Hatteras Island Divisions, okay? This is kind of a breakdown in a lot of ways of what they provide. Youth and adult athletics, after-school programs, fitness, dance, wellness classes, senior programs, special Olympics and all-inclusive recreation, countywide special events and facility rentals. We have 17 baseball, softball, t-ball fields, 10 playgrounds, soccer and multi-purpose athletic fields, indoor and outdoor basketball courts, tennis and pickleball. walking trails, skate parks, dog parks, fitness rooms. This is kind of what we're looking at as a whole to improve, build upon, enhance all the things. All right. So how's the revenue going to be used? If approved, the additional one quarter cent sales tax would be dedicated to improving Dare County Parks and Recreation facilities. I'm going to read that one more time. If approved... The additional one quarter cent sales tax would be dedicated to improving dedicated to improving their county parks and recreation facilities. Funding would support approximately fifty six point nine million in parks and recreation facility upgrades, renovations and expansions identified through the countywide recreation needs assessment. The sales tax will only be implemented, though, if it is voted on in favor of in the twenty twenty six general election in November.

You can scroll on down.

All right, so here's where we get into the planned priorities, okay? Artificial turf fields to allow for year-round multi-sport use, increasing capacity and availability in most used fields. So what is a multi-purpose field? Now, a lot of people would probably point... I don't know which direction I'm at, over towards Rec Park and say, well, that soccer field, football field over there, that's a multi-use field. Our baseball fields are multi-use fields. Think about when you see soccer goals being drug out there for practice. That turns that into a multi-use field. So any of those types of fields and places like that all qualify for artificial turf. Trails, indoor facility expansion. Got a big issue. I know this doesn't apply to Kill Devil Hills, but the Mania Lions Club is in, if any of y'all been in there, it could use a little bit of a touch up. It could use a little bit of help over there. That building's, it's been around. I think I played rec basketball in there years ago. The old swimming hole site plan. Anybody ever swam at the old swimming hole in Mania? Do you know where the old swimming hole is? At the end of Airport Road, yeah. There's been a few lives lost over there. Not recently, but that I'm aware of. But it needs some modifications, some touch-ups. I don't believe they'll want it to be done for swimming anymore. I think they want to call it maybe Sunset Park or something to that effect. You can scroll down a little bit more. Splash pads, playground improvements, outdoor pickleball. Any pickleball players? None. Mr. McEvoy? Okay. Security and LED field lightings, land banking. That's an important one right there. 85% of our county is either state or federally owned. Okay. We've got 15% of this county. that we can work with. It's not a lot. So when opportunities present itself for us to acquire some land to possibly create a space for pickleball or to create a space for something else that is recreationally involved, we need to try to capitalize on those opportunities. Right now, we don't have it. So land banking, I think that's a really important one. If you want to check out the website at darienc.gov slash quarter cent for more information, there's a frequently asked questions page there. Lots of good information. A lot of everything I just went through can be found there as well. And I am, I'm happy to try, try and answer any questions that you all may have. I'm sorry. I probably talked for 20 minutes, but I can go on and on about this stuff, but I'll spare you. So if y'all have any questions, happy to try and answer them for you. Yes, sir, Mr. McAvoy.

Yes, thank you for that presentation. The exact plans are not set. Could a county pool be considered possibly?

A county pool is in doing another one?

No, an outdoor pool.

Oh, an outdoor – I thought you meant like pooling.

No, a county outdoor pool, yeah.

That's not off the table. Pools require lots of maintenance, extra staffing. There's certain things. It's not out of the realm of possibility, but it is one of those things that it requires a lot of attention to detail. At one point in time, there was some money that was – wheeled out to Parks and Rec years ago on Hatteras Island for a pool. And it wasn't a great deal of amount of money. I think it was just like a half a million dollars. Now, that would help get the ball rolling, but then you've got to consider the staffing, the maintenance, all those things, and they weren't able to – I think they had to give the money back.

So the exact plans for how to use the money, let's just say it is approved. That's going to be an open-ended discussion. It's going to be planned by committees and commissioners of the county. Is that right?

Great question. Now, if we scroll back up just a little bit. So where you see this, the planned priorities, this is what is being proposed to get started on right away. That $56.9 million is what is proposed to get started on right away. This was determined by the assessment that was done by community members a few years ago, plus the McGill study, to be the more important needs that we're facing with Parks and Rec at the moment. But it is not... out of the realm of possibility to see what you're speaking of, Mr. McEvoy.

Sure, sure. And it's ongoing, right? Is this... The tax would be ongoing. The earmark portion of it would be ongoing.

The tax would be, there's no sunset on the tax.

Oh, there is.

There is no sunset. No, it wouldn't be like after this is paid off, it rolls off the ballot. You would have, if it were to be approved and be implemented next year, it would be some, it would take an emotion of the commissioners, people to send a note to Riley saying, Hey, we want to put it back on the ballot to vote, to have this taken off.

OK, but the part of what I'm confused of is the part of earmarking it for Parks and Rec or, you know, being that you can't say that on the on the actual ballot itself, but earmarking it for that purpose. Is that ongoing or would that be just for one year?

OK, great question. I love that question. That's a question I get a lot. OK. So that money will go into the general fund. Okay. The county commissioners have signed a resolution stating that money would be used specifically for parks and recreation. Now, when they start issuing bonds, if this were to pass and bonds start being issued, it's got to be paid for. Now in 20 years, could that change? If we get a new whole new slate of commissioners, one of y'all end up up there, you know, if we get a whole new slate of commissioners, It could, but just real quick, I was looking at y'all's agenda, and I think we had some public comment about the e-bike stuff. These citizens are in here with some sort of push to stay in your ear to ensure that something happens. What that something is that y'all all decide to come together about is still up for discussion. I know y'all will talk about that, but That's where we as citizens have to keep the pressure on to ensure that it stays that way. I'm not above. being in your face, inbox, DMs, or up your rear end to stay behind it. Because this is something I'm very passionate about. And I know that our current seated county commissioners are very passionate about it as well. I know they're going to be hosting their own little forums coming up, I believe, the second week of October, or the first full week of October, the 5th, 6th, and 7th in different areas to discuss it as well. But that's where, again, your citizens... I have to come to you to try and ensure. I mean, they elected you to represent them in a way.

I think we're all excited that it's going. Something is going forward to put attention to this matter. I know this board has always been interested in. parks and rec, we're blessed to have it here in our town. Um, so it's kind of like personal to us, but, um, yeah, for sure. I mean, I think, you know, all of us obviously raised children here and of course, and those of us who are now are, you know, using the facilities ourselves or as, as older adults and things like that for various things. So, yeah, I think, uh, yeah, it's going to be, it's going to be an interesting, um, to get the information out there. I mean, this presentation to us, hopefully people watch it, obviously news media, and then it's up to people just to educate. What else is being done to educate just like the general public about this?

Well, we're trying to engage our Parks and Rec advisory group. We're trying to engage lots of different groups to spread the awareness, the information. I've already done a presentation for the town of Manteo. I've done one for the Dare County Baseball League in Manteo. Let's see. I've got one coming up for Town of Southern Shores. I've got another one coming up for First Flight Rotary. I'm sure I've got more.

I did the League of Women Voters.

Ivy did the League of Women Voters. She's one of our board members.

Also, a mailer. There is a postcard going to every single household in Dare County describing it.

And this will be on the actual ballot in November? Yes, sir. This November?

Yes, sir. Okay. Yes, sir. And again, I don't want to take any more of your time. If you all have any more questions, I'm happy to answer. But Ivy's got my phone number, my email, all the things. And that goes for any of you in this room. If you all have any extra questions and you would like to talk to me, happy to talk to you and happy to try and get you all there.

And I'm happy to as well if anyone wants to reach out.

Thank you.

All right.

Mr. Bateman, thank you. All right. Thank you, guys. Very nice work, sir. Appreciate it. All right. Any ongoing business this evening? No, sir. All right. Let's move on to new business. Item number one, a bomb track development. Board accepted the North Carolina Land and Water Grant.

Yes, sir. Thank you. This is a continuation of what we've been working on now several years, and that's the improvements to the bomb track. specifically recreation opportunities and some additional infrastructure. If the board recalls back in February of 25, we got authorization to work with the North Carolina Land and Water Fund to do a conservation grant for the property that is already being managed through a memorandum of understanding between the town and the Nature's Conservancy. In exchange for this permanent conservation for these properties, the North Carolina Land and Water Fund has awarded the town $1,570,735. Included in the award would be $58,200 in transaction costs and $12,535 in stewardship endowment. At this stage of this application process, like to recommend that the board officially accept this grant and approve the budget amendment that's attached, budget amendment number five, which establishes a budget for the reimbursable expense associated with the grant process. And a motion would be in order.

Quick question. Can we elaborate a little bit on the environmental protections that adopting this motion would do to really conserve that land permanently and protect it from any potential future development?

Well, it puts it in a conservation easement in perpetuity. So it can only be used for the recreation that we currently would allow for it now through the conservancy.

Well, wonderful. Yes. Very, very. This is good news. And as mentioned, it's been several years and working along. Commissioner McEvoy, you were on the original group that recommended the disc golf track for that space. And Commissioner Huygens, you were on the Westside group that also put together a lot of these proposals.

Let me clarify. I don't want you to misunderstand. This easement, this conservation easement is for the property in Nags Head Woods that the Conservancy is already managing for us. This isn't the actual bomb track property that we're talking about here. But these dovetail. As you know, we've talked about that we would use the money from the grant to begin our development of the recreation and infrastructure on the bomb track. At that time, we would be applying for additional grants that would put that land in a conservation for recreation and for fertility, much like Meekins Field. So it's two different things, but they're tied together.

Dovetail is a good word. Thank you.

So if I could get a motion from the board for this one, and then we can go to the second step.

Do we have any other questions or discussion regarding item 1A under new business? No.

Hearing none, I'm open for a motion. I'll make a motion to accept the North Carolina Land and Water Fund grant.

I'll second. We have a motion and a second.

And that would include the budget amendment. Thank you.

We have a motion and we have a second. Do we have any further discussion? I'LL TAKE A MOMENT OF PRIVILEGE JUST TO REMEMBER OUR DEAR FRIEND COMMISSIONER TERRY GRAY AND ALL THE WORK THAT HE DID FOR THIS PROJECT. THIS WAS A PASSION PROJECT OF HIS THAT HE WAS A LEADER ON AND WORKED ON IT FOR A VERY, VERY LONG TIME AND I'M VERY HAPPY TO SEE HIS LEGACY AND HIS FINGERPRINTS ARE ON THIS MOVING FORWARD. If there's no more comments, all in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Aye.

Motion passes. Thank you. So now part B of this is where we will establish a capital reserve ordinance for further development of the bomb track. This ordinance begins with setting aside that $1.5 million, which would go in here. And each year, the board, just as you do with your other reserves, have put an amount in earmarked for this development. And so a motion would be in order to establish this reserve fund and the budget amendment that goes with that, number six, for the $1,500,000.

Any questions, comments? Anybody like to make that motion? Yes.

Move to approve the capital reserve ordinance for the development of the bomb track and the accompanying budget amendment to establish the budget for the revenue grant.

We have a motion and we have a second. Any more discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you to everyone from town staff for a lot of work in getting this done, and we're excited to protect our green spaces and make them more accessible for the desired use. All right. Moving on, new business item number two, electric-assisted bicycle regulation in Kill Devil Hills.

Yes, sir. As we've been discussing now for some time, there was some legislation that was passed at the last session that does allow for some additional enforcement. We simply laid out three different classes to get some input from the Board as to how you would like to proceed with this. One of the comments that was made earlier about the The emotes or the moto. Yeah. The motobikes without pedals are not considered e-bikes as it applies to this. And our police department has been enforcing that. There's been a number that have been confiscated. Parents have been held responsible. And so that has been ongoing. and they've been working very hard with that. We do have an officer that's out quite a bit, Anthony Lane, that's kind of been spearheading the education. We sort of moved from education into a little bit stronger enforcement. He's also working with the schools as they started their year back with some of their new regulations. So there has been a lot done, but we need and would like to have some guidance from the board as to where you'd like to see this go next.

Now, I'd like to confirm House Bill 1094, while it has been passed by the General Assembly, goes into effect December 1st.

Yes, sir.

So there is some time to work up to this. We're not making a decision.

Right. To really think this through and get input from our citizens.

I thought about this a lot. I like the idea of a 15 mile an hour speed limit on the multi-use path, just as an aside, a little different than the sidewalks, but the multi-use path, I mean, 10, 15, that could be debated, but 15 at least, no more than that for the multi-use path. And as far as reading the three classes of e-bikes that are outlined here, you know, It's tricky. You hate to say, well, if you have an e-bike that can operate at 28 and you operate it at 10, you can't be on the multi-use path. Is that really fair? I think we don't want to be overly… overly inclusive in creating an ordinance that's going to violate a larger class of people. There was an email we received. It's here. I liked it as well because it did talk about the benefits and the positive side of e-bikes and how it is being used by You know, not just our kids, which are, you know, they're obviously hot and heavy and using that e-bikes for many reasons. The speed of it, of course, is probably the most attractive to them. But, you know, the older folks that can use it as a way of getting out, you know, it's not incredibly great exercise. But they do have pedals and you can pedal and you can assist and you can change things. A lot of these bikes you can change the settings so you're assisting partially or whatnot. But there's no question about it. And I always applaud you for coming to us about this issue for years now. To be careful not to... come up with something that's overly inclusive or overly, you know, that, that it hits everybody for an unknown reason. Yes. We need to focus on the reckless behavior and not the, and not create an ordinance that's, you know, capturing responsible kids, responsible older adults, you responsible people generally from operating. So, you know, why you'd like to almost easily say, yeah, class three e-bikes shouldn't be allowed on anything but the road. I think that that is overly inclusive because you're, you're, you're taking a class of people that can operate a vehicle that has the ability to operate at 28 miles an hour. but they, but they know they have the sensibility to operate it at 10 miles an hour on an e-bike, maybe eight o'clock at night, seven o'clock at night when there's no one even on it or, you know, or early in the morning when there's, there's less people on it or maybe the middle of the day when it's, when it's busy, um, you know, everything you wish everybody would just use common sense really. Cause you know, that would prevail, but unfortunately that's why we have laws that, you know, to dictate those without common sense, I think. So especially with speeding. So, you know, I just, I would just talk, say to the board, just let's be careful not to be overly inclusive. And I do agree with what you said, Jack, as far as like, you know, you know, different laws between the town limits of our, of our outer banks, that's kind of, that's going to be crazy. I mean, I think we do need to have some responsibility to talk to Kitty Hawk, NAGSA at least about what they want to do, what they're doing so that there's not some confusion about how this works, you know, between county lines, I mean, town lines, excuse me. And, um, you know, I think that would be much more responsible for us to, to really lock in on that. So that was a great point, Jack. And, uh, yeah i mean uh the very minimum the wide multi-use path that we all talk about a lot in bay drive that runs largely along bay drive and and first That is attractive for e-bikes because it doesn't feel like a sidewalk. And then half the time, a lot of times, it's not that busy. It can be not busy. It could be nobody walking for miles on end. And certain times of night, certain times of day, that's true. Certain times of day is busy. You've got babies with strollers. You've got people walking dogs with leashes, all of which is dangerous for a bicycle. So, you know, I could understand the argument that no bicycle should be allowed on it, period. You know, even a bicycle shouldn't be allowed on it. But, you know. it's just, I just say, let's try to do something that is not overly inclusive. A speed limit is a smart move, but it's very, you know, it's hard to enforce. Our officers are going to sit there and force speed limits on multi-use paths. I mean, let's be, you know, I'd like to see that, but, you know, that would be the obvious way to really limit, right? If your speed limit is 15 and some kid is zipping through, that's it. He gets cited. He gets a ticket. And, of course, on top of everything else is the enforcement and the punishment. It's like, yeah, what do you do? Punish a kid. Punish a kid's parents. Confiscate his bike. All these things are – going to be the unfortunate responsibility of the police officers, and it's going to create some issues and some time. So we have to be careful to put something together that's responsible. That's what I'd like to see us do.

I have a question for AC. How can we differentiate the three classes of e-bikes?

Hard.

I can't tell them apart.

That's just it.

You'd have to ride it. You'd have to actually ride it to really... No, you can't. There's nothing that says on it, hey, I go 28 and I go 20. Yeah, I mean, I can't imagine how you would differentiate it unless you could literally operate it, which... You're going to get on and operate and check that it goes 28 or 27 or 20? I mean, it's just unusual. It would be an unusual thing to ask the officers to do.

And this is another question that circles back to 1094. Is there any... verbiage in the legislation that would make it easier for law enforcement to identify the different like force device to have some sort of marking or classification system where you can look at one and say this is a A CLASS TWO VERSUS A CLASS THREE. MY FEAR IS THAT PROHIBITION IN GEOGRAPHIC AREAS OR PROHIBITION BY CERTAIN CLASSES, HOW COULD THE POLICE DEPARTMENT TELL ONE CLASS IF I PERFORM A PARK FROM THE OTHER ONE? THAT SEEMS VERY DIFFICULT.

The legislation did not help as far as identification. It did not help.

Mr. McCombs, you had a good comment about encouraging collaboration between the county and towns and any actions that we do this so it's universal for e-bike users throughout their county. Could the county have the authority with the towns together to force e-bike sales in their county to have visible classification labels on them.

Do we have the authority to do that? Other than their park properties. No, they cannot. They're roads with DOTs. You have online sales. It's just a municipality.

You can buy these things on Amazon.

They're bought on Amazon.

The manufacturer. That's like manufacturer regulation. Or a license plate like we have on our automobiles.

Correct me if I'm wrong. It reaches a certain level once it goes above 30, I think, or I guess above the 20.

If it goes over 20, or... correct the motorized right right but there's a certain point where it becomes a moped and it does have to actually have tags tied to all of that good stuff that's what I thought yeah that's what I was thinking but without that without reaching that level no there's really manufacturers gonna do what they do with them they're gonna spit them out like Dylan said through Amazon and your son or daughter is gonna figure out like mine did how to unlock that little calibrator thing on there and yeah I mean it just is what it is for now

A lot of variables on this one.

Yeah. What else? Comments?

Would this be a good one to consider for our board retreat?

Yes. I think we're going to be chewing on this one for a long time.

I'd be interested to see if there was any additional legislation comes out of this next session that would do some better clarifying of what we could do or what could be done with the bikes. I would caution the board.

Eventually the state will lead on this. Yes, I agree. Eventually the state at some point will take the lead on all of this.

A lot of other states have a lot of them. We're pretty behind in terms of states.

And then you'll see an actual classification system. And for the large vendors to sell them in your state, you have to follow the rules.

Right. And what most states do that already have Did a lot of research last night about this. So at most states that already have statewide, their class one and class two are allowed on sidewalks, mostly with speed limits. And class three is road, is road only.

The only thing I would say in the meantime, I would be okay with putting a... generic speed limit on the multi-use path. 15 is the number I believe. But, you know, obviously it wouldn't be. It's just like the stop signs. They're not DOT erected. No, but it's like the DOT stop signs, right?

I mean, the stop signs along the multi-use path, they're not

DOT stop signs. They're not, right? And they're not truly enforceable stop signs. I don't believe that.

Okay, I know. Yeah, you're talking like crosswalks, things like that.

They look like stop signs, but they're mini stop signs.

No.

Go ahead. Basically, what they'd be used for is like, if they did run and got directly repostrated, maybe I'll put it where we could charge and... Not reckless. Reckless. Yeah.

The signs on the bike path are required by law. When you have a multi-use pass that's crossing an intersection, bicycle stop signs are required by law. Okay. And they are enforceable if a bicycle doesn't stop and there's an accident. I don't think people are really doing much about that. A bike going across it. Because multi-use technically is R for bicycles. Multi-use is a certain size. Multi-use is. Is a size. Is a width.

Yeah.

It's got to be a minimum of eight feet. Ours is 10. Okay. Yeah. To accommodate pedestrians and bicycles.

But that's. Yeah. Okay. But that's the purpose of it. Yeah. The purpose is to allow for bikes.

Okay. Yeah. Okay. The recommendation, helmet requirements for minors, is that 18 and under, or is there a specific age?

It would be under 18. Right?

16 or under? I was curious.

Well, I mean, I suppose that would be in your guys' discretion, really, considering... And the current state law is 16 and under for helmets. Yes. Regular. Correct.

Correct. Right. Well... There's a lot to think about here and we have time being that a lot is ago. In fact, until December commissioner, I like your idea of. adding this to the discussion for our retreat. It's October 10th. And as we talk to other towns, I can talk to the other mayors and see what they're doing at our mayor's luncheon and get some feedback. I really like the coordinated approach. The towns and the county work together on so many things, from beach nourishment, the tax collection, to water. I can't see why we all have the same problem. We can do the same for this. ANYBODY ELSE HAVE ANYTHING TO ADD TO NEW BUSINESS ITEM NUMBER TWO? ALL RIGHT. MOVING ON. COMMITTEE REPORTS.

um once again the government education access channels community met um it's like a quarterly basis um nothing really exciting to report just passing a lot of money to the towns and uh everybody's got a bunch of great videos though ours always the best you know might be slightly biased um but all in all staff is doing a wonderful job all the time with the videos making sure everything's turned in on time to the to the committee. They are going to be looking for, current TV is going to be looking for a new channel manager. Chad has left. Chad left in August. So that's going to be coming out soon. I'll be looking out for that.

No committee report here.

I had a Coastal Resource Advisory Council meeting a couple weeks ago. It was mostly about hardened structures. As you know, they've already taken action on that. So Mostly about that and septic tanks, things that really don't apply to Capitol Hills, but interesting nonetheless.

The Deer County Tourism Board is seeking clarification from the state legislature regarding the use of their restricted fund, which funds tourism impact grants, things like that. It does not fund their normal day-to-day operation, just the use of their restricted funds. When we last met, we were preparing to meet to discuss this and it's essentially been moved to send it to the state level for the state legislature who created the tourism board to clear up that funding question and other tourism boards across the state have done so with and received their clarification without much issue. I feel like there was something else that I have there. I suppose that's it.

All right. Commissioner's agenda. Anything down here?

No.

Nothing for me.

Nothing for me.

I've been thinking about something. No, no, no. I definitely knew it. I've got three loose notes, and I've missed something up here. But anyway, no, I just look forward to getting together for our board retreat and working on some of these ongoing discussions.

All right, we will move on to mayor's agenda under resolutions and proclamations. I have 3 items to bring forward constitution week. Proclamation 1st item 2nd is breast cancer awareness population. And last is Fire Prevention Week Proclamation. The three proclamations honor the foundation of our system of government, heighten awareness of an illness diagnosed in over 8,000 North Carolinians annually, and remind us of the importance of fire safety in our homes, especially in the presence of battery-powered devices in our everyday lives. I recommend approval of those proclamations, and I make a motion to approve all three.

Move to approve all three proclamations.

We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor, please indicate by saying aye. And also, my second item, as previously mentioned, we have our board retreat scheduled for Saturday, October 10th, here at 9 o'clock in the morning. As we get a couple weeks from now, I ask everyone, if you have any topics you'd like to discuss, please email them to Michael and I. We'll have a We'd like to give him the chance to be as prepared as possible, get as much of these things on that agenda at a time, and I look forward to our day together. What else? Quite a bit. Mayor's agenda as well. Automated license plate readers, flock cameras has been talked about quite a bit. If our board members are amenable, I would like to ask our town attorney to research ALPRs and return at a future meeting with a legal analysis of this technology. everybody's okay with that idea. Uh, Casey, if you would do some homework, certainly kind of give us a history of the issue, any, um, constitutionality conflicts that you may see. And, uh, I look forward, this has been a hotly discussed thing. So we look forward to, uh, getting some counsel on that.

Perfect. Absolutely. Absolutely. Representing Kitty Hog as well. I've had the benefit now of sitting through two presentations. So, yeah, I'm learning a lot about these things myself. So I'd be very happy to bring back a report.

Thank you, sir. Ice cream social is coming up. The town's ice cream social will be held next Tuesday, September 22nd from 430 to 630 p.m. at Aviation Park. Our community pie baking contest has returned. And if you are a KDH baker, we'd love for you to enter. We're also having a baked goods sale, and both will benefit the Wally, the Calumet Scholarship for our area seniors. Go to the town's website for more details, and I understand our pride judges have returned and are excited to take part. Oh, good evening. I missed the application for pie judges.

I thought the commissioners would have been squid.

I'm not. I am too scared of the political fallout for making the wrong decision for pie judging contest. It's too high stakes for me. Fire department open house on Tuesday, October 6th from 4 to 7 p.m. The fire department will be holding its annual open house. There's going to be lots of fun and games for the family. great educational opportunities. And there is a rumor that our police department grill masters will be cooking. Oh, I see. I look forward to that, sir. A lot of good food reference. We started with recreation and healthy activity being healthy. Now we're getting into all the bad stuff. Bulk item collection. The town's bulk item collection will begin on Monday, October 19th. People can begin setting out items on October 4th. There were, For more information, please check the town's website or call our public services department. The website does a very nice job explaining how to categorize what you put out on the streets to make the collection part of it run as smoothly as possible. I don't look forward to breaking all the leaves from the live oak trees. Historic Landmarks of Tour. Our Historic Landmarks Commission will be holding its annual Landmarks Dedication and Home Tour at 1.30 p.m. on Friday, October 9th at Town Hall. Following the ceremony, several historic homes will be open to the public for touring. Very fun event. See all the cool old cottages that we have around town. And the last thing I have to share with everybody is holiday markets. Can you believe it's already time to be thinking about our holiday markets? They're only 64 days away. And if you're interested in being a vendor, please check out the town's website to submit an application. Don't wait. The deadline to apply is September 23rd. Do we have a limit on how many vendors can participate?

Yes, sir.

How many?

There are 54. 55, squeeze in 58 if they're small for the holiday market because it's inside the rink.

Yeah, it really is a nice setup in there. Good utilization of space.

Yeah, there is a limited space. And I will tell you, we've gotten quite a number of applications in our first week.

Great. Doing it nice. It's going to fill up fast for anybody interested in participating. That's all I have for mayor's agenda, town manager's agenda.

Yes, sir. Thank you.

town attorney uh yes um you guys had asked me to look into our chapter 92 which was or is our code which governs parades pickets and group demonstrations on public streets sidewalks and other um public places the similar to what the mayor just tasked me with um with regard to other well with regard to flock cameras let's look at the constitutionality of the ordinance as it currently exists, examine it, figure out if we need to make any changes, things of that nature. So interestingly enough, constitutional law was like my favorite class in law school, even though you run into it a little bit now here and there, but I had a lot of fun doing the research, which makes me a nerd. It's fine. But, but I will say this constitutional issues are also always a They're supposed to be objective, but they're very subjective. All right. And what I mean by that is I could sit here and look at this and say one thing and some other lawyer may say something different. I don't know. But here's what I do know. I've looked at this and I've looked at every aspect. I've got a 12 page memo, as a matter of fact, on this thing. And basically, as a general principle, we're talking about protected speech. OK, so that's what brings us into the realm of the First Amendment and why we're even talking constitutional status of this particular ordinance. Um, something undeniable, a town can always impose, uh, reasonable content neutral, which is usually the biggest key that you're going to find in any case law. Are you, are you discriminating against certain items based on their content, certain items of speech based on their content, or does it apply to all forms of protected speech that we regulate? But also time, place and manner restrictions can be put in place so long as I said, they're content neutral and there's reasonable restraint. The idea is that promoting health, as Chief has said, promoting health and public safety of the general public actually outweighs, our courts have said, any infringement on health. Whatever right to free speech may exist or whatever infringement is actually occurring. However, it's key that those restraints be reasonable and that they be promoting a. general or better said a public purpose okay and in this case i do feel comfortable that the purpose for permit and advance notice requirement is based in a legitimate government purpose which is health and safety of of the general public um We do. I will say this. There are a lot. It was actually a more involved ordinance than what I thought prior to getting into it. But I went through each section. The questions I ask myself are always, okay, is it unconstitutional on its face? Is there something here within any of these provisions that I can just sit there and flatly say, there's no doubt about it. If this thing gets attacked or And or if I'm just reading it, is it it's unconstitutional because of X, because it's discriminating against this or this is too subjective as far as the criteria that that's out there to determine whether or not it's a danger to the public. The other side of it is if we are challenged, are the sections we currently have defensible? Meaning, could I put up an argument in court that I believe defends this as being a constitutional ordinance? The answer is yes. I think that we have a valid ordinance as it currently exists. And I think that it's a defensible ordinance as far as each section is concerned. Now, I've got a recommendation, however. All right. So. Having a valid ordinance means, in my opinion, that we can continue enforcement of this ordinance until something were to change. Now, we've heard concerns from the public. I believe this gentleman was here last meeting as well. A lot of these concerns are largely based and centered around the permitting process and the fact that it's To certain people, it's arduous, it's overburdensome, and that effectively amounts to a suppression of protected free speech. So in looking back through, and part of this 12-page memo that I've got that I can't wait, and I'm sure staff is looking forward to it as well, discussing is just because something, I believe we could defend something on a constitutional basis, doesn't mean that we can't make something less burdensome. and still achieve the promotion of the health and the public safety that the ordinance originally intended to protect in the first place. So my recommendation would be to the board that you direct me to work with staff own some potential amendments that we bring back to you guys that try to find some nice little middle ground on what we've heard the public say is arduous, while at the same time protecting the legitimate government interest of health and safety. I DO THINK THERE'S ABSOLUTELY SOME ROOM THERE. WE'RE OKAY TO CONTINUE ENFORCING AS IS, BUT I THINK IT'S WORTH US, ME AND STAFF, REVISITING AND BRINGING YOU GUYS SOMETHING TO KNOW ON.

VERY NICE PRESENTATION.

DO WE HAVE CONSENSUS TO INSTRUCT Yes, I think we have that. Thank you very much for the council. Absolutely. All right. Anything else in our town attorney's agenda? Nothing. All right. Consent agenda.

Yes, sir. Three items. The minutes from the August 17, 2026 meeting to July 2026 monthly report. two budget amendments, one to appropriate rental income from the old fire station and the second to record the encumbrances outstanding as of June 30th, 2026. Staff recommends approval of the consent agenda as presented and a motion would be in order.

Move to approve the consent agenda.

Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion or questions? Hearing none, all in favor please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Thank you. Agenda. All right. Now is the time. Now is the time we set aside for our second opportunity for public comments. The floor and podium are open. If anyone else would like to speak, Jack McCombs.

Jack McCombs, 3118 Bay Drive. Yesterday, the Air Force Memorial to Memorial Drive ended at the Air Force Memorial in Northern Virginia. When we started this, and I say we started this, Kill Devil Hills was the foundation for the Air Force to build this thing. There were 60 cyclists that first year in 2022. This year, there were 355. The Air Force intends for this to become the biggest recruiting tool in the Air Force inventory. It's also worth mentioning the Air Force is raising a lot of money to help wounded warriors. If any of you saw the cyclist when they started from here, there were about 30 wounded warriors, several without legs that were hand cycling all the way up to the Air Force Memorial. It's a great way to raise funds for these folks. Now, I said this once to you six years ago. The goal for the Air Force Memorial ride is not hundreds. It's 20,000 cyclists coming to Kill Devil Hills and the whole of the Outer Banks and doing this ride to the Air Force Memorial. The Air Force is being very slow and deliberate the way they're developing this because it's a heck of a logistic task. But I just want to warn you, in about 10 years, we'll probably have about 5,000. And in another 10 years, we're going to have close to 20,000. Wow.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Director.

Thank you. Would anybody else like to speak in our second public comment period? Yes. That was a tie. You guys can just work it out.

I'm Robert Schreier. I live at 2501 Bay Drive. And like the gentleman before said, I see a lot of crazy stuff out there on the multi-use path. I am a bike rider, and I'm on that path five or six days a week usually. Yesterday, I just about got clipped by any bike rider, as did the pedestrian coming in the other direction. We were being used as slalom gates. It doesn't happen too often, but it has happened to me before. As Ms. Ingram said, the regulations a lot of other places allow for a class one, in some cases a class two, but definitely want a class three on that type of path. So I would like to encourage the board to try to move in that direction and at the same time, you know, defer to the public safety officials. It's gotta be something that they can work with too. One big challenge is the stretch of the bike path between West Sportsman and West Hayman Street. Because there are no houses on the west side there, that's an extremely popular location in the evenings for tourists to take in the sunset. And any of you that live in that neighborhood or ever drive by there know that. And the challenge has been You tend to get, in the summertime especially, groups of sub-adult males showing off on the bike path, pulling wheelies, and most of these kids are on Class 3s or on e-motos. It's a real small group of people that are ruining it for a lot of other people in this case. So if there's a way to try to corral that group, a big part of the problem is over. It's no different than a lot of other things. It's a small percentage making it difficult for everybody else. But I would like to thank the board for putting the time into considering this. At the end of the day, it affects not only local people, but the tourism.

I would ask you, I'm a bike rider too. I use reasonable standards for my own riding. But if I'm going greater than 15 on my bike, on my bicycle, I usually try to get in the road because now I think I'm like, now I'm kind of, unless it's a time of day where no one's out, you know, I'm getting in the road because I'm 15 to 20, 20 to 22, 23. You know, I probably can get up to 24 on a bicycle. I feel like I don't belong necessarily with the cruisers. Do you feel that way?

I see the same people on the bike path day in and day out. A lot of them are my age. They're 60s or older. If it's busy, we're in and out. On the road, back on the bike path. On the road, back on the bike path. As a biker, It's not just a person, it's a dog. No, I've been there. You ride the bike path, you know, even as just a regular cyclist, you're on the road a good chunk of the time on that path.

You should. I wish reasonableness would prevail for everybody, but there's no...

Unfortunately, the police have a tough enough time just enforcing, don't run the stop sign at Walker. Period, yeah. How many tickets do you all write each year on that stop sign? I mean, it's insane. So... Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Schreiber.

um that's where maybe i can help um jump in um let me first say thank you for the town for um Um, let me 1st, say, thank you for the time for giving the public and businesses the opportunity to discuss the bike safety laws. I'm here to represent 10 different businesses on the other banks. Um, who rent e, bikes and regular bikes. And, uh, eco tours for e, bikes. Um, I would just like to tell you that my business makes e, bikes has had no injuries or issues for 5 years since 2021. I would also like to note that on our website, OuterBanksE-Bikes.com, there's a safety video that my father, Ralph Buxton, helped me to make. This video could be used for educational purposes, especially in schools. And I think that I've seen in Florida and other places that they have places, like just they create lanes, especially for bikes and e-bikes. And I think this could be very useful in certain areas as well as putting some signs and definitely enforcing to the kids that they do need to wear their helmets. And all our customers, we insist they wear helmets. And really just teaching them in the schools is where you can really probably get to them to be able to explain to them. the importance of safety in this with riding bikes. And that's all I have to say.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Buxton. Would anybody else like to speak at this public comment period? All right. Seeing no takers, we will close public comments. Respond to public comments.

I just want to respond to Charles real quick. I think one of the things in my research last night, and if you haven't, If any of you are interested in looking before our retreat, the bike lawyer is on YouTube. And he literally is like insane how much e-bike information this man holds in terms of worldwide. He's Canadian. But it's just interesting for me to see what people in other places are doing. And basically, in the end, we can talk about all these things. But our infrastructure is not keeping up with the technology. And so that's really the ultimate solution is that our infrastructure, like a dedicated bike lane, not going to happen given the cost of what just our simple sidewalks are costing these days. But just thinking in terms of that when we talk about it is important too, especially if we're looking 20 years down the road because it's only going to become more

I love the idea of speed limit. Even though I know no one's going to be sitting there practically with a radar doing that, that does create a mentality like, hey, a certain limit is not reasonable to be on this multi-use path, period. If you're above this level, and kids and adults will honor that. A lot of people will honor that, just being assigned, whether it's enforced or not, whether there's someone with a radar or not. I really do think that could help. Signage does deter a large percentage of people. It's been studied. Anyway.

Any other comments? Responses? Yes, you may.

There isn't much of one. When there's not sand on it.

No, but you're right. Yeah, Bay Drive is definitely our pain point, but the rest of the town is dealing with this too. I mean... Third street. We see a lot of the, all the road long straightaways from the west side of town.

And the little side of the lean sidewalks that we have, people are, you know, getting to work on these bikes now. And they're, you know, you're seeing all this thing, all that.

So it's like, I did all this last night and I was like, Oh, and I still am very e-bike friendly, but woke up this morning and someone between the hours of nine 30 and Did e-bike wheelies all down the new sidewalk dirt everywhere? Oh, yeah. Yeah.

So to Mr. Shrier's point, small group of folks. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. Mr. Shriver. Well, thank you for bringing it to our attention that we have a. It may drive at sunset such a festive place, and maybe our law enforcement folks can take a few more. They can go enjoy the sunset, too, and make sure everybody's behaving themselves.

If I could make a comment, too, you know, people come here, they have a great vacation, they have a great week, they go down and enjoy the sunset. And if somebody comes weaving through them and they become to feel unsafe, they may not say anything about it, but they certainly think about it when they think about where they're going to go on vacation next time.

Yes, sir. Well, anything else this evening? Move to adjourn. We have a motion to adjourn. I'll second that motion. We have a second. Any discussion? All in favor please indicate by saying aye.

Aye. Thank you everybody. Thank you.

Very informative meeting.