Town Council - Regular Meeting

Again, thank you all for coming out. Sorry.

Does the member of council have a conflict interest or the appearance of a conflict interest in anything on this agenda? So please state at this time.

I do not. No. No, I do not.

All right, moving on. Public comments on agenda items. The floor will be open. Please state your name and address. Three minutes. I'll put the timer up. I'll be courteous with you. You be courteous with me. We'll be good to go. Come on, Mr. John. You can start us up. Oh, okay. You want to come up? Go ahead, sir. Okay. I'm sorry, St. John. Stand up. No problem.

Yes, my name is Robert Berryman, 406 39th Street. I just had a comment because there was information going around the area on the island about the rollback of the garbage cans, the city or the town taking care of that. I was a little bit concerned because living on the island, And when they pick up on Saturday, they pick up at 7.30 in the morning. People don't check out. They put the garbage out because they're not checking out until 11 o'clock, 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock. So they can be left out. The owners that come, when they leave on Sunday, they put the trash out right away or first thing Monday morning when they leave. So there's a conflict of, in fairness, if there was just a couple people making a comment about somebody putting it back under their house, then don't pick it up. Don't do it for them. But the rest of the town should not have to pay that penalty. So I'm a little bit concerned about that, and I'd like that brought up again if we can. And the other thing I handled at the front desk this morning. So thank everybody very much.

Yes, sir. Thank you. Next. Don't be shy. Come on up here. This is your first.

laurie thomas fast 620 kingfisher lane sunset beach north carolina thank you thank you chief for your work i wanted to explain some more about my concern about access to sunset beach at the gate at palm cove and i've brought some pictures for you to understand what it is that i'm concerned about I've provided you some images to understand the public policy issues that I'm raising with the town of Sunset Beach. The first image on the first page shows the location of the fence and the gate, and you can see the pathway down to the beach. And then what you see in that picture is an arrow. And the arrow points to the fishing hole that I have in the past fished at. I wanted you to see how that looked. If you'll turn the page, next page. Image 2 is taken from the top of the dune right next to the gate looking east towards Tubbs Inlet. And the fishing hole again is about a half a mile where you can see with the arrow there. Exhibit 3 is the close-up of the fishing hole itself inside the sandbar and inside the breakers. So the arrow points to the hole that I fish in. And here's my comments. For the past 20 years prior to the enactment of the gate and the fence, that path to the beach would have been considered by the North Carolina Supreme Court as, quote, public trust, end quote, held and preserved for the state of North Carolina for the right of citizens to access the beach. The Supreme Court of North Carolina has issued several rulings recently on similar cases to affirm the doctrine of the public trust. Once the public has access, public trust access, has been established by informal citizen access through the public trust, the public trust may not be revoked by a local government without authorization from the state government. When the town of Sunset Beach negotiated the placement of the gate and the fence with the existing landowner. The town preserved and protected the private property and financial interests of the private landowner. The private landowner did not erect the fence and the gate to protect the access from illegal trespass. When the town of Sunset Beach negotiated with the placement of the fence and the gate, the town of Sunset Beach protected... Go ahead. protected its own selfish institutional interest in limiting access exclusively to the town staff and the emergency responders. However, when the town of Sunset Beach negotiated the placement of the fence and the gate, the town failed to protect my interests under the public trust doctrine. My interests were not represented in the private secret negotiations, and my access to the beach was not protected by the town of Sunset Beach, thus causing a public policy conflict between my rights as a citizen under North Carolina Constitution Section 38, right to hunt, fish, and harvest wildlife. You can see that quote there. The amendment to the North Carolina Constitution points directly to the solution for this public policy conflict. That solution is for the town of Sunset Beach to either renegotiate the contract with the landowner to provide public access along the existing path, or B, as they had talked about, condemn the land and make it an eminent domain and make it a public park for the Tubbs Inlet. Something that I treasured in fishing was taken away from me without my consent. And I want my treasure returned to me by the town of Sunset Beach. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

All right, next.

let's get this side room first come on sir john hopkins sunset beach trading company at 423 sunset boulevard south i just wanted to come in to read area i see that the only agenda is old business for the uh one hour parking as well as the employee parking issue um One thing that I was thinking is while Sunset Beach Trading Company did ask for 13 employee passes, please keep in mind that at no time are there any more than six of those being utilized for usually a 15-minute overlap window at the shift change normally it's three being used and then three being used from three to five and after five of course it doesn't really matter in regards to the parking the business parking and the agenda it says free parking patron free parking I think it should be clarified one hour parking because I don't want people to think that it's one hour or free for any time. It's one hour business area parking for patrons of the businesses. And I understand that some other businesses might have applied for what I consider to be a ridiculous amount of passes. But we've explained how ours are being utilized. Please keep in mind, even if it were 60 spaces being asked for, rather 60 passes being asked for for the businesses, keep in mind that not all 60 would be utilized at the same time. Just like if there are approximately 5,000, give or take, residential lots in town, that would be 10,000 passes. We all know that 10,000 passes are not trying to be utilized at one time. So like I said, we're willing to work with if you want to decrease it. I've talked to Ms. Batchelor about different approaches that I think are fair as a business owner. So we would like to continue the conversation. Thank you. Thank you all for everything.

It's simple. Don't be nervous. Just state your name and address and fire away.

I hope it's on here. I didn't know it had to be on here.

Go ahead.

But I'm Nancy Whitman. I live at 127.2 Rice Mill Circle in Sunset Beach, North Carolina. um first of all i have a couple questions can i ask um y'all aren't answering anything do you answer questions no no they don't the administrator can get back with you we'll take note of everything maybe if it's something well first of all i just wanted to know if it was true that there's a moratorium on building permits in brunswick county that's one of my first questions

Go ahead. That's a Brunswick County question. I'm sorry? That would be a Brunswick County question, not a Sunset Beaches.

Okay.

Yes, ma'am. Sunset Beaches issuing building permits.

Doesn't issue building permits.

We sure do.

We are. Oh, we are? Still are. Still are.

Yes, ma'am.

There's not much land left. Okay. And then, well, I guess I probably need to go to the county commissioner meeting for some of my questions. Okay. Okay, so I'll just have to go to another meeting.

Okay, I'm sorry.

No, no, no.

That's all right. No problem. I'll be glad to share the councilman, your councilman that represents us. I'll be glad to share his number with you. He welcomes calls. He can maybe give you some insight. Randy Thompson. He lives here in our town. Okay. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. All right, next. Anybody else on public comments? Back around the back, ma'am. Good. Okay. All right.

If there's nothing further, do I have a motion to adjourn? I make a motion we adjourn.

Do I have a second? Second.

Any discussion?

All in favor?

Aye.

Thank you all for coming out today.