Kitty Hawk Town Council met Monday, Nov. 4 at 5 p.m. to conduct a public hearing on the text amendment regarding minimum roof pitches.

Rob Testerman, director of planning and inspection, said “recently, state legislation passed some requirements that stated localities, towns and counties cannot regulate building design elements on one- and two-family homes.” These building design elements include style and material of roof structure.

Last month, the question of whether elimination of the minimum roof pitch requirement would allow for additional living space came up. “Since the sloped roof could be eliminated and replaced by a flat-top roof, the simple answer would be: maybe, it depends,” Testerman said.

In certain scenarios, additional living space would be possible dependent upon how much space exists between the regulatory slope and the height maximum. “For example, a 35-ft. tall, two-story house with a steeper roof (12×12 pitch) could opt to do away with flat top roof and have an extra space to give a floor of living space,” Testerman explained.

As for multi-family dwellings, no additional dwelling units would be gained because they are regulated by the town’s density maximums. Tina Tice, board member, asked if there is a benefit to not having a regulation on multi-family dwellings. Testerman said there would not necessarily be benefits or drawbacks. “It wouldn’t allow for increased dwelling units based on regulations. It would allow for more square footage, but not new units,” he said.

With that, Tice proposed the text amendment be sought pertaining to the minimum roof pitch in multi-family dwellings. “I move to adopt these text amendments, eliminating the current minimum roof pitch requirement for one- and two-family dwellings.” The board found the amendments consistent with the adopted and land use plans and also found them to be in the public interest. With a second by Mayor Pro Tem Craig Garriss, the motion was unanimously adopted.

The next order of business was to make a motion to approve an ordinance amendment regarding beach equipment and excessive/unsafe digging or piling of sand on the beach. Mayor Gary Perry asked if the board had received feedback from the town on this ordinance, to which Lynn Morris, town clerk, said no feedback was received.

Due to no feedback or complaints being received, Tice made a motion to approve the ordinance as presented. Lynne McClean, board member, seconded the motion and it was in favor of the entire board.

During the presentation portion of the meeting, Mike Fletcher, chairman of the Library Committee, reviewed the results from a recent survey regarding the addition of a library in Southern Shores.

The survey was open to all Dare County residents. 407 people responded to the survey, with 60% of respondents being residents of Southern Shores. The survey found that about 80% of people were interested in having a library branch in Southern Shores.

Fletcher said his board is in the process of locating a site for the library and is working on number figures. He hopes to have a plan put together to bring to the board during their next meeting.

Perry said he wants to hear from the public what their opinion of this new library is. “This council needs to know would you be willing for the town to chip in money to put something like this up,” he said. “Is it redundant or something that is worthwhile in addition to what is already present in the surrounding towns?” Perry said residents are welcome to email town staff directly.

Toward the end of the meeting, town manager Andy Stewart reminded everyone that Kitty Hawk trash will be picked up on Tuesday, Nov. 12 and Thursday, Nov. 14 to accommodate Veterans Day. Also, the town will be hosting another around of flu shots on Dec. 5 from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. at Kitty Hawk Town Hall. The flu shots are free to everyone, even those who do not have health insurance. Shots will be administered to those 18 and older.

Tice announced at the meeting’s end that is was her last meeting with the board. She thanked her fellow council members for allowing her to serve with them and for being so great to the town. “The citizens of Kitty Hawk are fortunate to have such an exemplary group of town employees and town leaders who do their very best to make this town successful and such a wonderful place to live and work,” she said.

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