It was business as usual for Kill Devil Hills commissioners Wednesday, Sept. 11 in a regular session meeting rescheduled to accommodate a special North Carolina election.

During the 102 minute meeting, commissioners approved two zoning amendments, made two Board of Adjustment appointments, authorized a sidewalk project grant application and announced a schedule change for the board’s October meeting.

In the first of two public hearings, commissioners approved minor changes to the town’s sewage disposal code in §153.072 to clarify some of the outdated language and update the related regulatory agencies involved.

The second public hearing focused on commercial and one- and two-family dwelling stormwater requirements.

According to assistant planning director Cameron Ray, the changes are primarily a housekeeping measure to specify what is meant by some of the ambiguous existing terms within the Chapter 153 code.

Ray said the changes create a requirement for all new commercial developments and those requesting substantial improvements to submit a stormwater maintenance drainage plan and to maintain those drainage improvements. The requirements also apply to one-and two-family dwellings in excess of 6,000 square feet of lot coverage.

When asked to explain substantial improvements, Ray said it involves those greater than 50 percent.

In other business for the night, Jason Self and Dillon T. Heikens were each reappointed to positions on the town’s Zoning Board of Adjustment.

Self is a regular member first appointed in 2016; Heikens was named as an alternate member this past May and returns to that position. Both were appointed to terms ending in October 2022.

Also approved was a staff request to submit a Dare County tourism grant application for the Baum Street Sidewalk Project.

If approved, the tourism grant would fund up to 75 percent of the estimated $122,150 project cost with the balance paid from the town’s sidewalk fund for a five-foot wide concrete walkway with associated curbs, gutters and drainage pipes along Baum Street to Fox Street and from Fox Street to Hillside Drive.

Town documents show that it is expected to finish the Centennial Path loop which connects to paths for Colington Road, all three First Flight schools and their athletic fields, the new disc golf course, Dare County Parks and Recreation property on Mustian Street, the Wright Brothers National Memorial and Ocean Bay Boulevard.

All are paths that see considerable pedestrian traffic.

Commissioners also agreed to waive building permit fees through October 14 for construction and repairs due to Hurricane Dorian damage. They also updated sections of town code dealing with emergency management issues and set October 16 public hearings for landscaping requirements for large single-family and duplex dwellings greater than 6,000 square feet of lot coverage and parking requirement changes for single-family and duplex dwellings 11 or more bedrooms.

Under the mayor’s agenda, commissioners approved proclamations designating September 17-23 as Constitution Week, October 6-12 was designated as Fire Prevention Week and September 2019 as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. As part of her suicide prevention awareness message, Mayor Sheila Davies also asked other commissioners to join her after the meeting in using chalk markers to write out messages of hope and encouragement on the sidewalk outside the Town Hall Meeting Room.

Other items of note for the night included a reminder of the Kill Devil Hills Ice Cream Social on September 18 from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at Aviation Park on Veterans Drive, a call for public participation in a West-side Recreation Group survey for Hayman Park at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NHHBZJ3 and an announcement that the next Board of Commissioners meeting and a public forum will be 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 16.

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