Donna Creef and Malcolm Fearing outlined a 2024 report from the Dare Community Housing Task Force with the Kitty Hawk Town Council at the its February 3 meeting. The council also approved a preliminary plat for a Kitty Hawk Meadows subdivision consisting of 2.24-acre parcel.

In their housing task force presentation, Creef and Fearing shared that a core team will be partaking in a UNC sponsored 18-month program studying housing in North Carolina. The aim is to connect communities with the resources and tools needed to assess and make decision on how to respond to local housing needs. Creef briefly reviewed Kitty Hawk’s housing policies and cited their land use plan, “Imagine Kitty Hawk 2050,” which highlights housing availability and affordability as a concern. 64% of those who responded to a survey regarding the future of Kitty Hawk indicated their primary concern was housing availability and affordability for year-round residents, workers, retirees and families.

As far as current housing options within the town, Kitty Hawk permits accessory dwelling units with long-term occupancy restrictions. Duplexes and small-scale housing are supported, and workforce housing at commercial sites is available in the case of accessory structures or second floor occupancy, with deed restrictions and tenure and employment eligibility.

The task force will be working towards better understanding how to navigate the affordable housing issue within Dare County. “Donna and I have been dealing with this issue … for a long time,” Fearing said. “The price of escalation and housing has really gotten beyond many of our comprehension.” He touched on the growing population within the county, with the current number of residents exceeding 38,000 – a 21,000 population increase from 1985. To put it into perspective: 530 people per year on average, or 44 people per month are moving into Dare County.

In finding that 31% of the Dare County population are cost-burdened, Fearing highlighted what that looks like in Kitty Hawk: out of about 3,700 people, 1,151 people are cost-burdened, or in other words, are spending more than 30% of their income on housing costs. “The question is, based on those figures that we have shown you, is there a future [for our youth] … to come back and participate in this place we all call home?”

Fearing declared that the solution to the housing crisis is community-based and will vary from town to town. “We’re trying to give information to the community, but we’d also like to receive information from the community.” Creef added, “That was part of the conversation in front of the county today, was for this to be successful, it has to be the right place and it has to be the right recipe.”

In follow-up to the presentation, councilman David Hines expressed his gratitude to the duo in working towards gathering information and seeking solutions and noted his growing concern in the matter. “Everybody wants to keep saying, ‘Well they don’t want to see it here or they don’t want to see it there.’ Well, we have to see it somewhere or there is not going to be an Outer Banks in 30 years.”

The other order of business for the evening was to review a preliminary plat for a proposed subdivision at 740 W. Kitty Hawk Road, which consists of a 2.42-acre parcel. The application proposed to separate the existing parcel into three lots on the north side of the road. The proposal included a 15-foot-wide access easement, to be maintained and repaired by the property owners.

A prior proposal to subdivide the parcel into four lots had been approved by the board in 2021, but the plat was never recorded and the approval had expired. Without much discussion, the councilmembers unanimously approved the plat.

The next Kitty Hawk Town Council meeting will be on March 3 at 6 p.m. A public hearing for re-adoption of state certified CAMA Land Use Plan is scheduled.

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