Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

On Thursday, April 17, Congressman Greg Murphy visited Hatteras Island.

The congressman and Dave Hallac, superintendent of the National Parks in Eastern North Carolina, visited Buxton specifically. Hallac briefed Murphy on threatened structures, erosion on the seashore, status of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse restoration project and the situation at the Formerly Used Defense Site at the old Coast Guard Station at the north end of Buxton.

Buxton is getting attention at the national and regional levels.

On May 1, North Carolina Coastal Resource Commission members will also visit the Formerly Used Defense Site at the old Coast Guard Station property. Commission members will take a look at the threatened houses and the site.

The Buxton Civic Association has taken the lead in bringing attention to the petroleum contamination on the beach and in ocean and ground water. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has finished the first phase of cleanup. A Restoration Advisory Board has held its first meeting. The Army Corps is planning to search the 50 acres for petroleum contaminants. The U.S. Navy used the site from 1956 to 1982.

The U.S. Coast Guard has published a report from a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act investigation at the site to evaluate the presence of non-petroleum contaminants. The Coast Guard used the base from 1984 to 2010, when the 50-acre base was returned to the National Park Service.

At the 2025 State of the County event, Board of Commissioners Chairman Robert L. Woodard introduced the Buxton presentation with this quote from Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world [or in this case, their community]. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has.”

“We have a group down on Hatteras Island,” said Woodard, “that really made a difference.”

The Buxton Civic Association, Dare commissioners and Hallac worked together. The association played a key role in pushing federal agencies to act to remove petroleum products from the beachfront.

Association president Heather Jennette and co-vice president Brian Harris were present along with three other association board members: Brett Barley, Wendi Munden and Jeff Dawson.

“It’s been a year with people working together,” said Harris. Now, the site on the surface is swept clean because to get to contaminated ground water and soil infrastructure had to be removed.

In 1988, the site was declared a superfund site. Nobody in Buxton knew. The procedures called for notifying the surrounding community. It didn’t happen, reported Harris. Almost three decades later, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers entered the process to set up a Restoration Advisory Board.

Jennette called the Restoration Advisory Board a way to hold the agencies accountable.

Woodard asked for advice. Jennette responded: strength in numbers, organization and make friends and connections with people. She advocated a “calm approach.”

Harris said “social media is not the way to go in solving a problem.” The crowd applauded.

Woodard showed the next step in the process: restoring the groin. Engineers have discovered that over 50% of the closest groin is intact. That means, if confirmed, a threshold toward a CAMA permit is crossed. Additional permits to rebuild the groin will be needed from the National Park Service – Hallac indicated no problem – and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Education

Woodard told the 226 people gathered for breakfast at Captain George’s, “We’re committed to education.”

Woodard shared that the funding formula agreed to in 2015 between Dare County Schools and Dare County is now used across the state. In the current budget, supplements for teachers were increased and money added for school nurses and school resource officers.

For five years, Dare County has allocated $250,000 per budget for the Dare Guarantee Scholarship for county high school graduates to attend College of The Albemarle tuition-free. The scholarship was set up five years ago and to-date, the county has awarded 500 graduating seniors with scholarship money totaling $800,000.

Dare County Early College will be constructed on the new College of The Albemarle campus, at 205 U.S. Highway 64/264 in Manteo. Dare County special projects and procurement manager Dustin Peele said the new facility is 25,735 square feet in two stories for 300 students. The building includes food service space, laboratories, administrative space, classrooms and gathering space for students. Peele reported that the building will take 17 months to build.

The first class of ninth graders will start this fall and will use College of The Albemarle’s existing space.

At the Dare County Capital Improvements Planning Committee held April 24, 2025, the committee will recommend to the Board of Commissioners to set the cost for the new building at $25,509,808. All monies for the building will come from sales tax and lottery monies specifically set aside for school capital projects.

Parks and Recreation

The State of the County program opened with a discussion about revaluation and moved to the Parks and Recreation Department. The agency has 5,000 children participating in 75 programs: 800 children play soccer; 400 take gymnastic; 300 are enrolled in dance. Some 1,000 youngsters play basketball. For three years, Woodard has refereed basketball on Saturdays.

Spencer Gregory, Dare’s director of public services, said between 5 and 7:30 p.m., everything at Rec Park in Kill Devil Hills is in use. This fiscal year, facilities at the county’s busiest recreation area are getting attention as is the Fessenden Center in Buxton.

A 10-year master plan for Parks and Recreation is underway to build a pathway to add facilities for the county.

EMS Improvements

In 2024, three news Dare County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) stations were completed. Station locations are Southern Shores and Kill Devil Hills and a Dare MedFlight hangar and living quarters for crew on Roanoke Island. Construction of stations in Manns Harbor and Kitty Hawk are progressing. Joining Woodard were Dare County EMS deputy director Terence Sheehy and paramedic Cara Hanrahan. Phase III of the construction plan will bring new stations in Nags Head and Waves.

Housing

Woodard opened the last presentation with pictures of firefighters, emergency medical folks, law enforcement officers and others. “We’ve got to do something to help these folks.”

He said “I’m still optimistic we can get something done.”

Woodard formed a task force in 2024. It’s now called the Dare Community Housing Task Force. During 2024, the task force met monthly and by the end of the year produced a report of its work.

Leading the Task Force is Donna Creef. Malcolm Fearing is the vice chairman.

Asked what she needs, Creef pointed the microphone at the gathering and said “what we have here … In order for us to create an approach that’s generational and long term, we need the community if we’re going to be successful.”

Asked about the greatest challenges, Creef responded year-round housing, the limited amount of privately owned land, and community attitudes that any housing initiative is going to negatively impact their property values and their neighborhoods.

Making a difference says Creef are “the vibrant participation that we’re getting from the other local communities, the other local governments, that are participating in the task force. They’ve been engaged all year long. We have stakeholder engagement. I think our focus is going to be instead of on large complexes, we’re cognizant of the fact that the community seems more supportive of small scale projects that are reflective of the existing community development patterns and then focusing on a nonprofit instead of a for-profit partner.”

READ ABOUT MORE NEWS HERE.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE COASTLAND TIMES TODAY!