County Commissioners deal with a loaded agenda | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

    The Beaufort County Board of Commissioners had a loaded agenda, no pun intended, for its November meeting Monday night (11-14-11). You can review the agenda by clicking here.

    The video clips below show the Public Comments section of the agenda.

    The first clip is related to Flood Management. Two residents, Jane Pendergraph and Colin Mellor, recommended that the County adopt a "freeboard" ordinance which would mandate that an additional foot of elevation be added to the Flood Elevation standard in the County. The idea is that doing so would facilitate lower insurance rates and/or greater benefits from the National Flood Insurance Program. What was not presented was whether there would be negative or unintended consequences to this increase in elevated requirements. You can listen to the two presentations in the clip below:



    After the presentations a motion was made to put the issue on the December agenda in order to have more information available before discussing this further.

    Another presentation was made by representatives of the Pocosin Lakes Wildlife Refuge, Larry Hodges and Jennifer Alligood, who expressed concerns/opposition to the proposed Wind Farm near the refuge. The issue was framed as being like the recent fight over the Outlying Landing Field fight to prevent that project from locating in the same general area. The representatives asked the Commissioners to join in their fight against the wind farm. The board took no action at Monday's meeting but it is expected to be on a future agenda.



    The next issue was the hot one that has come up before. Two residents, Judy Roundtree and Russell Morgan, appeared asking that the county adopt an animal control ordinance in the county. Mrs. Roundtree and Mr. Morgan explained what they called a nuisance situation with a neighbor whom it was said is housing over thirty dogs on a single family residential lot in a subdivision with other residences in close proximity.



    The second clip is simply a continuation of the first which concluded Mrs. Roundtree's comments. This begins with Mr. Morgan's presentation and is followed by Animal Control Officer Sandy Woolard and discussion by the board. In the end the board appointed a committee to look into the matter and report back its recommendations.



    The final short clip is a video shot at the site being discussed.



    There was more in the meeting that we will report on later. Check back for additional articles in this series.