Planning Board supports removing multi-family dwelling as permitted use By Mark Jurkowitz  | Outer Banks Voice At their Dec. 21 meeting, the Nags Head Commissioners scheduled a Jan. 4 public hearing on a zoning change that would remove the multi-family dwelling as a permitted use within the town’s C-2 General Commercial Zoning District. Full story

By Mark Jurkowitz | Outer Banks Voice Children who show up at the Dare County Regional Airport in Manteo on Sunday, Dec. 18 will get their Christmas-season candy drop treats – cupcakes, candy attached to parachutes and soft-drinks — as well as a visit with Santa. What they won’t get, unfortunately, is the iconic C-54 cargo plane flying in the skies above the airport dropping those parachutes with candy. Full story

By Mark Jurkowitz | Outer Banks Voice. After a discussion among the five members and a few comments from residents at their Dec. 12 meeting, a divided Kill Devil Hills Board of Commissioners voted 3-2 against a motion to reduce the speed limit from 25 miles per hour to 20 miles per hour on the west side of town. Full story

By Mark Jurkowitz | Outer Banks Voice In an interview with the Voice six months ago, Outer Banks Visitors Bureau Executive Director Lee Nettles said Dare County was committed to examining the issue of sustainable tourism and to trying to strike the right balance between the level of tourism needed to fuel the local economy and the level of tourism that brings adverse impacts, particularly to local residents. Full story

In an election when local Republicans were either uncontested or victorious, incumbent first-term Republican Ervin Bateman defeated Democratic challenger Heather Euler in the battle for the one contested seat on the Dare County Board of Commissioners. Full story

Some clear disagreements over Critical Race Theory, values in the system By Mark Jurkowitz | Outer Banks Voice The newly elected Dare County Board of Education will take office in at a time of transition and some turmoil in the county’s public school system. Full story

By Mark Jurkowitz | Outer Banks Voice Of the three seats on the seven-member Dare County Board of Commissioners that are on the ballot this election, only one race is actually contested. Incumbent Republicans Jim Tobin (District 1) and Rob Ross (District 2) are running unopposed. Full story

Overall, employees now earn about 18% under market rate By Mark Jurkowitz | Outer Banks Voice After receiving a salary study presentation showing that Dare County employees are being paid about 18% less than market rate salaries for public sector jobs, the Dare County Commissioners will consider a plan to try and address that imbalance at their upcoming Nov. 7 meeting. Full story

Reports say there is no body cam footage of incident By Mark Jurkowitz | Outer Banks Voice On Oct. 11, The Town of Kitty Hawk released the findings of an internal investigation into the Oct. 1 fatal shooting of a family dog by Kitty Hawk Police Officer Robert Meador. Full story

But record numbers don’t mean record visitors By Mark Jurkowitz | Outer Banks Voice. The July 2022 occupancy revenues just reported by Outer Banks Visitors Bureau Executive Director Lee Nettles surged over the $200 million mark to set an all-time record. Full story

Drug and alcohol concerns also prominent in responses By Mark Jurkowitz | Outer Banks Voice The results of a survey of county residents in the newly released Dare County 2021-2022 Community Health Needs Assessment reveal overwhelming concerns about affordable housing in the county and identify drug and alcohol misuse as a major issue. Full story

By Mark Jurkowitz | Outer Banks Voice | Thirty-two years ago, with the Indianapolis Police Department, Scott Haslar killed an unarmed Black robbery suspect. In a new book, the Manteo resident provides his revealing and painful perspective to a complicated story. Full story