Final Reg Neg meeting

I received the following in email today and thought I would share it here. If you're not aware, the topic of the Reg Neg meetings is ORV access (i.e. beach driving). So here's the message:


David Scott asked if I could send out an email to those on my list "about the Final Reg-Neg on Thursday the 26th and Friday the 27th. This is everyone’s last chance to have any say in this process and we need as large a group from Ocracoke and the mainland that we can possibly get. It is very important that we have a strong showing to try and give Mike Murray one last bit of info on how the people of Ocracoke feel about their beaches and what they would like to see happed to them."

The final public comment is this Thursday and Friday at Reg Neg at the Wright Brothers Memorial at noon and 5 PM. This is the last time that you will have your voice and concerns heard before the park service implements a plan for Ocracoke’s beach that is permanent beginning 2011. Ocracoke Civic and Business Association supports the Plan 1 that David Scott Esham and Gene Ballance represented at Reg Neg on the February 3 maps. The maps are located at http://www.darenc.com/regneg/maps.pdf

Plan 1 on these maps request the North end of Ocracoke would have some permanent pedestrian only areas and some ORV areas. There would be a pedestrian only area below that and then a new ORV ramp with ORV access near the current small parking area above the Pony Pens. The area around the Pony Pens would remain pedestrian only. The area around ramp 67 would remain ORV accessible. The area around the campground and lifeguard beach would be pedestrian year round and ORV accessible in the off season. The area from the airport to South Point road would be ORV accessible. The area from South Point to the inlet would be ORV and pedestrian accessible with seasonal restrictions. The soundside access would also have seasonal restrictions.

There are still more details for the park to work out such as night driving, permit fees, buffer size, vehicle load, and wintering habitats. This will be your last opportunity to make a comment to the committee regarding these issues. Please take the time to have your voice heard. David Scott or Gene can get you signed in on the roster to speak if you can not come for the much of the day- just let them know.

Please forward on to others who may not be on my list. Thanks!

Melinda Sutton