Candidate: Nags Head must consider future options

NAGS HEAD, N.C.

In his 25 years as a resident of Nags Head, Bob Oakes has built a family and a successful business. He has served the town on two separate boards during its halcyon days and its current tougher times. Now, he said he's ready to lead the town into the future.

Oakes, 47, is seeking to unseat incumbent Mayor Renee Cahoon and, he said, re-engage citizens in the meat and potatoes of town life.

"I think the town needs to change its attitude towards its people and its businesses," he said, talking recently in a conference room at Village Realty,

where he is an owner. "I think we need to do more listening and have the people more involved in their government."

Oakes said he would like to see the planning department "do more planning." For instance, he said, in response to beach erosion, the town should evaluate choices such as to retreat or possibly create a terminal groin - or jetty - rather than zeroing in only on nourishment. Sandbags are at best a temporary option, and the town has had to remove some condemned houses from the shoreline.

But when it comes down to the balance between the private property owners' rights and the public right to the beach, he said, the public trust must trump the private property.

With Nags Head about 75 percent built out, Oakes said, redevelopment and historic and cultural preservation have become more important to restoration of the "special character" of the town. Not only have some unique buildings been torn down in the past 10 years, but beach businesses like sea shell shops, arcades and small amusement parks are no longer around to entertain visitors.

"Those are the intangible things," Oakes said. "It's not all about more and more houses. I think we've got to focus on more quality and less quantity... to focus on smaller, locally owned businesses that are unique and give them the feeling that the town is behind them and not trying to shut them down."

Oakes said that as mayor, he would work to change ordinances or relax restrictions to allow such things as mixed-use development or more density in the interest of encouraging redevelopment that would be good for the Nags Head of tomorrow.

"I think we've got to take a new look at that balance of commercial and residential in the town," he said. "I think it would be a sad day when we have a Beach Road with just a line of single-family homes."

He also said the town needs to adjust its rules to encourage more "green" construction and retrofitting: solar panels, rain gardens and cisterns.

As the president of the Village at Nags Head property association, Oakes said he has seen the problems of an improperly maintained sewage treatment plant. The company that runs the plant at the property, Carolina Water Service Inc., has been fined by the state Division of Water Quality and is in the process of addressing the persistent ponding and odor.

But Oakes said that septic tanks can also be problematic on the waterfront when severe storms create overwash that exposes the tanks.

"I think we've got to work with the health department on discouraging permitting them on the beach," he said. "I think the situation the village is in now points out some of the dangers of central sewage. If you've got a problem, it's a big problem. If you have a problem with a septic tank, it's generally a small problem."

Village Realty was named by the North Carolina Employment Security Commission as Dare County's third top employer in 2008, behind Dare County Schools and Dare County. Oakes said the company employs about 325 people in the summer and about 100 year-round.

Although he said he expects any businessperson, especially one in real estate, will "get tarred a little bit," he said he can't be accused of overdeveloping Nags Head.

"I'm the guy that takes care of the stuff after it's already here," he said.

What Oakes said he doesn't want here is the convention center that Cahoon has proposed on soundfront property that is partially owned by the town.

Rather, Oakes said the parcel should be used for passive recreation and open space, or some use more appropriate to a family beach destination.

"I can see an amphitheater on that space," he said. "What I can't see is a massive convention center, with the whole area paved over for a parking lot."

Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com