The Ocracoke Civic & Business Association at 6 p.m. tonight (March 17) will discuss the recent Ocracoke Access Alliance trip to Washington, D.C., and a community meeting on ferry tolls will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 31. Both meetings will be in the Community Center.
By Randal Mathews
It was the result of growth and development that the local telecommunications corporation decided to transfer me to Ocracoke from Hatteras Island in 1983.
The village of Ocracoke had 493 landlines which eventually grew to more than 1,000 over my 40-year career. The village of Ocracoke had the highest growth rate proportionally of any exchange in what was the Rocky Mount district.
Many of the old timers appreciated me and told me so many times and landlines were the only real time communication afforded to residents and businesses.
It was clear that Ocracoke was becoming more popular and new business expanded the local job market offering locals more opportunities.
A relatively new water system and a state funded health center were examples. The ferry system was receiving funding that enhanced travel as companies like UPS, FedEx and Estes trucking were not coming to Ocracoke on a regular schedule.
Ridership on the ferries increased to a half million people by the early 2000s. There have always been comments about the good old days when life was simpler, and access was limited, but life here was challenging with no EMS, solid waste service, and no island doctor as examples.
I appreciate that we have a full-time, fully staffed health center and the first state licensed reverse osmosis water plant.
Our hardware and grocery stores had limited supplies and vendors were not eager to take the extra time to make a round trip to Ocracoke.
Housing was limited and it took me six months to find someone that would rent to me, and that is still an issue. I commuted from Buxton daily and 12-hour workdays were normal. But I quickly fell in love with the people and lifestyle of being a true islander.
I have always appreciated the full-on tourist season during summer and the quiet isolation during winters.
It’s really the best of both worlds but it’s not for everyone. Ridership on the ferries has slowly decreased by 30% in the last 25 years due to many factors including a longer route to Hatteras Island and lack of funding from our legislature in recent years.
As Ocracoke’s commissioner since 2020, I have had to learn how to navigate the political world, and I, along with other county officials, have made some important connections to the purse-string holders in Raleigh. These connections are crucial going forward.
People have asked me: What are we going to do about parking? What are we going to do about the golf carts? What are we going to do about all of the campers/trailers?
These are important issues. But right now, north end erosion and adequate funding for the ferries are foremost, and plans of action are formulating that will affect our island.
To that end, I encourage all islanders come out to the OCBA and OAA meetings to have their voices heard.
Relatively speaking, you will never be stuck in traffic at rush hour like so many overdeveloped municipalities. Golf carts create a safer slower street environment, and our seasonal tram complements the passenger ferry and decreases the environmental impact of more vehicles.
Parking can be a mess, but tourism is the main industry here and let’s not discourage travelers or business at our many fine restaurants and retail businesses.
Ocracoke will always have limited access. So, in some ways that’s a blessing because the folks that eventually get here truly love our island and have taken the time and expense to be able to spend time here.
We are unique to many tourist destinations on the east coast and that will always be.
Our growth will be limited as 1,000 acres of village will not expand into the surrounding park and everyone should be grateful to live next to the nation’s first national seashore park.
Let us all appreciate that change is inevitable and that Ocracoke and the people who live here or visit are a special breed that go the extra mile to be here, and that, my friends, will never change.
Ocracoke resident Randal Mathews is chair of the Hyde County Board of Commissioners.
“People have asked me: What are we going to do about parking? What are we going to do about the golf carts? What are we going to do about all of the campers/trailers?
These are important issues. But right now, north end erosion and adequate funding for the ferries are foremost, and plans of action are formulating that will affect our island.”
I would argue, that it’s possible to address multiple things, simultaneously. I would simultaneously argue that there is low hanging fruit, like addressing the prevalence of campers and trailers post Dorian that have changed the face of the island. These are issues you have direct internal control over, not requiring cooperation from the State or Federal agencies. The inference that only one issue can be addressed at a time seems dismissive on its surface. It proffers a sense of hopelessness on par with nothing really ever changing on the island that impacts the overall well being of the residents or NRPO’s. The little things that people see every day. What you’ve written here could be interpreted as dismissive. On par with “Kicking the can down the road.”
The streets still flood because the sand clogs the drains. The Romans arguably had better canals and drainage systems. Decades pass as millions of dollars leave the island to the Hyde side, where I’ve yet to drive through anything deeper than 1/16″ of standing water on my way TO the island (same elevation.) This is a solvable issue, orders of magnitude more minute than what will inevitably be the yielding of the north end of the island to NPS returning it to a wilderness state, and the relocation of the ferry terminal o the Pony Pen area alongside the inevitable toll solutions Raleigh will pass along to fund it all. We put a man on the moon. We can fix the 12″ puddles on Sunset, Cabana, and Sand Dollar. It’s arguably negligent that NC and Hyde haven’t facilitated a solution yet. Rumors of grants and whispers of someday fixes padded with tolerance because it’s always been that way.
The North end of the island is lost. It’s okay to say it. The sea levels aren’t going backwards this millennia. Absent a bridge, a two hour ferry ride with new dredging routes to the Pony Pen area is coming, with $20-$30 ferry tickets per car. There’s no pretending there’s an intermediate solution or something to be studied that might reveal anything in-between what’s happening now, and then. Pushing metric tons of native sand back up alongside the hillsides that wash back down in perpetuity until the next person hydroplanes to their death isn’t a solution. It’s a Greek tragedy.
It’s okay while that’s happening to note that some streets, like mine, have 8-10 travel trailers on them. Some neighborhoods have more campers than the campgrounds used to have, post Dorian, and to ask if that’s the direction we want development on the island to take. Okay to address the dilapidated states of some of those lots and impose enforcement actions where code violations are obvious and owners are willfully negligent. Okay to fix the drains. These are simple things, that people can see immediately and note the incremental progress while the big stuff is in transition.
I’m sorry you think my comments were dismissive. Your vague reference to the RCCP is very negative considering that Hyde County and Ocracoke received grants under DEQ and DCM to address flooding starting with a Community Action Team that we formed to decide what was priority here. It was not a unilateral decision. County Commissioners do not instruct the DOT on maintenance and construction issues, although we continually express our concerns every chance we get. There is a process for funding maintenance and construction related to all DOT work and we will continue to work within that process to advance Ocracoke’s needs. I do my best to listen to my constituents. Public service is a thankless job and your negative criticism is why most folks will not serve and also why I’ve volunteered 2 terms unopposed.
Comments are closed.