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There are many things going on up in Carova that I don't always get around to blogging about right away.

If anyone would like more up to the minute reports of what is going on in the land of sand & horses. you can follow me at http://twitter.com/CarovaRealtor.

Virginia Off Road groups come to help clean Carova

Yesterday on my way into town to meet some clients I had the strangest site. First I passed a group of about 6 jeeps all parked and the people doing something that I could quite make out.

another 1/4 mile down I passed 3 more Jeeps and people walking aling the dune line with trash bags.

another mile and another group. finally as I neared the end of the beach I saw what looked like a sign-in booth set up so I stopped to ask.

They turned out to be from KMA Off Road in Virgina. Each year they organize an event to help keep an area that they like to visit clean. This year they were joined by Middle Peninsula Jeepers, and Virgina Beach Jeeps.

There are a lot of locals that are of the opinion that the "Day Trippers" that come here show no respect for our beaches & communities, and It is good to see that in reality that is a few bad apples making a bad image for all the rest. you don't have to live or own in Carova to love and care for carova.

Thanks Guys!

The Turtles Have Hatched And Made It Safely Out To Sea

For everyone wondering about the turtle next aroun MP18, they have hatched and made it out to sea.

Here is the official report from N.E.S.T.

Nest #3 (CNWR in the 4WD area) surprised us with an early (or rather late) morning emergence.  At 8 o'clock on Friday morning we had just over 40 hatchlings march their way to the rough ocean.  The entire beach was getting over wash so there was concern that we would see any activity at all on the nest but sure enough, they found their way through.  Five more came out that night and then no activity the following two nights.  We excavated last night and found 17 live hatchlings trying to work their way through the sand.  All were released after dark and are on their way today.

HB 1305 Coastal Insurance Plan

This is a copy of an email that I received regarding the "Beach Plan". You may all draw you own conclusions.

Thank you for your email regarding House Bill 1305.  House Bill 1305 made sweeping changes to the NC Coastal Insurance Plan.  These changes will not only protect the integrity of the plan, they will also protect all NC rate payers in the future.  The changes made include the following:

Reduces the residential property value that is insurable from $1.5 million to $1 million. 

Reduces personal contents coverage under the Beach Plan from 70% to 40% and mandates that premiums reflect the reduction in contents coverage. 

Mandates that mitigation credits be given to homeowners who make the effort to build or renovate their homes to withstand strong winds. (storm shutters, special windows, etc.)  These building methods will reduce the loss of property.

Requires the beach plan to provide to anyone in the general public information on its operations and activities.  

Maintains current surcharges in the beach plan to 5% & 15%.

Protects the surplus in the fund from being raided.

These changes, as well as many others in the bill, will protect the members of the beach plan from the unfair increases in premiums experienced in recent years, while also taking steps to increase the number of companies writing policies in NC, which should lead to lower rates for the entire state.

Again, thank you for your email.  If there is anything I can do to assist you, please do not hesitate to contact me.

                Chris Dillon
                Director of Special Projects
                President Pro Tempore's Office
                North Carolina Senate
                chrisd@ncleg.net

It looks like Carova Beach is getting a Service District.

A service district to help maintain the roads is something that has been proposed to all the 4WD beaches of Carova for many years with much resistances from its residents. Many have been fearful that it would give the county a foothold and ultimately lead to pavement, commercialization, and the loss of the Corolla Wild Horses. Others also felt that it was unfair to have their taxes raised to fund the service district so that the vacationers could have a "nicer ride".

Now after decades of trying, it looks like a service district will be coming into at least part of the 4x4 beaches of Carova. This past year the county made 3 changes to the proposed service district and had some residents thinking twice about their past position. three changes were:

1) the S.D. would be funded by the taxes collected by the vacationers rather than the property owners.

2) the S.D. would had a board set up to decide how the funds get spent. this board would include residents of the community.

3) the three main subdivisions of Carova (Swan beach, North Swan Beach, & Carova Beach) could each decide separately if they want a S.D. or not

A vote was cast with Swan Beach and north Swan Beach being nearly unanimous against it, and Carova Beach torn down the middle. After much debating, writing out proposals, and signing petitions, it now looks like Carova Beach will be getting a Service District.

Here is an excerpt of the Commissioner's Report from the July 20 Board of Commissioners meeting

"Commissioner Aydlett directed staff to begin the process to
form the Carova Beach Service District.  Commissioner O’Neal
seconded the motion. Motion carried. "

Let us all hope that this makes Carova Beach a safer & better place to live & visit while still keeping the beauty & uniqueness that is so special to the area.

N.E.S.T. Has A Busy Week With Turtles

The 4-Wheel Drive Beachs of Carova are not only home to deed, ferral hogs, & wild horses, but also to nesting sea turtles. Here is a copy of an e-mail that I received from Karn Clark. Anyone insterested in learning more about N.E.S.T. can go to http://www.nestonline.org/.

And we thought we were in a dry spell…   Nest #3 was laid early (3AM) Wednesday morning (info in the last email) and then Wednesday night around 9:30 we got a report of another turtle coming ashore in the 4WD area in Corolla just north of the beach access.  She tried hard, but was dealing with very curious beach goers and headlights until NEST volunteers could get on-seen.  She explored about 100 feet of shore line before decided that was not the site for her.  So we all went to bed with visions of turtle tracks in our head and sure enough, our north ATV rider Sally Baron found her beautiful nest site (after her harrowing journey with the cars she chose a site right in front of a lifeguard stand just south of the 4WD access area).  Crews located the eggs and we placed a temperature data logger in with the nest.    In other news, we had a large 94cm straight length loggerhead strand dead near MP 20 in 4WD this morning as well.  The necropsy did not show anything significant but she had stuffed herself with horseshoe crabs, spider crabs, whelks, moon snails, and purse crabs recently.   And now I am going home to catch some Zzzzs!   Photos of nest #4 can be seen below http://picasaweb.google.com/NEST.obx/20090709CcCorolla?authkey=Gv1sRgCOj998imjoCnZQ#     - KC   Karen Clark Education Specialist NC Wildlife Resources Commission Outer Banks Center for Wildlife Education   desk 919.707.0235 cell   252.435.3256