Another Word from Our Commissioner

Here's what Commissioner Tom Pahl posted today:

Three members of the Passenger Ferry/Tram planning group met with the Occupancy Tax Board Wednesday night. Prior to the meeting, we decided, with the amount of concern that has come out in the past week, that we would request the OTB [Occupancy Tax Board] to delay any action on our tram proposal until the regularly scheduled OTB meeting in April.

What followed was a heartfelt discussion between the planning group and the members of the OTB. From that discussion, we have decided to seek additional public input on the tram project. Members of the OTB said that they had received a lot of feedback following the meeting the previous Tuesday, at which the planning group presented its proposal for a three-tram ground transportation plan to coordinate with the passenger ferry start-up in 2018.

There was considerable concern expressed that details of the proposed tram system were not well understood and that some major flaws needed to be addressed.

In order to more fully answer questions and hear concerns, I am setting up two "town meeting" discussions to take place in the next two weeks. At those meetings, we will hold a workshop-type discussion between members of our planning group and any Ocracoke residents who would like to be heard.

Those meetings will be held on Tuesday, February 28th and Thursday, March 9th, at 7:30 PM at the Community Center. I fully expect that the Planning Group will significantly modify our tram proposal in response to these meetings, so please, if you have concerns about routing, about funding, about traffic impact, or anything else, please come prepared to discuss those concerns.

We welcome your thoughts and it is our intent to devise a plan that will be a benefit to the economy of the island, that will adequately provided for the transportation needs of passenger ferry visitors and that is in keeping with Ocracoke's unique character.