Dare County Newsletter - March 2025

Spring Forward & Stay Safe!

Daylight Saving Time begins at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 9, 2025—don’t forget to set your clocks forward by one hour!

While you’re making the switch, take a moment to test the batteries in your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors and to replace them if necessary. A working alarm can save lives, so use this seasonal reminder to keep your home and family safe!

The Dare County Board of Commissioners will hold its regularly scheduled monthly meeting on Monday, March 3, 2025 at 9 a.m. The meeting will take place in the commissioners meeting room, which is adjacent to the Dare County Administration Building located at 954 Marshall C. Collins Drive in Manteo. To view a PDF of the full agenda packet for the meeting, please click here.

The March 2025 meeting will include the following key agenda item:

Results of the 2025 Countywide Revaluation
Dare County Assessor Hosea Wilson will deliver a presentation of results of the countywide property revaluation effective January 1, 2025. Revaluation is the process of updating property values for all real estate in Dare County—including residential and commercial improved properties, as well as vacant land—to reflect their current market value, which is the most probable price a particular property would bring at sale in an open and competitive market. By North Carolina law, revaluation is required to be completed at least once every eight years. Dare County is currently on a five-year revaluation schedule, with the last revaluation implemented in January 2020. For more information, visit DareNC.gov/Revaluation. 

Watch the Meeting!

There are several ways to stay informed of the discussions that occur during Dare County Board of Commissioners meetings:

- Meetings are livestreamed on Dare County's YouTube channel and CurrentTV.org, and they are also available for streaming on demand on both platforms. 

- Videos of meetings are generally available the next day on the Dare County website, DareNC.gov.

- Local Spectrum TV customers can watch the meetings live on Channel 191 (Current TV).

Stay tuned for a meeting highlights release that will be published on DareNC.gov as soon as possible after the conclusion of the board’s meeting. To sign up to receive highlights from the Dare County Board of Commissioners meetings, go to DareNC.gov/Subscribe.

For more information about the Dare County Board of Commissioners, visit DareNC.gov/BOC or click the button below.

Sunday, March 2, 2025 to Saturday, March 8, 2025 marks North Carolina’s annual Severe Weather Preparedness Week, a statewide effort led by the National Weather Service and the North Carolina Department of Public Safety to help residents stay informed and safe. Dare County Emergency Management encourages everyone to be ready for the impacts of severe weather, regardless of the season. By taking just a few moments to learn about severe weather preparedness and creating—or reviewing—your safety plan, you can help reduce the likelihood of injuries and fatalities occurring whenever severe weather strikes our area. 

Be sure to follow these important tips for staying informed and being fully prepared as North Carolina’s 2025 Severe Weather Preparedness Week is being observed this year:

Dare County Public Works has announced that large item pickup for the unincorporated areas of Dare County will begin on Monday, April 7, 2025 and run continuously for approximately 12-15 days. The large item pickup will be performed by a private contractor, Southern Disaster Recovery, and there will be a strict one pass only for each area enforced due to budgetary and time constraints. 

This one pass only large item pickup will only take place in the unincorporated areas of Dare County, which includes the following communities:

• Martin’s Point
• Colington Island - (inside and outside the gated community) 
• Roanoke Island - (unincorporated areas of Manteo, as well as Wanchese, Skyco and Mashoes)
• Mainland Dare County (East Lake, Stumpy Point and Manns Harbor) 
• Hatteras Island (Rodanthe, Waves, Salvo, Avon, Buxton, Frisco and Hatteras)

In order to ensure all of your accepted items are picked up on the first and only pass, please do not place any materials on the roadside after the start of the large item pickup (Monday, April 7, 2025).

For more information about large item pickup—including the types of items that are accepted and prohibited during the collection event—please visit DareNC.gov/LargeItemPickup or click the button below.

REMINDER: The Dare County Public Works Department only provides large item pickup for the unincorporated areas of Dare County. The county does not provide large item pickup for the incorporated towns of Duck, Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head or Manteo. For information regarding large item pickup programs that may be offered in these areas, please contact your municipality.

March is Fraud Prevention Month! Did you know the Dare County Register of Deeds provides a free 24/7 fraud detection system that alerts Dare County property owners if someone attempts to illegally acquire their property? By signing up for this free fraud detection system, you’ll receive an alert via email when a document is recorded within the Register of Deeds office that matches the names you registered.

What are property fraud and mortgage fraud?

Property fraud occurs when someone illegally acquires or transfers ownership of a property that is not rightfully theirs—typically for financial gain and with malicious intent. After a fraudster selects a property, they commit identity fraud by creating fake IDs, Social Security cards and other counterfeit documents before forging signatures to unlawfully transfer ownership of the property. 

Once the legal property owner’s name has been removed from the deed, perpetrators are able to sell the property to unsuspecting buyers or take out a home equity line of credit in order to turn a quick profit. They may also use a stolen identity to illegally obtain a mortgage for a property in order to secure a larger or more favorable loan than they would be granted using their own identity.

What types of properties are at risk?

Any property can be at risk for property or mortgage fraud; however, most perpetrators tend to target the following:

• Vacant/unoccupied homes and investment properties or properties with absentee owners, which allow them to operate without detection.
• Properties with no mortgage or with a large amount of equity, which offer a more significant financial payoff.

Protect yourself from becoming a victim of property or mortgage fraud this Fraud Prevention Month and beyond by registering for this free service at DareNC.gov/FraudDetect. 

Spring is right around the corner, and that means planting season is just about to begin! According to the Dare County Extension Master Gardeners, it’s time to start propagating seeds, and if you’re in search of some special seeds to get you started this season, the Dare County Library has you covered with its free Seed Libraries program! 

Thanks to generous donations made by Burpee Seeds, Sow True Seed, Seed Savers Exchange and Lowe’s Home Improvement, the Dare County Library’s Seed Libraries are fully stocked and ready for 2025 spring planting! Launched in 2022 as a means to share seeds in communities with food security issues, the Dare County Library’s Seed Library program provides a variety of vegetable, herb, flower and plant seeds that can be “checked out” from all three Dare County Library branches with the intention of growing them locally. 

Growing instruction cards are available to assist with every type of seed, and a live inventory can be found in the online Seed Library guide. After the plant has matured, growers are encouraged to harvest and donate some of their seeds back, thus making the Seed Library truly local and sustainable. The long-term goal of the Seed Library is to give locals access to plant varieties that grow and thrive on the Outer Banks while also providing the knowledge needed to maintain kitchen gardens and reduce household overhead. 

A mix of commercially and locally harvested seeds are available year-round, with types and quantities varying based on supply. A variety of new seeds will be introduced this year, including celery seed, cowpeas and mustard seeds, among others. In addition, the Seed Libraries currently have new varieties of several old favorites, such as three new types of basil, as well as carrots and an array of different lettuces to make the perfect salad—plus so much more!

For additional information about the Seed Library program—which is available for free for all ages at all three Dare County Library locations—please stop by your local branch or click the button below. Questions? Contact Seed Library Manager Becca Flagge at the Kill Devil Hills Library at 252-441-4331.

Dare County has released a new video highlighting the ribbon cutting ceremony and open house that was held on Thursday, February 13, 2025 to celebrate the completion and official grand opening of the new Manteo Youth Center on Roanoke Island. 

The event, which was attended by hundreds of community members, featured remarks made by several key speakers who played an important role in bringing the project to completion, including Dare County Department of Health & Human Resources Director Dr. Sheila Davies, Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairman Bob Woodard and Carolyn Norman-Holadia, who serves as coordinator for the new facility and its many programs and resources. 

Two special guest speakers also spoke during the event to express their excitement as the recently completed facility was unveiled to the public: 17-year-old youth center participant Julliett Scott and 8-year-old youth center participant Zykeem Burton. Following the ribbon cutting ceremony, attendees had the opportunity to tour the new 4,000-square-foot facility, which is located at 101 N. Highway 64/264 in Manteo. To view the video on Dare County’s YouTube channel, please visit YouTube.com/DareCounty or click the button below.

Meet Grandpa Al—our Outer Banks SPCA Pet of the Week! Grandpa Al is a sweet and spunky senior who loves going for walks and playing with other dogs! Come meet Grandpa Al!

To meet Grandpa Al, stop by the Dare County Animal Shelter, located at 378 Airport Road in Manteo, and be sure to click here to watch a video produced by Current TV. For more information, please visit OBXSPCA.org or contact the Outer Banks SPCA at 252-475-5620!

Outer Banks SPCA Adoption Hours:

Monday to Friday: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. for naptime)
Saturday & Sunday: By appointment only