08-07-07: A New Northern Home and Partnership for the Coastal Federation

3609 Hwy 24 (Ocean) | Newport, North Carolina 28570

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 7, 2007

Todd Miller, executive director
252-393-8185
toddm@nccoast.org

A New Northern Home and Partnership
for the Coastal Federation

Manteo, NC – Finding a new, larger home on the north coast became reality yesterday when the North Carolina Coastal Federation (NCCF) closed on a house in downtown Manteo, as part of a larger collaboration with the town.

“This is an ideal partnership. We’re helping the town eliminate pollution, getting a home for NCCF on the north coast, and providing examples of solutions to the problem of stormwater runoff” said Todd Miller, NCCF’s executive director. “It takes our vision of expanding our coastal protection and restoration work in the northeast one step further.”

The partnership was conceived in April, when Olivia Holding, an NCCF board member, asked Manteo Mayor John Wilson if he knew of any properties that might be suitable for an NCCF office. The three-bedroom house is on a canal that empties into Shallowbag Bay and adjacent to a shopping center that the town plans to tear down and replace with a rain garden to treat stormwater.

The town was holding an option on a parcel that included an old shopping center, a small parking lot and the house. Officials wanted to demolish the shopping center and build rain gardens to treat the stormwater that had been polluting the canal, and to serve as an example of effective, residential-scale stormwater controls. But town officials had no use for the house and needed additional funds to complete the purchase, and they thought the Federation would be an ideal partner in the effort.

The Town of Manteo could not be more pleased to have partnered with NCCF to accomplish this important project,” said John Wilson, Manteo’s mayor. “Purchasing the property could not have happened without partnerships with both NCCF and the Dare County Tourist Bureau, which both provided funds toward the acquisition in exchange for a conservation easement in perpetuity.”

The Federation agreed. When the shopping center is demolished and the rain gardens installed, the NCCF office will be visible from US 64, the main route through town. It will serve as a public reminder of the ways in which people can do their part to prevent their own polluted runoff from entering local waters and a focal point for people who want to protect and restore the coast.

The canal frontage will provide a place for docking the COASTKEEPER^® boat. Next door, just off the rain gardens, the town plans to install a couple of boat slips to provide public access for working fishermen.

The new office is part of a larger effort. NCCF is in the process of expanding its presence throughout the coastal area to mobilize more people to protect and restore the coast. For the northeast, this means expanding our staff from one, our Cape Hatteras COASTKEEPER^® Jan DeBlieu, to three full-time positions, including a coastal restoration specialist and an educator. The northern office will shift from a field office in DeBlieu’s home to an office open to the public in the heart of downtown Manteo.

To support this increase in our capacity to work on issues affecting our coast, the Federation this year kicked off a capital campaign entitled “Turning the Tide: Friends of the Coast Campaign." To date, the campaign has raised $1.7 million of its goal of $3 million dollars.

“We’ve come a long way since the Federation began 25 years ago out of my house,” explained Miller. “But we still need help. The only way we can do the work necessary to protect our coast is to harness the energy of people who love the coast and don’t want to see it loved to death. It’s the way we’ve been effective over the years, and we need to continue working with an ever growing number of people who care about our coast in northeastern North Carolina.”

For more information about the Federation’s work in the northeast, contact Cape Hatteras COASTKEEPER^® Jan DeBlieu at 252-743-1607. For information about the Federation’s capital campaign, contact Executive Director Todd Miller or Development Director Sally Steele at 252-393-8185.