April 17, 2008



Good Afternoon…. NCBBA members and other interested parties….



This note is to bring all of you up to date on the Consent Decree your Officers and Board of Directors were presented by the CHAPA (Cape Hatteras Access Preservation Alliance) attorneys.



The Draft Consent Decree and maps are attached…Please take a few minutes and read the document so my comments below will be better understood.



The NCBBA Officers and Board of Directors met Monday evening (April 14, 2008) with other CHAPA members and Dare County Attorney Robert Outten, to confidentially discuss acceptance or rejection the document you have read. At this stage our options were to accept or reject, not further negotiate the Consent Decree. The consensus of the group was that the agreement was less than satisfactory but acceptance was in the best interest of the Outer Banks for several reasons which are listed below:



· Rejection would effectively put a lock and key year ‘round on the Spits and Points for the next 2 years.

· Rejection would put the decision in the judge’s hands and almost certainly meant closure of the areas in the injunction.

· Rejection would mean additional litigation at immense cost with little certainty of a positive outcome in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.

· Acceptance allows limited access to the areas in question.

· Acceptance allows NPS flexibility in closure and buffer actions.

· Acceptance prevents a financial catastrophe for the Outer Banks business community at the expense of open and unrestricted beach access.

· Acceptance keeps a majority of the Interim Plan in place which is guiding NPS management right now.

· Acceptance of the “nothing in the Consent Decree sets any precedent for the terms of any negotiated rule nor does it set any binding requirements for the special rule”.



The Board of Directors has voted to accept the Consent Decree in the best interest of the entire Outer Banks ‘Community’ along with the other members of CHAPA. We are now challenged to improve on this Consensus Decree through the Neg-Reg process and we will take that challenge with all the ambition we possess on behalf of our membership.



Thanks you for the words of support and willingness to help NCBBA. The Neg-Reg process has now become more vital to the future access of the Seashore Recreational Area.



Sincerely,

Jim Keene, President, NCBBA





Representing all of our members…“Supporting Recreational ORV Access”

NCBBA Board of Directors

contactus@ncbba.org

the only problem with that statement is that anything less than what they have gotten now will be taken to court ...
imho , the 'settlement ' should have been rejected ..
yea , the beach would have been closed , but; we would have have not comprised again !! everytime there is a compromise we loose !!

Derf, I am with you 100%. By compromising the way they did they gave those people ALL the negotiating power going into RegNeg. If they don't like what the pro access people are putting forth then all they need to do is stall until the mandated deadline approaches. In addition they now set a precedent for closing those stretches of the beach and a precedent for no night time access:(. They lost no money on this deal since the NPS agreed to pay their legal fees. It is just a bad deal all around. If people look long term on this they would have rejected it and told the judge to close the beaches until reg neg is complete. That way those groups had much less negotiating power. They really sold the farm on this one. The only reason I can see to do what they did was to create a situation where the local businesses had a shot at staying in business.

I really think a counter suit needs to be done challenging the legality of a private entity to privately negotiate the policies of our public lands...but I am no lawyer.

Ughh evertime I think of this it get me steamed.

gawd my blood pressure is way up ..
trying to set it up to do a trip to portsmouth is nc before they rape that place too ...

Patrick I hear you on the $$$$ part.

I am still thinking about "The Art of War"....i.e. attack your enemy from every possible angle and direction.

How can we get this issue on the front page of all the major new papers?
How can we get this on CNN and Larry King Live?
Do we know someone who is going to be at the next Democratic debate that can ask the candidates where they stand on this issue?

These questions may sound "out there"...but think about it.
The more people that are aware that our freedoms are being taken away from us, the more people will join our struggle to keep beach access open.

Politics and money are bedfellows...no question. But, keep in mind.. "United we stand, divided we fall". They have won this battle, but the war is not over. Let' not let them divide us with this milestone victory.

- Fish360

PS

Are there any attorneys in this community? Are there any law students who want to contribute?