This story is part of a reporting partnership with The Outer Banks Voice.
With Dare County mandated to return $35 million in housing funds to the state, a suit filed last year by its six towns contesting the conditions attached to that money has been withdrawn.
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Last October, the six municipalities filed the litigation after a special housing provision inserted into the state budget would have restricted their ability to regulate affordable housing projects funded by the $35 million in state money. Town officials vocally criticized the measure for eroding and encroaching on local authority over development and zoning, the Outer Banks Voice reported.
Related: Dare won’t use state budget provision on workforce housing
Ben Gallop, an attorney for one of the plaintiffs, the town of Manteo, told the Voice that on Friday, June 7, the municipalities filed a voluntarily dismissal of that suit, “in recognition that the General Assembly’s recent repeal of the legislation provided the towns with the result sought by the lawsuit.”
The filing of the suit harkens back to one of the most divisive controversies that emerged during efforts to build more workforce housing in the county. It came only weeks after local officials expressed anger and surprise upon learning that the provision restricting town control over the housing regulation had been inserted into the state budget. The $35 million was intended to be used by Coastal Affordable Housing LLC, which was, at the time, one of the county’s two private housing development partners.
Coastal Affordable Housing LLC was formed in 2021 with Jordan Hennessy, an aide to former Sen. Bill Cook, a principal. Hennessey is also one of the newest members of the state Coastal Resources Commission and an officer in the company Dare County contracted to address shoaling in county waterways.
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From the outset, Dare County officials insisted they had no knowledge of and no role in inserting that provision and Rep. Keith Kidwell, R-Beaufort, whose district covers part of Dare County, was subsequently identified as involved in inserting that provision. The Dare County commissioners also passed a resolution indicating they would not abide by the provision removing local control over affordable housing regulation.
In April, the Dare Board of Commissioners voted to end the county’s partnership with Coastal Affordable Housing and to seek to return the $35 million in housing money to state coffers.
The county’s Affordable Housing Task Force was hopeful the commissioners could delay returning that money. But a little over a month ago, the legislature passed a measure that removed the provision and also required the return of the $35 million to the state, in effect bringing this chapter of the county’s housing initiative to an end.
Related: CRC member Hennessy threatens to sue Dare candidate
