What's inside this issue?

• BHA's Operation Re-Forest — We Forest is almost here! Order your trees by Friday, January 5, 2024.
• Village of BHI's 2024 G.O. Bond Referendum — helpful links, important dates and voting information.
• BHI Transportation announces a deadline of March 31, 2024, for accepting the 2-part ("old") paper ferry tickets.
• New Public Safety Director Announced.
• BHA's 2024 Annual Meeting, Online Voting and Smith Island Social.
• Just posted — January Island Report.
• Events
• BHA quick links (ARC and BHA committees) and Board meetings.
• Handy Bald Head Island website links.

BHA's 5th Annual

Operation Re-Forest — We Forest

Want to order trees?

Signup deadline is Friday, January 5, 2024

Simply fill out the survey to order trees — click HERE.

BHA's 5th annual “Operation Re-Forest — We Forest” is almost here! BHA began this operation in 2019 to help mitigate Bald Head Island’s tree losses from previous storms, such as Hurricane Florence in 2018. According to BHI Conservancy’s survey estimating Hurricane Florence’s damage to trees on Bald Head Island, “Scaled-up total loss of trees was a median of 4,000 trees lost for Bald Head Island proper, not including the Coastal Reserve, with an additional 1,000 trees lost on Middle Island.” Because trees, native vegetation and their root systems help with water drainage and wind protection, BHA kicked off “Operation Re-Forest — We Forest” in 2019 as a way to help mitigate BHI’s tree losses.

BHA will order trees and bring them to Bald Head Island for planting January 10-11, 2024. Property owners can pick up their ordered trees on January 11 at Public Works.

BHA encourages property owners to participate in “Operation Re-Forest — We Forest” in one of four ways:

• Take advantage of BHA’s bulk order cost and Island delivery to plant trees on your own lot.
• Plant trees as part of your tree mitigation with the Architectural Review Committee (ARC).
• Plant a tree on your own lot to honor a loved one.
• Purchase a live oak tree in honor of a loved one to be planted on BHA Common Area.

Plant a Tree!

Live oak trees cost $200 each, whether you pick up and plant a tree on your own lot, pick up and plant a live oak tree on your own lot but also want to include it as an Honor Tree or simply want to purchase a live oak Honor Tree and have BHA plant it on BHA Common Area. Yaupon Hollies and Wax Myrtles are also available, each $50.

If you want to take advantage of BHA's bulk rate to purchase trees and plant them on your own lot, ARC review and fees are waived for this operation only, but you must fill out the tree survey to order so that ARC has a record of landscape changes (click HERE). Property owners should be aware of utility easements and lot line locations, in addition to contacting "Call 811 before you dig."

Sub-association Neighborhoods

In some BHI neighborhoods, property owners do not own the land around their home.

If you live in a neighborhood with a sub-association, contact your president or representative about your interest to plant a tree (click HERE and view page 5 of the document). Your representative can fill out the tree survey.

Online "Operation Re-Forest — We Forest" Map/List

Check out the Operation Re-Forest — We Forest map and list of honorees on BHA's website HERE.

Village of BHI's 2024 G.O. Bond Referendum

Vote on Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Brief Background

The Village of Bald Head Island is planning for a coastal storm damage reduction (CSDR) project in the winter of 2024-25. The full project as proposed will use Jay Bird Shoals to supply the project with approximately 1 million cubic yards of beach-quality sand. The sand will be placed east of the terminal groin along South Beach, down through the area where the sand tube groins are installed. It will restart east of Muscadine Wynd and will fill to the east end of the Shoals Club.

Read more about the background, with additional resources and quick links for the December Town Hall video and slides, an overview article, statements of disclosure and more on the Village's 2024 Bond Referendum web page HERE.

A Bond Referendum

A bond referendum is a voting process that gives voters the power to decide if a municipality should be authorized to raise funds through the sale of bonds, for specific purposes. A general obligation (G.O.) bond is long-term borrowing in which a municipality pledges its full faith and credit (taxing power) to repay the debt over a specified term. G.O. bonds are the least costly financing option available to the Village to finance major capital costs and offer significant savings to taxpayers over the repayment period. 

During the upcoming March 5, 2024, primary Bald Head Island voters will be able to vote YES or NO on two questions. To read the questions, click HERE.

Questions?

The Village is still taking questions. Please send them to GOBOND@villagebhi.org.

The questions and answers will be posted on the 2024 Bond Referendum web page (click on the button below) and will be updated as more questions are received. The questions are being separated by category (finance/tax, shoreline and bond referendum).

Important Dates:

January 15, 2024 – Absentee ballots for the bond referendum will be available.

February 3, 2024 — Residency deadline.

February 9, 2024 – Last day to register to vote in the referendum.*

February 15, 2024 – Early voting period starts.

February 27, 2024 – Absentee ballot request deadline (5:00pm).*

March 2, 2024 – Early voting period ends.

March 5, 2024 – The referendum will take place. Absentee ballot return deadline is 7:30pm.*

By March 15, 2024 – Canvass of returns by Board of Elections.

* Voter registration and absentee voting deadlines are different for military and overseas citizen voters.

Voting and Residency

As of January 2, 2024, there are 381 people registered to vote in BHI elections. If you live on Bald Head Island full-time or part-time, you may want to review the voting requirements and determine WHERE you want to exercise your voting rights.

According to the Brunswick County Board of Elections, “The residency qualification to register to vote in a municipality or county is that the persons registering must have, by the time of the election, resided in that municipality or county for at least 30 days with the intent to make that county, municipality, precinct, ward, or other election district a permanent place of abode.” The residency deadline is Saturday, February 3, 2024. (Read Brunswick County's "Clarification on Voter Residency Requirements" HERE.) For the Brunswick County Board of Elections web page, click HERE.

BHI Transportation

Announces Deadline of March 31, 2024,

for 2-part ("Old") Paper Ferry Tickets

According to BHI Transportation's announcement:

Bald Head Island Transportation will STOP accepting two-part (“old”) paper tickets after March 31, 2024. "Old" Bulk 40 tickets (only) may be exchanged for a coupon code through March 31, 2024.

Starting April 1, 2024, only QR-coded “new” tickets and transferred or newly issued passes will be valid for ferry boarding.

Click HERE for the announcement. Click HERE for BHI Transportation's website.

New Public Safety Director Announced

At its December Village Council meeting, Village Manager Chris McCall announced the hiring of the Village’s new Public Safety Director. Joshua Gibson has been selected to fill the position, which he filled in an interim capacity since June 1, 2023. To read more about his background and see a photo of his taking the oath of office, click HERE.

BHA News

BHA's 2024 Annual Meeting, Online Voting

and Smith Island Social

BHA's Annual Meeting is coming soon — Saturday, January 27, 2024, at 9:00am. Make plans to join us in-person or online. Stay tuned for location details and the Zoom link.

Watch for your copy of BHA's 2023 Annual Report packet, mailed in late December. It will arrive in a white, catalog envelope, and it contains your unique voter registration ID on the front cover, proxy, voting details and more.

For all Annual Meeting resources, such as the online voting link and tips, candidate biographies, the candidate forum recording and more, click on the button below.

Just posted!

• Dive into your community — volunteer!
• BHA's 2023 Annual Report Packets, Annual Meeting, Voting and Smith Island Social.
• ARC — Design Guidelines 27th edition and decorative items in harmony with nature.
• Monthly ARC Quiz.
• President's Letter.
• BHI native plant series feature — sea oats.
• Letter to the editor — all property owners need to vote.
• 2024 BHA annual assessments.
• ARC improvement ad hoc committee update.
• Monthly contributors — the Village of BHI, Old Baldy Foundation and the BHI Conservancy.
• Plus much more!

Due to flooding in BHA's Association Center,

all activities are being temporarily relocated during renovations. For the latest updates, check our online event calendar for location information.

Community Potluck Dinner

Monday, January 8, 6:00pm

Relocated to Delphina Coastal Cuisine

Join us for the next Community Potluck Dinner on Monday, January 8, at 6:00pm. The event has been relocated to Delphina Coastal Cuisine (8 Marina Wynd).

Featured guests will be the No Boundaries Art Colony artists, who will be spending two weeks on BHI in January. We anticipate approximately 15 guest artists. Check out their website HERE.

All are invited! Make new friends and join those you've known for years. Please bring 2 dishes to share and your favorite beverage. Click on the poster for more details. Contact Betsi Stephen for additional information at BetsiStephen@gmail.com.

Yoga Classes

Re-starting in 2024

Relocated to BHI Bottle Shop

Re-starting in 2024, yoga classes are taught by Pam Moulin on Mondays and Wednesdays, 11:45am-1:00pm. The new location is BHI Bottle Shop (2 Maritime Way). Thank you to Jordyn Matthews for donating space in the Bottle Shop for yoga classes!

Pam has 36 years of experience as a fitness instructor and 19 years of experience as a yoga instructor, and she's been teaching yoga on Bald Head Island for 13 years. All levels are welcome. Classes are $20, and participants must bring their own yoga mat. Pam requires that all participants show proof of vaccination against Covid-19. For all new participants, it's strongly suggested to email Pam beforehand (and let her know of any physical limitations) at pammoulin@ec.rr.com.

Brunswick Nuclear Plant Siren Test

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

The outdoor warning sirens around the Brunswick Nuclear Plant will be tested between 10:00am and 11:00am on Wednesday, January 10, 2024. The test will be a full-volume,

3-minute test. No public action is required.

The dates for the rest of the quarterly tests are: April 10, July 10 and October 9. All tests will be 5-30 seconds, with the exception of the October test, which is held at full volume for 3 minutes.

BHI Community Care

Do you need assistance?

Your Island Friends are here to help!

BHI Community Care is in association with Project Longevity. For help or to volunteer, email Joan Maggio at JoanMaggio.BHIcare@gmail.com.

BHA's Board of Directors invites property owners and others to join its monthly public meetings in person or remotely via Zoom. Board meetings are typically held the second Friday of each month beginning at 11:00am EDT. Agendas, approved minutes of previous meetings and a link to the current monthly Zoom meeting can be found on the meeting information web page. Click on the link below to learn more.

(NOTE: change of venue — the Chandler Building in the BHI Harbour.) The next BHA Board meeting public session is scheduled for Friday, January 26, 2024, at 11:00am.

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