Yes - Residential property, rental property, and commercial property

Holly Ridge is a major part of my family's history. My husband and both of my children were born in Holly Ridge. One of the roads that my current business is on is named COLE STREET, which was named for my great aunt Elsie Cole, whose husband, Harvey Jones was an engineer who helped design the streets of Holly Ridge during Camp Davis. My husband and I are in Holly Ridge daily and run a family friendly business in town where we interact with a lot of Holly Ridge residents. I have been a witness, firsthand, to the lack of progress over the last few decades for the town of Holly Ridge. We currently do not have a website that offers any interactive services, such as bill pay or online permits. We are unable to watch any town meetings, past or present, through the website. We do not currently have audio and video in good working order for people to be able to watch town meetings and committee meetings LIVE AND IN REAL TIME. The minutes for our meetings sometimes take months to appear on the website for people to read and review. Our town hall phones do not have a caller ID. Our police department phones go to voice mail instead of forwarding to an on-duty officer or Onslow dispatch when no one is in the office. These things are unacceptable in this current day of technology. All the neighboring towns (some larger some smaller) have live-streamed town meetings, including committee meetings, and planning and zoning meetings. Minutes are generally available 45 days after a meeting (once approved), a person can apply for permits and see the progress of their permits and inspections on the town websites. A person can pay bills, utility and permits online. These things should NOT be out of reach of the residents of Holly Ridge. It is almost embarrassing. When my children were young the town had the Holly Festival on the first Saturday in November. This was an amazing event, and even included closing highway 17 to all traffic for 45 minutes for a parade (could you imagine doing that today?) Santa Clause always closed out the parade which started the local holiday season. We need to bring festivals like this back. Holly Ridge needs to resume fireworks on the 4th of July. Originally this was considered the fireworks for the four towns and after covid, they were canceled, and fireworks were moved to the Liberty Festival on Labor Day. Fireworks on the 4th of July need to be brought back. I also feel as though too many employees may be “friends” and were not necessarily the most qualified for their positions, which is an undue hardship on the citizens of the community. The taxpayers of this community deserve the best, most qualified people for their positions. I feel as though too much of our budget goes to the police department and town employee salaries. We need to focus more resources on Fire and Rescue (ambulance) and on updating our services, including the website and online portals for payments and permits. We are way behind the times with technology and need to get this done. Listening to the people who come to the town meetings with concerns, I think that people who live in the community feel growth is happening too quickly and that water pressure issues and school overcrowding are major issues that must be addressed before more development takes place.

In 2015, my husband and I put on the 75th Anniversary of Camp Davis in Holly Ridge. We had displays, including military jeeps, uniforms, photos, documents and a street fair and town park full of vendors. The Jacksonville Daily news did 2 (two) front cover stories about the event and approximately 3,000 people came to Holly Ridge that day to celebrate and learn about the amazing history of Camp Davis. Our current building is one of the last remaining structures of Camp Davis Army Base (1941-1946) and we do our best to give people tours and to explain the importance of Camp Davis to the aviation history of our country. The Museum of the Marines donated a bus for us to shuttle people to the Camp Davis landing strip where the military had flown in an Osprey for us to offer free tours (while on the ground). In 2023 I approached the Town of Holly Ridge manager, Heather Reynolds, with information about becoming a “Bee City, USA” to help protect and preserve the precious bees in our area. Within a few months we were registered as a Bee City, USA and I became the chairperson of the committee, as well as the chairperson for the 1st Holly Ridge Bee Festival. The festival was a tremendous success and brought in people from all over who spent the day learning and shopping. It is estimated 2,500 people came to the festival. For other accomplishments, check out our community involvement page.

I was the first Chairperson of the “Busy Bee Committee” aka Bee City Committee, that was created to help Holly Ridge create community awareness about the importance of bees. Through the committee we created the Holly Ridge Bee Festival. This was a wonderful group of community members who all had the same goal and put in hours of their own time to spread the word and create an awesome street fair in April 2024. The Holly Ridge Bee Festival was designed to kick off “No Mow May” which is a national program to help let the pollinating plants grow and bloom, to help precious bees survive. The town had an Ordinance Review Committee that was made up of local builders, realtors and developers. This committee was doing a great job going through and working to get rid of old, wasteful rules and regulations. I hope to re-vamp this committee so it can complete the work it was doing as many members felt it was ended abruptly and before their work was completed. The town currently has a committee that was formed to redo and update the Land Use Plan. After attending a recent public meeting regarding public input for this program, it was quickly discovered that the goals the officials thought were important, in fact, were not the same goals of members of the community. These committees are vital to reaching out to community members and making sure their needs and wishes are put first.

People who volunteer for committees and put in the hard work are an amazing resource that this town needs to expand on. Committees do not need to be comprised of mostly town employees and a few citizens. We need to celebrate volunteers.

Unless you live in an HOA or a restricted community, I absolutely love the idea of Accessory Dwelling Units. There is NO affordable housing anymore and the stress put on families or singles who are trying to make a living while paying bills has become a major issue in all communities. Offering an affordable option, perhaps adding an accessory dwelling to a family member’s property or utilizing a tiny home community may be the perfect way to let people have their own homes while not going broke trying to do so. I also believe both Holly Ridge and Onslow County need to prepare for more long-term RV parks, which is another form of affordable housing. RV’s offer a very efficient use of water (with grey water and black water being divided) and are self-contained and movable.

Many of the water lines in Holly Ridge are not mapped and some are discovered during breaks. Many of these lines were installed during the Camp Davis boom in the 1940s. In addition to the old water lines, there are storm water pipes and old sewer lines that lead to the old military sewer treatment plants that may lead to sink holes, which have created issues. The lack of knowledge of all these old and buried lines is that eventually they will break and fail, leading to more failures in water pressure, which is already a major issue. When the J&J’s Snack Plant was on fire last year, several buildings in the area had little to no water pressure. The concern was that if another fire happened at the same time, where would the water come from? Holly Ridge needs a water tower, and perhaps even one on each side of Hwy 17, to ensure that existing and new buildings have ample water pressure. There used to be a water tower near the current town hall that was dismantled. Another concern in Holly Ridge is having two electricity suppliers. Jones Onslow and Duke Power both service Holly Ridge, making it very confusing. Unfortunately, during Hurricane Florence in 2018, properties with Duke power (which included the Holly Ridge town hall and Police Department) did not have power while Jones Onslow Customers did (this lasted almost a week). The odd issue was that these properties were across the street from each other. This must be fixed. Jones Onslow needs to provide service to the entire town of Holly Ridge. Holly Ridge used to have their own water and sewer treatment plant, which in most cases is considered part of the value of a town. The facilities were turned over to Onwasa on January 1, 2006. To a local business owner, Holly Ridge currently presents hurdles that doesn't make it “small business friendly”. Even the act of getting a sign permit for a small business is a hassle since multiple people in the town hall give out different answers and requirements. We must make this town “business friendly” and offer HELP instead of hurdles.