Sewer Updates

The Board met with CWSNC (Carolina Water Service, Inc. of North Carolina) on December 3, 2025. To view a summary of the meeting along with responses to questions regarding the sewer, click here.

Last updated 1.13.26

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IMPORTANT NOTICE

Please refrain from opening any sewer clean out / manholes on any part of the subdivision property. It is against the law to dump rainwater down a sanitary sewer for any reason, but essentially to remove flooding waters from your property. We live in a very fragile area, and dealing with excessive water on our roads and property is part of living on the OBX.

Last updated 11.3.25

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Rick Barto and I (Pat Weston) were invited to a conference call held on Friday, February 14th at 3:30 p.m. The scheduled 30 min. call ran for 1 hour 19 minutes. Below is an overview of the call.

CWSNC (Carolina Water Service, Inc. of North Carolina) will be seeking a rate increase of 247% which means our monthly sewer charge will increase from $85.12/mo. to $210.00/mo., an annual sewer cost of $2,520/yr. as compared to the current rate of $1,021/yr. The reason for the massive increase is that to date they have spent almost $5 million on the sewer plant and need to begin recouping some of their costs. They are preparing to file for this rate increase with the PUC in Raleigh ASAP and "wanted to let us know."

Rick talked to the point of the unfair monthly flat rate per house, whether it was a rental with 8-10-12 BRs and 15-24+ people, as compared to a residence or vacation home with 1 or 2 occupants in most cases. A couple of the higher-ups weren't aware of the FLAT RATE.

I (Pat Weston) brought up several points:

Some of our residents live on fixed incomes. This increase may prove to not only be unconscionable, but devastating to some. The annual sewer fee amount of $2,520 is considerably MORE than one month's Social Security check. Just think of paying 1/12th of your income for sewer service.
The work performed on the sewer system benefits the ENTIRE SERVICE AREA, which, in our case, should include not only the current customers but all those who own lots that are not yet customers. So you want us to pay for repairs to the system that benefit them with no "sharing" of the costs.
The abominable condition of the sewer plant is and was not our fault. CWSNC should be getting the reimbursement from the OWNER of the sewer plant, RAY HOLLOWELL.
Also at fault is the State of NC DEQ, who for YEARS sent non-compliance letter to the plant owner and threatened with fines and shutdown. None of which we new about. The letters were just "boilerplate" style with a line and/or a number changed here or there and sent, only to be ignored month after month and year after year. BILL THE STATE for their non-compliance.
I want to know what the commercial rates are and that their rates will increase by the same percentage, once determined what the increase will legally be. And if the commercial rates are not equitable with the residential rates, that will need to be addressed. Those on the system are: U.S. Post Office, Kinnakeet Shores, Sun Realty bldg., Food Lion shopping center with all its businesses, and Westlake ACE Hardware. And soon to be Kinnakeet Villas, 18 villas, behind the Post Office.
I have provided CWSNC with a spreadsheet of all of our homes in phases 6 thru 22, by phase and street address, categorized by rental, residence or vacation home, and usual number of people residing in the residences or occasionally visiting their vacation homes.

Once we find out when the hearing is to take place, I (Pat Weston) plan on attending and speaking my peace along with Rick Barto, Tom Hench and Terry Ponton.

We will keep you up to date as more updates on this matter become available.

Last updated 4.11.25

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Great news, the moratorium has been lifted as of 12.1.23.

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Docket Details - Chronological order of all documents filed in the complaint of Greater Kinnakeet Shores Home Owners, Inc., Complainant v. Outer Banks/Kinnakeet Associates, LLC, Respondent, and reports from Emergency Operator Carolina Water Services of NC may be found here.