THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 11, 1994 TAG: 9407110039
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DeGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: AVON LENGTH: Long : 122 lines
Plans to build a racing-kart track in this Hatteras Island village have residents and real estate brokers struggling to put the brakes on the project.
Last month, Gary Dowdy Jr. applied for a permit to construct two tracks on the west side of N.C. Route 12. The 33-year-old Harbinger man, whose family owns Dowdy's Amusement Park in Nags Head, hopes to bring 40 karts to the four-acre facility by next summer.
At 7:30 tonight in Manteo, the Dare County Planning Board will consider his proposal.
Dowdy said he wants to put the track in Avon because ``it's kind of a mid-point on the Hatteras Island beaches. The only thing those people have to do is mini-golf. There's really no other amusements down there.''
That, villagers and vacationers said last week, is precisely why they like Avon.
``We want to listen to the ocean, the birds and the sea gulls squalling - not the noisy roar of Go Karts all day long,'' said Jean T. Meyer, president of the 300-member Avon Property Owners Association. ``This is what we came down here for: a quiet, family beach where people can live and vacation away from all the busy activity of Nags Head. If we want Go Karts, we'll drive north and find them.''
Located north of the Cape Hatteras lighthouse, this historic sound-to-sea community originally comprised lifesavers, Coast Guardsmen and their families. In recent years, it has become a haven for windsurfers and saltwater fishermen. Campers, bird watchers and retirees also enjoy the relative isolation year-round.
There are a grocery store and a small strip shopping center in the town. A carpet golf facility is part of the fishing pier. But the nearest movie theater is about 40 miles away.
The closest amusement rides are in Rodanthe - a 15-minute drive north.
``Visitors who want to visit a Go-Kart complex can drive to Rodanthe; those who want more of a nightlife ... can visit the Nags Head area; those who want a family-oriented place and fewer people can continue to come to Avon,'' vacationers Wilber and Nancy Rainey of Rockwall, Texas, wrote the planning board June 28.
``Please don't allow Avon to become like the Nags Head/Kitty Hawk area,'' they wrote. ``Let people who visit the Outer Banks continue to have a clear choice of what type of a community they want to visit or live in.''
In the past three weeks, at least 20 Avon property owners have sent letters to the Planning Board urging it to oppose the racing-kart project. Almost 100 others have signed four petitions that locals and newcomers are circulating throughout the village.
Carloads of residents plan to attend the meeting. Although the board will not accept comments from the audience, islanders said they want to present a show of force against the amusement facility.
``Avon is basically a residential community. An amusement of this type is entirely incompatible with this area,'' Tom Hranicka said. As branch manager of Sun Realty's Avon office, Hranicka said he plans to travel to Manteo for the planning board meeting. He feels obligated to oppose a project which so many of his renters have said they don't want.
``I'm not opposed to growth,'' Hranicka said last week. ``But I think it needs to be compatible with the surrounding community. Putting a go-kart track in here would add noise, lights and traffic. It would change the basic nature of Avon. It would set a precedent for that type of attraction.''
Dowdy said opponents of his project have it all wrong. The karts don't go more than 20 miles per hour, he said. There are federal, state and local laws about pollution. And he said he will comply with noise ordinances which prohibit the vehicles from emitting more than 75 decibels of noise within 50 feet.
``It's not like chain saws will be running all day or something,'' said Dowdy, who wants to keep his go-kart track open from 11 a.m. through 11 p.m. ``The noise from those karts won't be any worse than the sound of the cars going up and down the beach road all day. There's not 20 people who live within earshot of what I'm going to do.''
Meyer disagreed. The Avon Post Office abuts the proposed amusement site on the south side. But people live to the north and west. Others have purchased buildable lots nearby. And a county law says amusement facilities can't be located within 500 feet of a residential zoning district.
``Does that mean the site can't be closer than that or only the buildings on the site?'' the property owners association president asked.
Planning Board Chairman Elmer R. Midgett Jr. did not return repeated phone calls.
Since the property which Dowdy hopes to purchase is zoned for commercial development, he said residents should have expected something like a racing-kart track would come along at any time. His proposed project - which does not yet have a price tag - will be better than other commercial activities which could be built on the overgrown, shrub-filled site, he said, and would bring visitors and an expanded tax base to the tourism-oriented town.
``Realtors and some residents want everything to look like it did 50 years ago here. Then they come in and stack houses 50 feet apart and say, `See, it hasn't changed a bit,' '' Dowdy said. ``Nobody wants development in their backyards. But this property was planned for commercial use. And my Go Kart track will create about 10 new jobs for the locals.''
In addition to two tracks and 40 karts, Dowdy hopes to build a ticket sales booth, public restroom facility, maintenance building and two canopies which could house snack bars or other amenities. Tonight's meeting will allow the board to review a sketch plan of the project. Later, Dowdy will have to attend a hearing held by the planning board and - possibly - the county commissioners.
``There's such tremendous community opposition to this Go Kartthing,'' Hranicka said. ``I can't believe the planning board would ignore the people and pass the project.'' ILLUSTRATION: MEETING ON KARTS
At 7:30 p.m. tonight in the Board of Commissioners meeting room
in Manteo, the Dare County Planning Board will consider a sketch
plan for a proposed racing-kart facility in Avon.
Nags Head Amusement Park operator Gary Dowdy Jr. wants to build
two tracks and bring 40 karts to the Hatteras Island village by next
summer.
Public comments will not be taken at tonight's meeting. If the
Planning Board gives its initial approval to the project, a hearing
may be scheduled later. For more information, call the Dare County
Planning Department (919) 473-1101, ext. 114.
KEYWORDS: DARE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
DARE COUNTY PLANNING BOARD
by CNB