THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 15, 1994 TAG: 9409150449
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CURRITUCK LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
Residential developers in Currituck County may need to prove future subdivisions will not burden strained county services before more housing complexes can be built.
The Currituck County Planning Board has voted unanimously Tuesday night to recommend adding a requirement to special use permits forcing developers of some subdivisions to submit an impact study.
Planners and county officials said the vote is a step toward controlling development in one of the state's fastest-growing counties.
``I'm fearful that we're going to become the path of least resistance for developers,'' said Owen Etheridge, chairman of the planning board.
The impact study would include housing, market, fiscal and traffic analyses and the environmental impact of new communities with 20 or more lots.
Those findings would then determine if the new development ``will exceed the county's ability to provide adequate public facilities, including, but not limited to, schools, fire and rescue, law enforcement and other county facilities.''
``Adequate public facilities'' would be determined by a 10-year capital improvements plan expected to be completed in July 1995, said Jack Simoneau, director of planning and inspections.
If the provision is adopted by the Currituck Board of Commissioners, it could stall developments such as The Plantations, which is scheduled to go before the county board next month.
That 601-lot community is planned for the Moyock area, a town that has felt acutely the county's growing pains, especially regarding schools.
``Our facilities are really bursting at the seams in a lot of different ways,'' said Skip Sanders, Currituck Public Schools' director of facilities and planning.
Sanders and two other education officials spoke Tuesday about the burden of being a bedroom community to Hampton Roads.
An increasing number of former Chesapeake and Virginia Beach families are moving to Moyock, Gibbs Woods and Knotts Island because of the slower pace and lower cost of living.
As a result, the county schools' student population has surged. This fall's 2,962 students are being taught in six overcrowded and often aging schools, officials said.
There are 38 mobile units on the high school, junior high school and two elementary school campuses. The main buildings at all but the high school are 40 years or older.
``Moyock (Elementary) is probably the worst school in the county as far as overcrowding,'' said Janet Taylor, a Board of Education member and mother of three.
``We use just about every nook and cranny for our classrooms and place support staff outside'' in eight portable units, she said.
The crowding is expected to continue until a new high school opens in 1996 and other schools shift facilities.
By then the county will most likely have lost more than a half-million dollars in state funding for school systems with less than 3,000 pupils.
``So our growth will actually mean we will get considerably less state school money because we will no longer be considered a small school system,'' said Currituck Schools Superintendent W.R. ``Ronnie'' Capps.
Capps also noted that commercial developments, such as a Moyock shopping center approved at Tuesday's meeting, may help ease tax burdens but also lure more families to the area.
``It's a vicious cycle,'' he said. ``The more amenities you bring in, the more people you bring, too.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
Side Bar
GROWTH IMPACT
1. Growth could cost Currituck County Schools $538,000 in small
schools state funds when it passes the 3,000 student cap - only 38
pupils away. That money has been used for teachers, nurses,
computers and school supplies.
2. Eight additional yellow school buses have been purchased since
the 1991-92 school year at a total cost of $320,000.
3. Almost 500 new students have been added to the schools system in
the past five years. State officials project at least 500 more by
2000; almost 200 new students enrolled this year alone.
4. Several schools are showing signs of aging. The main buildings at
Knapp Junior High and Knotts Island School are more than 60 years
old. The old wing at Griggs Elementary School is 50, as is Moyock's
main building. Most of Central Elementary School is 40 years old.
5. Moyock and Griggs elementary school sites do not meet current
state requirements for present enrollment. The minimal standard for
K-6 schools is 10 acres plus one acre for each 100 students. With
more than 700 students, Moyock requires 17 acres but only has 10.
Griggs, with almost 500 students, needs 15 acres but has 12.
Source: Currituck County Public Schools
by CNB