THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 22, 1994 TAG: 9410200288
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: About the Outer Banks
SOURCE: Chris Kidder
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines
When you buy real estate, you buy more than a finite piece of land. With ownership, you buy into a lifestyle; you invest in a community. And every community is shaped by its physical circumstances as well as its people. A few miles and a little water can make a world of difference.
North of Oregon Inlet, the sandbar that holds Nags Head and Kitty Hawk is not, geographically speaking, an island at all; it's an extension of the coastline of Virginia. But Hatteras Island, at the south end of the Outer Banks, is a true island.
Hatteras is tenuously linked from the north by a bridge across the shifting inlet and by a highway that runs perilously close to the sea. From the south, ferry service through Ocracoke Island is the only passage for cars and trucks. To the west, the Carolina coast drops away fast, until the Pamlico Sound becomes an inland sea, some 30 miles across. To the east, Africa is the next landfall.
It's no wonder that Hatteras men and women view tide and wind with awe and respect. The rest of the world may believe they have progressed beyond nature, but on this island nature is still the unpredictable king, benevolent, ruthless, beautiful and fierce.
For years, Hatteras was the last frontier of the Outer Banks. While stoplights proliferated with mass merchandisers and brand-name motels to the north, Hatteras remained an easy-going, mom-and-pop kind of place. People came to Hatteras to fish or to get away from development that maximized prices while minimizing peace-of-mind.
People came to Hatteras and stayed in cottages where an open window to let in a sea breeze was more important than central air conditioning. They came willing to spend a week without a telephone or FAX machine, without cable TV or first-run movies.
But Hatteras has changed as any island coveted by hundreds of thousands of land-weary, city-worn travelers must change. The pace of development has picked up; real estate prices have climbed along with the size and luxury of new subdivisions.
Modern conveniences are becoming the rule rather than the exception. Food Lion and Comfort Inn are part of the island's landscape now. There's a traffic light in Avon, an automated teller machine in Buxton.
The Hatteras Island Business Association, Hatteras Civic Association, Avon Property Owners Association, Frisco Civic League and other island-based organizations have become proponents for change. They've seized the opportunity to control their common destiny.
The island's unique appeal will depend on how far - and in what direction - change takes this 50-mile strip of sand. If you're considering buying property on Hatteras Island, some changes will have a direct bearing on property values; others may be significant because they affect the island's quality of life.
Most would say Hatteras Island begins with a big plus: the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Just when the houses and shops and restaurants seem like they might go on forever, they come to a screeching halt at a National Park Service boundary, giving way to miles of never-to-be-developed scrub pine, grassy dunes, marsh and beach.
Because the island has no incorporated towns, encouraging or discouraging development falls, in large part, to Dare County. In recent years, the county has increased minimum lot sizes and implemented zoning regulations.
Island residents buy their electricity through a rural cooperative that is upgrading its system to reduce power outages. Phone company customers recently approved county-wide, toll-free service, making calls between Hatteras Island and the rest of the county local calls.
Property owners from Avon south are served by the Cape Hatteras Water Association. Because the association's water capacity is sold out, building permits had been nearly impossible to get in Avon, Buxton, Frisco and Hatteras Village for several years. An agreement to allow temporary private wells while the association works out its water problems has been a boon to the real estate market.
Meanwhile, at the north end of the island, Dare County is installing a water system for residents of Rodanthe, Salvo and Waves who previously had to depend on private wells.
A consortium of island groups is working to get a multi-use recreational path built along Highway 12. Other projects receiving attention this year include recycling, red flags for beach safety, and trash patrols.
One thing civic leaders haven't been able to change, so far, is the island's vulnerability to storms. One bad storm can cut the island off from the rest of the world for days. But how much control can islanders have over nature without losing the essence of island life? It's a tough question. MEMO: Send comments and questions to Chris Kidder at P.O. Box 10, Nags Head,
N.C. 27959. by CNB