THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 18, 1994 TAG: 9411180465
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY AND RONALD L. SPEER, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: ROANOKE ISLAND LENGTH: Long : 119 lines
Before he can build a campground on the north end of this Outer Banks island, Wallace Harvey must persuade the Dare County commissioners to alter zoning regulations.
County Planner Raymond Sturza says it's a simple matter of amending the law.
But television's ``Matlock'' says it's a case of preserving a pristine coastal environment.
``I'm not a lawyer, just an actor who plays one. But I'm afraid of what spot zoning would lead to on our island,'' said television star Andy Griffith, who plays attorney Matlock and was Mayberry's Sheriff Taylor in the 1960s.
``This isn't something you can try for a week or two and then turn back if you don't like it. Once you change the community, it will never come back.''
A longtime resident of Roanoke Island, Griffith owns a large home across U.S. Highway 64 from the proposed campground. The campground is not visible from Griffith's wooded estate. But the actor said this week that he is concerned about the future of the entire island.
``It's difficult for all of us because we are old friends of the people who want to develop the land,'' Griffith said in a telephone interview from Wilmington, where ``Matlock'' is produced. ``This would be a step that cannot be retraced. Once it gets going, we can never turn it around and go back.''
Harvey, the builder, is a native of the island. His family has owned a large parcel of land north of Manteo near the Manns Harbor bridge for more than 30 years. The 46-acre site is zoned for residential housing. But it has never been developed.
Harvey wants to build an upscale campground on the land - about 125 sites equipped for tents or recreational vehicles. The area would be buffered from the road by 50 feet or more of forest. Plans include a swimming pool, tennis courts, camp store, two bath houses and a group site for church or scout groups.
Problem is, Dare County has no zoning codes that allow for campgrounds. The current Outer Banks campsites were built on unzoned land and grandfathered in, Sturza said. To accommodate Harvey's proposal, the rules have to be changed.
``The county's land use plan shows strong opposition against commercial rezoning on Roanoke Island,'' Sturza said.
``In order not to violate that, we had to come up with an entirely new zoning district which adds recreational campgrounds as a conditional use. It would be almost identical to the residential zoning. But we'd call it Conservation-Public Recreation. The zone would be labeled CPR.''
At 7 p.m. Monday, Dare County's commissioners will hold a public hearing in their downtown Manteo meeting room on the new zoning classification.
The planning board unanimously endorsed the proposal this summer. The seven-member Board of Commissioners has the ultimate say.
``So far, we've gotten 22 letters in support of Mr. Harvey's project and none against it,'' Sturza said. ``Some people have said that camping represents a commercial activity and shouldn't get a separate classification. But they haven't written in about it.''
Until the late 1980s, Sandpiper's Trace Campground was located on Roanoke Island near the Manns Harbor bridge. The site now contains Heritage Point - an upscale single-home subdivision with a private marina. Harvey wants to build his campground across the street from the former campground - and use the same name.
``I'm not looking for year-round residents here. But I do plan to keep the campground open all year,'' Harvey said Thursday at his Centura Bank office in Nags Head. ``It will help the shoulder seasons and tourism. And it will be less environmentally impacting than if we'd built a housing development there. All of the sites will be secluded with trees and vegetation. The lights will only be three feet off the ground.''
If Harvey had developed residential lots on his land, Sturza said, between 20 and 25 houses probably could have been built. Estimating four people to a camping site, the campground probably will draw more than 400 tourists on busy summer weekends. That's a lot of visitors - and a lot of turnover - for Roanoke Island attractions such as the aquarium, ``Lost Colony,'' Fort Raleigh, Elizabethan Gardens and the Elizabeth II state historic ship, Harvey said.
``According to visitor surveys, over 15 percent of our 7 million visitors to the Outer Banks each year enjoy camping,'' Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President John S. Bone wrote. ``It appears that the campground would be aesthetically and environmentally appropriate for Dare County, meeting the needs of our visiting public.''
The head of the environmental protection group Friends of Roanoke Island, Sybil Basnight Ross, said such a campsite would bring too many people to the fragile barrier island.
``On the surface, the project looks pretty good. But where we need such a facility may be a horse of a different color,'' said Ross, a Roanoke Island native. ``Concern for the protection of Roanoke Island has been voiced for years. That campground would bring almost half as many visitors as there are permanent residents of this town.
``Septic tanks would drain into shellfish grounds. A new zoning classification would open up the erosion process to anyone,'' Ross said. ``This project would unleash something in the county that we're not ready for yet.''
But Harvey said the Outer Banks is more than ready for another campground. Existing facilities cannot accommodate all of the recreational vehicles that come to these beaches, he said. And his site is ideal because there are no immediate private neighbors.
Land to the north of the proposed campground is owned by the N.C. Department of Transportation. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service owns a large tract to the south, where officials plan to build a red wolf refuge welcome center. The parcel behind the campground is owned by the National Park Service and is slated to become a memorial to radio pioneer Reginald L. Fessenden.
``We all want to preserve the north end of Roanoke Island. But something needs to be done with this property at some point in time,'' Harvey said. ``We do not have factories and industries down here. We have tourists. The laws can be changed to accommodate tourists and, in my opinion, they should be changed.''
Griffith disagreed. ``This is a fragile land,'' said the actor, who wrote a letter in opposition to the project that a friend will read at Monday's public hearing. ``We need to keep the zoning we have to protect it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
DREW C. WILSON/Staff
Actor Andy Griffith owns the house in the foreground - which is
across U.S. Highway 64 from the proposed campground site. He opposes
the plan, for reasons that he says are more than personal. He loves
the island's environment, he says, and if spot zoning is allowed,
``Once it gets going, we can never turn it around and go back.''
by CNB