THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 22, 1995 TAG: 9502220431
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CURRITUCK LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
Despite neighbors' opposition and the lack of county staff approval, the Currituck County Board of Commissioners has given its blessing to The Currituck Club.
The controversial golf course community will consume the last large undeveloped tract of land in Corolla. It was rezoned to limited business and received sketch plan approval Monday night.
Before commissioners unanimously voted to approve the concept for the soundfront development, residents in nearby communities made one last attempt to have a decision delayed.
``We are very concerned about the adverse impact of The Currituck Club on our lives,'' said David J. Kaufman, president of the Sprindrift homeowners' association.
Sprindrift is located across from the only entrance into the proposed 586.7-acre tract. The development will include 608 dwellings of different types, a 100-room hotel, an 18-hole golf course and clubhouse and two commercial areas.
Ocean Sands and Crown Point property owners also have voiced concern over the traffic, beach use and water consumption created by The Currituck Club.
The county's Planning and Inspections Department expressed reservations about a sole gateway onto N.C. 12, the main road threading through the northern Outer Banks.
The staff had recommended three openings throughout the 3-1/2-mile-long development. It passed Monday with just one at the southern end.
``There's too high a concentration of traffic at that intersection,'' Planning Director Jack Simoneau said Tuesday.
But Currituck Club developer C.J. ``Mickey'' Hayes Jr. pointed to several successful high-density developments, with only one accessway, in North Carolina and South Carolina resort areas.
Critics countered that those developments, including three in Hilton Head, connected to four-lane highways, not the narrower N.C. 12.
A decision on The Currituck Club had been postponed a few times while Hayes was negotiating for more highway openings.
But the talks recently broke down with Coastland Corp., which owns a strip of land between Hayes' property and the highway.
The approved sketch plan also includes a six-acre parcel at the northern end of the community dedicated for government use, as required by county law.
``Right now we don't have an identified use for it,'' Simoneau said. ``But as the Outer Banks develops, we're going to have to provide more services out there.''
The Currituck Club also received the endorsement of R.V Owens III, a member of the state transportation board.
In a letter dated Feb. 6, Owens said the North Carolina Department of Transportation ``is committed to assist in the acquisition of such additional access as may be necessary to make the golf course complex easily available to the tourist public on the Outer Banks.''
An open house for prospective property owners of The Currituck Club was held last Saturday at a Corolla sports center. Three of the five county commissioners attended the social event.
Ernie Bowden, chairman of the board, said there was no conflict of interest when he, Paul O'Neal and Owen Etheridge participated in the function with other local dignitaries.
``It was simply . . . an educational process,'' Bowden said. ``I don't recognize any conflict at all.''
Alan Resh, who had hoped to build a large subdivision in Moyock, asked commissioners to view some of his developments in Hampton Roads, he said.
Bowden said some commissioners accepted the Virginia Beach developer's invitation. The board unanimously turned down his request for The Plantations two weeks ago. by CNB