THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 29, 1995 TAG: 9503290439
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: COROLLA LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
Groundbreaking on The Currituck Club is scheduled for this week, despite an appeal filed Friday to stop construction of the golf course community.
C.J. ``Mickey'' Hayes Jr., president of Kitty Hawk Land Co., on Tuesday called The Coastland Corp.'s petition ``a sour-grapes action'' and said he plans to proceed with the first phase of his 586.7-acre resort.
Last week the Coastland Corp., developers of Ocean Sands and Crown Point in Corolla, petitioned to have the Feb. 20 approval of The Currituck Club reversed by a Currituck County Superior Court judge.
The group and its homeowners associations claim the Board of Commissioners erred when it approved a rezoning request and sketch plans for the upscale development, which is on the last large piece of pristine property on the northern Outer Banks.
But the county attorney, William H. Romm, said: ``We feel that the commissioners did not make any errors. Obviously, we're going to fight it.''
The petition is filed against Currituck County, its commissioners and The Currituck Club developers, including Hayes' Kitty Hawk Land Co.
``The project isn't going to be stopped. In fact, groundbreaking is going to start this week,'' Hayes said.
He added that he believed Coastland's president, James Johnson, filed the appeal to get The Currituck Club back to the bargaining table after negotiations fell through over a land issue.
Johnson could not be reached by telephone Tuesday. Albert Killingsworth, a Coastland vice president, said the petition was not about personalities but about property owners' concerns with The Currituck Club's impact on resources, especially water.
``It needs to be addressed in a proper way, and we don't think it has been so far,'' he said, speaking for the Ocean Sands and Crown Point homeowners associations.
Currituck Club developers needed use of a Coastland-owned land strip along N.C. 12 to build two of three gateways recommended by the county's planning staff.
Commissioners eventually approved the development with just one access at the southern end of the 3-mile-long community west of N.C. 12.
Hayes said Coastland officials, in exchange for the land, had asked for money, golf privileges, land, release of an ocean access and an agreement to accept effluent from the Ocean Sands wastewater treatment plant.
``All of it totaled up to way over a seven-figure number,'' he said.
``We don't want to be in a fight with our neighbor,'' Hayes said, adding later that ``I just wasn't willing to be extorted. My principles will not be extorted.''
Hayes also disputed claims that The Currituck Club, which will include more than 600 homes and a 100-room hotel once complete, would infringe on Ocean Sands' water source.
The Currituck Club will draw briney water from wells near Currituck Sound and use a reverse-osmosis plant to make it drinkable. Ocean Sands gets its water from another groundwater source, he said.
Another issue mentioned in the petition concerned traffic bottlenecks, particularly during emergency evacuations, because of the single entrance and exit.
Hayes disputed that. ``There's no logic that a single gate won't handle a subdivision,'' he said. ``Heck, the whole northern Outer Banks is a good example - it's all served by a single road.''
The court document also charges that illegal talks occurred between Currituck Club officials and some commissioners, resulting in a 6-acre tract being given to the county on the eve of the commissioners' vote.
No such discussions occurred, Hayes said. The dedicated land is required by county ordinance, he said, and was accepted during a public meeting.
Hayes had asked at one public meeting to contribute cash in lieu of the land donation. After that offer was rejected by the board, the six acres for government use were added to sketch plans.
The Currituck Club has been six years in the planning.
``We're going to make this community be the very best it can be,'' he said. ``That's been our goal since 1989.'' by CNB