THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 19, 1995 TAG: 9504190427
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
Financing problems may force a proposed Dare County government complex to be built in stages, said the chairman of the panel studying the project.
``Costs may determine that we have to phase the project rather than building it all at once,'' said Dare County Commissioner Clarence Skinner. ``We'd like to build it in one fell swoop. But if the bond issue is too big, or public sentiment is not there, we may have to build it in phases.''
Skinner made the remarks during a meeting with representatives of Spillis, Candela/Warnecke, the Washington, D.C.-based architects for the proposed complex.
The committee also will look at an expanded list of sites for the complex. However, at least one site has been axed from the list.
A tract occupied by the state Department of Transportation's maintenance yard in Manteo will not be considered for the county facility. However, a parcel on U.S.Route 64 behind the Dare County Farm Bureau (known as the Louis Midgett tract), and a site at the Dare County Airport will be considered, along with property near the Dare campus of the College of the Albemarle, and on Budleigh Street in downtown Manteo.
Commissioner Geneva Perry said there were environmental concerns about the highway facility because of past uses of the land.
In related action, the committee is exploring ways to reduce the size - and the cost - of the complex. Preliminary plans centered on a 155,000-square-foot facility.
Among options being considered:
Removing proposed office space for the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. The agency would be housed in another building outside the complex. This would save about 4,000 square feet.
The Oregon Inlet Waterways Commission would not be housed in the complex, but at another site, possibly the Wanchese Seafood Industrial Park.
A proposed county purchasing warehouse would not be included in the new facility. Eliminating the new feature, the architects say, would reduce the size of the complex by 3,000 square feet.
A reduction in the size of the Dare County Magistrates' office in the new complex also is possible. The magistrate's office is now located at the Dare County Detention Center. A much smaller space would be needed near the courtrooms in the new complex.
Offices for the Town of Manteo would also be excluded from the new facility. A possible new site for municipal offices would be the historic Dare County Courthouse, architects said.
``That building needs to be utilized in some way,'' said Dan Willey, a consultant hired by the architects to help determine space requirements for county departments. ``As far as what the cost would be to renovate it, I don't know.''
The courthouse would need a lot of work to accommodate municipal offices, and to meet standards set by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The relocation of the Board of Education offices and the Drivers' License Division of the Department of Motor Vehicles is also being considered.
After a list of cuts in the project is finalized, architects will begin the task of final site selection. Architect Paula Williams said a report on possible locations should be complete and available to the public by mid-May. by CNB