THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 19, 1995 TAG: 9505190513
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
The North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation has received a $550,000 grant from the National Heritage Trust Fund to buy a 43-acre tract on Run Hill, an environmentally sensitive sand dune, on behalf of The Nature Conservancy.
The land is now owned by the Dare County Board of Education. Under a complex three-way agreement worked out last year, the school board agreed to sell the acreage to the Conservancy, and then use the funds to acquire an 8-acre parcel from the environmental group, and a 21.1-acre tract from the town of Kill Devil Hills. The town also agreed to convey 47 additional acres of Run Hill to the Conservancy, which would place the entire 70-foot-tall dune under its ownership.
The school board plans to use the 29-acre tract for a high school at the corner of Ocean Bay Boulevard and Veterans Drive. Board officials have said the school will not be built until needed. Dare County voters probably would have to approve a bond issue before it could be built.
The grant will enable the Conservancy to buy the 43 acres well ahead of the July 31 deadline set by the parties.
Run Hill has been designated as a state natural area by the North Carolina General Assembly. Sue Regier, director of the division's resource management program, said the grant is an important step in the protection of Run Hill and surrounding environmentally sensitive areas.
Run Hill, she said, ``fits in well as part of the natural area that includes Nags Head Woods and Jockey's Ridge. It's an important piece of land to acquire in terms of protecting the entire area.''
Talks began among the school board, the Conservancy and Kill Devil Hills after historian David Stick provided a report to the board outlining a cooperative approach to selecting a school site and protecting the inland dune.
Since April of 1994, the working group has been operating under a memorandum of understanding that supports three goals: a site for a new school, protecting Run Hill, and eliminating pollution from Albemarle Sound. by CNB