THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 15, 1995 TAG: 9510180556
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROANOKE ISLAND LENGTH: Long : 107 lines
Nine months ago, more than 60 volunteers began building a three-bedroom house near Fort Raleigh National Historic Site on this Outer Banks island.
They put up exterior walls, installed windows and raised the roof on the one-story home. They planned to donate the 1,450-square-foot structure to the National Park Service for its year-round employees. They had hoped to complete the project by the start of summer.
But no one has worked on the house since February.
On Friday afternoon, the building was still exposed to the elements. A makeshift set of stairs led up to a wide hole in the front wall, where a door will hang someday. About 40 sheets of plywood were stacked along the raw floorboards. Dozens of rolls of tar paper were lined up under the one-story structure. Only a fat tabby cat was inspecting the area.
``It's not a dead issue. We're getting ready to go back out there. It won't be much longer now before we get cranking on that house again,'' Nags Head builder Carl ``Pogie'' Worsley said Friday.
As head of the Dare County Home Builders Association, Worsley is overseeing the Park Service project. On the day building began, he said, contractors from across the Outer Banks came by to lend their labor. The next time he tried to get a crew together, in February, only four of Worsley's own employees showed up.
Everyone has been extremely busy since then, he said. It's been almost impossible to coordinate volunteer efforts. And some people, he said, are hesitant to donate their labors for a federal project - saying that the national government should support its own employees and fund the housing for Park Service rangers.
This month, however, Worsley hopes to start hammering again.
He is trying to coordinate a group of builders, plumbers and electricians to work on the house Oct. 28.
And he hopes the entire project can be completed by early spring.
``My goal is to have it finished by March - with even the flowers in their pots out front by then,'' Worsely said. ``I've got just about everything I need for it now. I'm just trying to line up people to install it.''
Built primarily with donated labor and materials, the house will replace an aging trailer that is home to rangers at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The Roanoke Island house is the second one in the nation constructed under a federal project for new Park Service dwellings.
Congress appropriated $24 million for new Park Service employee housing this year. Half of that money will be used to replace 659 trailers in parks throughout the country. The first structure erected under the project was a log dormitory at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Cape Hatteras National Seashore covers 30,319 acres from Oregon Inlet through Ocracoke Inlet. About 90 permanent employees and 100 seasonal assistants work for the National Park Service on the Outer Banks. The federal agency provides housing for about 74 of its staff year-round. A total of 55 housing units - including 35 trailers - are owned by the Park Service. Most of the metal trailers are more than 20 years old.
Much of the Park Service housing desperately needs repair. Rust has eaten through warped roofs. Floors have rotted, allowing snakes and mice to tunnel inside. Seasonal employees are bunking in trailer living rooms. One permanent ranger lived in a cabin with 10 square feet of living space per family member.
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, who helped spearhead the Park Service construction project, said he wants to replace 33 trailers and four houses at Cape Hatteras National Seashore. With the help of the National Association of Home Builders, local construction supply companies and volunteers from across the Albemarle area, he said he wants to build 37 low-maintenance homes for Outer Banks park rangers.
``We need housing in all areas. But we need in more in Buxton and Ocracoke than we do up here,'' Cape Hatteras National Seashore Maintenance Chief Rich Schneider said from his Roanoke Island office Friday. ``We asked the volunteers to build it down there in Ocracoke. But for some reason, the government decided to do it up here first.
``I was real surprised they didn't finish that house in time for summer,'' said Schneider.
Since February, the North Carolina Home Builders Association has set aside $15,000 in cash to complete the Park Service home and buy material and labor that isn't donated. The National Home Builders Association has contributed another $10,000 to the cause, said Ken Mitchell, executive vice president of the state organization.
``The money is there to finish whatever is necessary to get that house done,'' Mitchell said. ``Summer was so busy, it's hard to get people to give their time. The project was on hold for a while. But now, the efforts out there are being redoubled.
``We will get that home built,'' Mitchell promised. ``I hope, by the end of this year.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
DREW C. WILSON/The Virginian-Pilot
Nine months ago, more than 60 volunteers began building this three
bedroom home at the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site.
Graphic
HOW TO HELP
Carl ``Pogie'' Worsley of the Outer Banks Home Builders Association
needs volunteers to help finish constructing a three-bedroom house
near the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site. The 1,450-square-foot
structure will be donated to the National Park Service to house
rangers. Worsley hopes to resume work on the home on Oct. 28.
If you would like to donate materials, time or specialized skills
such as plumbing, air conditioning or heating installation, call
Worsley at (919) 441-2327.
by CNB