THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 12, 1996 TAG: 9604120575
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CURRITUCK LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
A Currituck County businessman who wants to put an amusement park in Point Harbor has petitioned a Superior Court judge to reverse the county's rejection of his plans.
Gary Dowdy Jr. of Harbinger filed a petition for a court order Wednesday in Currituck County Superior Court.
In the petition, Dowdy is asking that a judge review, and then reverse, the Board of Adjustment's Feb. 28 denial of a conditional-use permit to operate an outdoor recreation park at the southern end of the Currituck mainland.
The 10-acre attraction would feature three go-cart tracks, amusement rides and a miniature golf course. The park would operate from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. from April to October.
The plan drew the endorsement of the county's economic development board because it would provide jobs and increase the commercial tax base.
But Dowdy's plan was fiercely opposed by many residents concerned with the aesthetics, as well as safety, of an amusement park near their homes.
Dowdy's grandfather runs a similar operation named Dowdy's Amusement Park in Nags Head.
Opponents, some carrying protest signs, packed the county courthouse and spilled into the hallways during February's Board of Adjustment meeting.
The county board's rejection was based on Dowdy's application failing to meet three of five criteria:
The increased traffic and hours of operation could endanger the safety and public health of residents and surrounding property owners.
Such a facility could substantially devalue adjacent properties.
An amusement park would not be in harmony with the area.
Zoned for general business, the property along U.S. 158 is surrounded by homes and farmland. The park would be built across from the upscale Parker's Landing subdivision.
``The findings made by the Board of Adjustment are not supported by the evidence presented in the record,'' according to Dowdy's petition.
``Therefore the denial of petitioner's application for a conditional use permit was improper and should be reversed,'' the document continued.
This is not the first time in recent years that a denial by Currituck County's Board of Adjustment has been challenged.
In 1994, the owner of Mermaids, a topless nightclub also in Point Harbor, filed a similar petition to have a rejection reversed.
That issue has since been sent to several courts and last month began another journey through the judicial system when owner Robert F. London said he would appeal a district court judge's guilty verdict for operating without a valid permit. by CNB