DATE: Thursday, April 10, 1997              TAG: 9704100392

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CURRITUCK                         LENGTH:   70 lines

CURRITUCK FOCUSES VISION FOR 21ST CENTURY COMMISSIONERS REVAMP THE 1993 PLAN TO MAKE THEIR COUNTY BOOM.

By the second decade of the 21st century, Currituck County should be booming with new businesses, enabling residents to work closer to home and have more time to enjoy the rural pleasures that drew them to the county in the first place.

Citizens will have access to more parks, educational opportunities and medical facilities. Natural gas will provide an alternative energy source.

The family farm will still be vital to the county's economic well-being, as will the tourists who visit annually to sun, surf, hunt and fish.

There may even be a convention center in Corolla at the terminus of a mid-county bridge spanning the Currituck Sound.

All are part of a future around the year 2013 that was mapped out in a revised 20-year economic development plan unveiled this week at a Currituck County Board of Commissioners work session.

``Bear in mind that this plan is just a draft,'' Economic Development Board Chairman Bob Henley told commissioners on Monday night.

Henley noted that the revision, based on goals set in 1993, contained some ``hot potatoes'' and ``tough nuts to crack.''

Among them are the continued recruitment of a private prison, stopping pollution from non-Currituck sources and buying up available land for future recreational and industrial parks.

Another item is the eventual establishment of a ``safety director'' and full-time firefighters to ensure adequate protection for a growing population.

Currituck County, with a population of about 16,700, is now the fifth-fastest growing county in North Carolina, according to U.S. Census figures released last month.

The 20-year plan also calls for more tax credits to keep farmers from selling land to developers.

At the same time, more effort and staff will be needed to recruit light industry and commercial development to Currituck County to help broaden the tax base and provide convenience for its citizens.

Commissioner Paul O'Neal called the draft ``far-reaching and forward-thinking.''

Added Commissioner Eldon Miller: ``This board, so far, has been able to look forward and get ahead of the game.''

A summary of the overall goals to enhance the county's economic base include:

A serious countywide commitment to recruit businesses. This includes allowing the county's economic director to work on selling the county full-time. Currently, Director John Mulvey has other duties.

Establishing an economic council with a little more power than the current nine-member advisory board, which drafted the 1993 plan and 1997 revision.

Expand the economic base in all areas of the county. Much of the most recent growth has been focused on the Outer Banks and the Moyock and Grandy areas.

Explore ways to protect natural resources, groundwater and the Currituck Sound from drainage from Virginia.

Catalog all historical and cultural sites for future reference.

Continue improving road systems, sewerage systems, public education, public safety and other government services.

``These are quite costly; however, businesses will not come in significant numbers until those are at least on the drawing board,'' according to the draft, written by Corolla resident and economic development board member John Schrote.

Such infrastructure also includes trying to extend a natural gas pipeline from nearby Virginia, rather than Raleigh.

Encourage and enhance current enterprises.

``We should not forget those who `brought us to the dance,' the plan states. ``We have a special relationship and obligation to our present farmers, businessmen and businesswomen who have demonstrated their faith and confidence in us.''

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