DATE: Wednesday, March 12, 1997             TAG: 9703120477

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CURRITUCK                         LENGTH:   67 lines

CURRITUCK COUNTY GIVES APPROVAL TO NEW PLAN FOR OLD DEVELOPMENT

Even with a new name and new layout, many Currituck County residents still are opposed to a large residential development in Moyock that's been debated for years.

Developers of the residential community now called Mill Run won approval Monday night for two amended plans that will include an 18-hole golf course and 40-acre school site, as well as more than $1 million in ``impact fees'' promised two years ago.

The development until recently was known as The Plantations and will be among the biggest residential subdivisions on the mainland when built.

Whether the development will include 429 or 601 home lots is still being decided by the North Carolina Court of Appeals.

Both versions of the modified golf course plan were approved by the Currituck County Board of Commissioners at their regular meeting.

Virginia Beach developer Tate Terrace Realty Inc., sued commissioners two years ago after the board rejected a request to increase the number of home lots from 429 to 601 and remove the golf course.

Commissioners backed their decision with a newly created adequate facilities ordinance that allows the county to deny new developments until it has the services to accommodate the new growth.

In this case, commissioners said there wasn't enough school space for the projected number of schoolchildren.

Tate Terrace won the first legal round, and the county was ordered to approve the 601-lot plan. The county appealed and is awaiting a decision.

Since the lawsuit, the developers have modified plans. They again include an 18-hole golf course, as did the original plans, approved in 1988.

County officials on Monday supported the plan, though some appeared to do so reluctantly.

``The court has ruled. We have a choice of either-or,'' said Commissioner Paul O'Neal.

``In terms of this development, our hands are tied,'' said Commissioner Owen Etheridge.

Homes in Mill Run are expected to range from 1,800 to 2,400 square feet and cost $100,000 to $160,000.

Residents are expected to be primarily retirees and Hampton Roads commuters.

Before the commissioners approved the new plans, several residents of the nearby Ranchland subdivision voiced their disapproval.

Their main concern was a wastewater treatment plant, which engineers have moved from the edge of Ranchland property to the middle of the Mill Run development.

``We selected what we felt was the best site for that facility all around,'' said engineer Mark Bissell of Mark Bissell and Associates in Kitty Hawk.

But the new location - about 1,000 feet from both the Ranchland border and Guinea Mill Run Canal - did not appease critics concerned with potential water and air pollution.

``Will the community be protected in years to come from this septic system? This is what I want to know.'' said Ruth Burkett.

Barbara Busitzky, who owns property adjacent to Mill Run, read from a 1982 county manual that appeared to indicate the site off Survey Road may be unsuitable for proper drainage.

``This particular piece of land is very poor,'' she said.

Ranchland resident Kathy Corbitt said, ``Our main concern is the waterways and the air pollution that all of us will be exposed to.''

Mill Run officials responded that every effort was being made to ensure the water treatment plant would be ecologically safe.

``We have a machine in place that will protect the environment as long as the golf course is in place,'' hydrologist Edward Andrews told the audience.

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