THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 23, 1994 TAG: 9407230166
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEAUFORT LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
A plan for imposing some land-use planning mandates on local governments came under fire Friday as the Coastal Futures Committee began a review of public comments on the committee's recommendations for protecting the state's coast.
The key lies with urging local governments to improve planning for land and water use and requiring governments to follow through with those plans, according to the committee, which has been considering the future management of North Carolina's coast for the past nine months.
More thorough and coordinated control of growth is among the major draft recommendations made by the state's Coastal Futures Committee in a 47-page report.
But one committee member said that mandating certain types of planning - such as zoning and subdivision ordinances - as part of local land-use plans will likely meet with strong resistance from local governments.
``If you mandate these things you are going to get . . .opposition to the entire plan,'' said Anne Marie Kelly, Edenton town manager. ``I can't take this plan back to Chowan County.''
Members of the committee discussed the report Friday at the Duke University Marine Laboratory in Beaufort after two days of public meetings on the recommendations.
The approximately 60 speakers who appeared before the commission on Wednesday and Thursday were almost unanimous in their praise of the committee's proposals for providing more public beach access, restricting development of wetlands and protecting water quality in rivers and sounds.
But written comments from some local governments, state agencies, developers and a few citizens condemned those same proposals.
Under current Coastal Area Management Act regulations, each county is required to create a detailed growth plan that analyzes local economic and environmental issues. It also must be updated every five years and approved by the Coastal Resources Commission. Besides the 20 coastal counties, more than 60 municipalities have voluntarily developed land-use plans.
But under current law, local governments are not required to follow the plans they develop.
The committee's proposals also include requirements that local land-use plans include detailed sewage treatment plans and projections for future sewage treatment needs and that local land-use plans be coordinated with drinking-water plans to create a comprehensive strategy for dealing with local growth.
And the committee proposes tying eligibility for some state and federal grants to a local government's development of an implementation program for their land-use plans.
``Land-use planning is one of the most democratic processes I know of,'' said Gene Tomlinson of Southport, chairman of the state Coastal Resources Commission, the panel that oversees development along the coast.
``We're not dictating what is contained in a land-use plan but we do expect local communities to tell us how they intend to implement their plans and zoning is a part of that implementation.''
The committee's report includes nearly 200 specific recommendations in areas of land-use planning, water conservation and environmental education.
Various proposals call for better access to public waterways, stronger regional cooperation, designating state funds for the purchase of maritime forests and other natural areas, the creation of a new estuarine research reserve in the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuary, tighter rules protecting water resources and closer cooperation between state environmental regulatory agencies.
The 15-member panel was created last year by Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. to study the successes and failures of the Coastal Area Management Act, adopted by the General Assembly 20 years ago. CAMA's rules govern development and planning in the state's 20 coastal counties.
No cost estimates for implementing the proposals have been prepared and many recommendations by the panel require added action by the state legislature, the Coastal Resources Commission or other regulatory panels.
The Coastal Futures Committee will meet in Washington Aug. 11-12 and is expected to approve its report at that meeting.
KEYWORDS: LAND USE COASTAL DEVELOPMENT by CNB