THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 8, 1994 TAG: 9408080064
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHOCOWINITY LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
On the shores of Chocowinity Bay, a tributary of the Pamlico River just east of Washington, homesites already are being sold at one of Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Co.'s newest developments - Cypress Landing.
The development, on the drawing board for nearly 10 years, will encompass homes and town homes and golf courses on about 875 acres along about 1.5 miles of waterfront.
While construction on some of the homes and one golf course is under way, construction of a marina has been delayed.
And today Cypress Landing may become part of a waterfront development precedent.
Weyerhaeuser could become the first business to pay the state for the right to build a marina in a waterway that traditionally has been used by the public.
The Council of State, a committee that includes the governor and other top state officials, is expected to decide today whether to charge and how much to charge commercial marinas that use public waters.
``It's recognized by everyone involved that the issue of leasing public trust waters is a monumental issue for coastal North Carolina,'' said Kip Peregoy of Weyerhaeuser Real Estate's office in Chocowinity.
While the ruling could free up a planned marina development for Cypress Landing, as well as two marinas in the Wilmington area that have been in limbo for the past few months, the pending action has also caused a firestorm of debate along the state's coast.
Spokesmen for Weyerhaeuser have said action by the Council of State freeing its marina permit from bureaucratic limbo is crucial to the success of Cypress Landing.
The state needs the interim policy ``to be fair to the people who have been through the process,'' Peregoy said. ``It's very important to us because we have customers involved but we are not the only one affected by this. There are other projects involved.''
But marina operators and other boating interests opposed to the proposed fees say they could drive many independent marina owners out of business.
They say a fee schedule and proposed easement to be presented to the Council of State today were drafted without any comment from the businesses that would be affected.
``The way the draft is drawn, it will pretty much eliminate the construction of new marinas in the state . . . to the detriment of public access,'' said Mike Bradley, a consultant for the marine trade industry in the state's Small Business and Technology Development Center. ``Existing marinas may be safe for X amount of time, but that X is going to be limited.''
A subcommittee of the Council of State on Friday reviewed a plan for the state to levy a fee of 10 cents per square foot of waterway used by marinas. That would be an interim agreement while state lawmakers debate the issue over the next two years. The subcommittee approved the wording of the appeasement but left undetermined the amount of the fee.
Some environmental groups, however, say these fees are not nearly high enough, even as a temporary measure.
``We don't necessarily oppose an interim fee but we want a fee that purports to be based on fair market value,'' said David Farren, a lawyer with the Southern Environmental Law Center in Chapel Hill. ``It's the state's obligation to do this.''
The proposed 10-cents-per-square-foot interim fee, if enacted, would be ``a real disservice to the people of North Carolina,'' he said.
Until now, North Carolina has not charged a fee for marina operators in exchange for the use of state waters, but recent court rulings require the state to charge a fee and issue an easement for ``for-profit'' marinas. The fees would not apply to privately owned piers and boathouses.
In two legal cases - involving marinas on the Chowan River and near Oriental - judges found that North Carolina had violated its own laws by not charging for the use of its ``public trust waters.''
They ordered the state to grant easements and charge a fair market value for any future marinas built in state waters, including any that had already received permits from the state.
Meanwhile, about 50 North Carolina marina operators and other members of the boating community have formed a group, Citizens for Water Access, to fight state efforts to charge a fee.
Under the proposed fee schedule and easement, only wealthy developers who build marinas as part of housing developments would be able to build marinas in the state, they say.
``I can't imagine that (the Council of State) can look at this without making changes that will soften the blow for the marina industry,'' Bradley said. ``I hope we will see a drop back and a re-evaluation of the issue.''
KEYWORDS: MARINA
by CNB