THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 7, 1994 TAG: 9409070449
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DeGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: Long : 124 lines
If Dare County's commissioners have their way, Stumpy Point residents will get a bigger bulkhead to protect the isolated community from ever-encroaching erosion; Hatteras Island will get a bicycle path stretching from the Oregon Inlet bridge to the Hatteras Village ferry docks and all telephone calls within Dare County will be toll-free.
On Tuesday, the seven-member Board of Commissioners unanimously adopted resolutions supporting the first two projects.
Commissioners also have been working on the toll-free telephone proposal for more than a year. This month, the elected officials will spend an estimated $6,000 in taxpayer money to continue lobbying for the Extended Area Service plan as Carolina Telephone begins mailing ballots to all Manteo and Hatteras Island customers.
``Socially and economically, this county needs toll-free telephone service,'' said Commissioner Doug Langford, who initiated the proposal with the state's utilities commission. ``It will save the county more than $7,200 a year alone, not to mention all the friends and relatives it will benefit and business it will bring to Hatteras Island.
``Toll-free telephone service will be a bargain for everyone in Dare County.''
Calls between Hatteras Island and the rest of Dare County now carry long-distance tolls. Under the Extended Area Service plan, however, residents and business owners would pay a higher monthly service charge. Then all calls within the county would be toll-free.
Although all county residents would be charged additional fees, only residents with Manteo and Hatteras Island telephone exchanges will vote on the plan because their rates would rise the most. People with Kill Devil Hills phone numbers, for example, would pay only 12 cents more monthly. Manteo residents would be assessed an additional $1.24 per month; Hatteras Islanders would pay $2.45 to $3. Charges to businesses would be slightly higher.
``We urge everyone to fill out and return those ballots by the end of the month,'' Langford said. ``The ballots will come in a separate envelope from Carolina Telephone; not with the bills. Don't throw them away, or your voice won't be heard.''
Early last month, residents of Stumpy Point made their voices heard when they asked the county for help protecting their 2.5 mile-long shoreline from rapid erosion. Because of the March 1993 Storm of the Century and last August's Hurricane Emily, the 200-year-old mainland community has lost much of its rip-rap berm and is quickly losing land to Pamlico Sound.
Cost estimates to refurbish the 575-foot-long existing berm, add another 350 feet of rip-rap, and build a new 1,100-foot berm at the entrance to Stumpy Point run from $226,000 to $300,000. County Planner Raymond P. Sturza II said matching funds may be available from the state's Division of Water Resources and/or the North Carolina Department of Transportation. On Tuesday, commissioners unanimously urged Sturza to pursue talks with the various state agencies, and report back to the board Sept. 19.
``I think we should fund this thing fully if needed,'' Commissioner Joseph ``Mac'' Midgett said after another board member suggested pledging county money for up to one-third the total project cost. ``We're obligated to take care of Stumpy Point. We find money for everybody else. And Stumpy Point always gets the short end of this stick.''
``We want to reassure the people of Stumpy Point that this project will be done whatever it takes,'' Board of Commissioners Chairman Robert V. ``Bobby'' Owens Jr. said. ``At least within reason, that is. I'd say $200,000 to $300,000 is within reason.''
Commissioners also pledged support - but no money - for a bicycle and pedestrian path that would stretch the entire 45-mile length of Hatteras Island.
Initiated by the Hatteras IslandBusiness Association, the project would include an eight-foot-wide paved path along most of N.C. Route 12. In some areas, including the 12 miles between Oregon Inlet and Rodanthe, the path may only be six feet wide. But it will accommodate hikers, bikers and roller skaters throughout its whole length.
Projected cost is about $3 million, with no firm funding source yet named. Work is scheduled to be completed in six separate phases. The first two, a 3.8-mile stretch between Buxton and Avon and a 1.6-mile stretch between Frisco and Hatteras, will cost about $540,000.
Hatteras Island Bicycle Committee spokesperson Judy Banks said she hopes construction can begin by March.
``This summer, we've had more than 10,000 cars per day trying to share that two-lane road with cyclists, joggers, Roller Bladers and all,'' Banks told commissioners. ``The National Park Service has agreed to maintain a bike path and give us an easement for one. We want Dare County to include this path in their local transportation plan.''
Commissioners unanimously agreed to do so.
``You'll have to hold a lot of bake sales, yard sales and whatever to fund this thing,'' Owens told Banks about the bike path. ``But you're off to a great start.''
In other business Tuesday, the Dare County Board of Commissioners:
Heard that they have to pursue assets from King Crab Seafood Co. The Wanchese-based business was kicked out of the state's Industrial Seafood Park in June after failing to pay rent for 20 months. In March, 1992, county commissioners agreed to administer a $365,000 state grant for Manteo resident Buddy Midgett, who wanted to open a crab processing company and pledged to create 25 permanent jobs. Dare County received $25,000 for overseeing the Community Development Block Grant. Midgett spent the $340,000 balance on two new buildings, crab processing equipment and other operational expenses. ``Since King Crab Seafood is no longer in the park, the county has first lien on the two back buildings there and a lot of crab shedders he left,'' said David P. Hartigan, who helped administer the grant for the state. ``The county has an obligation to turn those assets back to the state.'' Hartigan said he did not know the dollar value of King Crab's remaining assets. ``Dare County is not liable for the entire $365,000,'' Hartigan reassured commissioners Tuesday. ``The state does accept much less.''
Named Dare County Board of Elections Supervisor Lynda Midgett the ``Employee of the Month.''
Heard that Dare County collected 97 percent of its residents' 1993 personal property taxes. The total amount collected was $17.7 million. The county's total property assets are evaluated at $4.18 billion.
Heard that Dare County will apply for an approximately $1 million state grant to begin Smart Start programs for pre-schoolers.
Scheduled a public hearing for 7 p.m. Sept. 28, for property owners in Rodanthe, Waves and Salvo. Residents of those Hatteras Island villages will be hooked up to a new reverse-osmosis water production plant by November, 1995. They will be charged $1,500 per lot - whether the property already has a house on it or not. Bills will not be sent out until well after the estimated 1,500 to 1,700 lots have been confirmed on the county's tax records. Even if homeowners prefer to continue using their private wells - rather than county water - they will have to pay the assessment fee. If homeowners want to hook up to the central water system, they must notify the county water department by Oct. 1 of this year. by CNB