THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 21, 1994 TAG: 9410210627
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DeGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NAGS HEAD LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
If the governor and Council of State approve the purchase, Jockey's Ridge State Park will gain more than 2.5 acres next month.
On Thursday, North Carolina's Joint Legislative Committee on Governmental Operations authorized state leaders to buy three tracts of privately owned land to add to the 414-acre sand dune.
The governor and the council will vote on the purchase Nov. 1.
``The whole idea of acquiring lots is that the dune is moving on top of them,'' Jockey's Ridge State Park Superintendent George Barnes said Thursday. ``We don't want to take anybody's property.''
A rare, inland, 115-foot-tall sand dune, Jockey's Ridge migrates with wind and weather patterns.
Since the late 1800s, the 1.5-mile-long pile of sand has buried a 200-room hotel and bowling alley, a miniature golf course and a municipal fire hydrant. In the past five years, it has begun moving faster. State officials fear that all the houses on the north side of Soundside Road may be threatened.
In April, state officials appropriated $55,000 from the 1993-94 capital budget to remove some of the sand that has scattered across yards and the road. Park officials hope to sign a contract by Nov. 1 to bulldoze the sand back into the dune. Work should begin by early December.
Removing sand, however, will not save all of the homes that sit along the dune's southernmost edge. So the state is trying to buy those private properties to add to the park. Officials are making offers to homeowners.
Funds will come from a combination of state and federal sources.
Sites preliminarily approved for purchase include:
A 20,000-square-foot lot and 1,824-square-foot home owned by Robert and Francis Crutchfield. The house is less than five years old. Barnes said it may be removed from the land and sold separately. Purchase price is $155,000.
Three undeveloped lots, covering 1.61 acres owned by John and Kimberly McFadden. Purchase price is $125,000.
Half of one lot, covering 0.46 acres, owned by Thomas McFadden. Purchase price is $36,500.
``Some of that sand we'll be removing this winter is on the McFadden lots,'' Barnes said. ``Every time the wind blows in from the northeast, it just keeps coming.''
State Property Office Director Wallace Sherron agreed.
``Jockey's Ridge just keeps moving and moving,'' Sherron said. ``The best thing to do is just buy all those lots up to the road and hope that contains it. It's unusual for a state park to move and grow like this.''
Since the sand from Jockey's Ridge is from the state park, private residents are not allowed to remove it - even if it's on their land. To clear the sand off their properties, residents would have to pay as much as $250 for a state sand-removal permit, hire someone to scoop off the sand, then return it to the park in some other place. Individuals cannot sell or keep the sand.
Geologists say Jockey's Ridge is the southernmost extremity of a barrier island dune system that extends north to False Cape State Park in Virginia.
The big pile of sand in Nags Head is one of North Carolina's five most-visited parks. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
ABOUT THE PARK
Where: Nags Head, N.C.
Founded: 1975.
Size: 414 acres, 115 feet high, 1.5 miles long, one-half mile wide.
1993 visitation: 792,000 people.
Annual budget: $150,000 in state appropriations.
by CNB