THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 3, 1994 TAG: 9412030244
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Short : 36 lines
Lydia Gardner wants to buy three city-owned, circular platforms.
The platforms, once owned by Texaco, sit in the Pasquotank River and mar the view from the riverfront property she owns with her husband, Mayor H. Rick Gardner.
She has offered the city $250 for the platforms, which used to hold gasoline storage tanks and now sit vacant near a peninsula known as Machelhe Island.
City officials say the only reason anyone would want them is to dress them up and improve the area's appearance - and that's all the law allows.
The city has restricted use for the platforms, whose future has been debated for years.
According to a City Council resolution, the property must be used only for landscaping and beautification under Coastal Area Management Act guidelines.
Commercial and residential use will be prohibited, said City Manager Ralph Clark.
``No one really wants them because they have no value,'' Clark said Friday. ``Except for the fact that it will clean up a piece of trash out there that has existed for some years.''
Lydia Gardner could not be reached to discuss her plans for the eyesores.
Unless a higher bid for the property is made before noon Monday, the City Council will be free to vote on the offer at its meeting Monday night. by CNB