THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT  
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Wednesday, December 7, 1994            TAG: 9412070423
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: COROLLA                            LENGTH: Short :   50 lines

NEIGHBORS TARGET PLANNED GOLF COMMUNITY MANY ARE CONCERNED ABOUT THE LARGE PROJECT'S IMPACT.

Property owners in a tiny beachfront subdivision are teed off at a proposal to build a golf course community on the last large undeveloped tract of land on the northern Outer Banks.

``What we in Spindrift are trying to do is protect the residential flavor of our neighborhood,'' said Don Kocen, one of several homeowners who spoke at a public hearing Monday evening.

The Currituck County Board of Commissioners will decide whether to rezone almost 587 acres of residential property to limited business in order to accommodate The Currituck Club.

The property is on the Currituck Sound side of N.C. 12 in Corolla and being developed by Mickey Hayes of Kitty Hawk Land Co. Hayes also developed the 30-lot Spindrift located across the highway.

``We welcome the development, but I wish it wouldn't turn into a Jersey Shore or Ocean City development. This is what we see coming in,'' said Steve Farr, a retired baseball player and Sprindrift's only permanent resident.

Hayes and engineer Bill Gilbert said The Currituck Club has been five years in the making, with an 18-hole golf course planned to open in 1996.

The greens would be surrounded by 640 homes, a 100-room hotel and two commercial sites when the complex is fully developed.

``We worked really hard to make the layout conform with the land,'' Gilbert said at the hearing.

But Spindrift property owners and other beachfront residents raised issue with sewage disposal, water consumption and beach use by the new development.

The complex, as it is currently sketched, also would pose problems for fire and rescue officials.

Most Currituck Club residents and visitors would use a public beach access next to Spindrift. ``Funneling people to one place on the beach is an astronomical problem'' for lifeguards and rescue workers, said Corolla Fire Chief Marshall Cherry.

A northern entrance off N.C. 12, also known as Ocean Trail, also would be needed for firefighters, he said.

Walker Golder of the National Audubon Society, which has a bird sanctuary near the property, said he worries that runoff from roads, parking lots and homes could damage the sound and its surroundings.

Currituck commissioners can take action on the rezoning request and sketch plan as soon as Dec. 19. by CNB