THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 10, 1994 TAG: 9412080308
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: About the Outer Banks
SOURCE: Chris Kidder
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
The town of Kitty Hawk contains remarkable geography: Its oceanfront a textbook case of wave dynamicsm, its mid-plain supporting a crop of summer vacationers, its wide, high dunes sheltering one of the largest maritime forests left on the East Coast.
Dunes run the length of town, from northeast to southwest, parallel to and within easy sight of the ocean.
You might call them nature's wise invitation to stand back a bit from a beach bent on migrating westward.
That's good, but largely ignored, advice and it's the subject of next week's column. This week, we're looking at the relict beach ridge's best contribution: Kitty Hawk Woods.
According to the N.C. Division of Coastal Management, Kitty Hawk Woods is unique and of national significance because its 1,900 acres holds two imperiled ecosystems.
The wood's ridges hold a maritime deciduous forest dominated by oak, beech, hickory, black gum and loblolly pine. The wood's swales support a maritime swamp forest where red maple, sweet gum, flowering dogwood and red bay thrive.
A few old bald cypress draped in Spanish moss remind visitors that this place is where northern forest meets the south.
Ten years ago, all this acreage was in private hands, ripe for development.
The Kitty Hawk Woods Partnership, fueled by funds from Great Atlantic Savings and Loan, roughed in roads and laid out homesites under the forest canopy.
Some of the most desirable property in the woods was largely wetlands. Here, the partnership offered 10-acre lots behind low, split rail fences along winding private roads that included a covered bridge over Ginguite Creek.
The covered bridge and split rail fences remain. The Kitty Hawk Woods Partnership self-destructed in a tale of banking fraud typical of the savings and loan scandals of the 1980s.
Shortly after the partnership's demise, the state began its quest to save the woods, with the help of the Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, by acquiring undeveloped land. So far, 462 acres have been set aside. Another 250 acres are targeted for purchase.
Parts of Kitty Hawk Woods were already developed. Building began in Kitty Hawk Estates, on the town's northern border, in the mid-1980s. The subdivision is a quiet, year-round, single-family neighborhood of large, upscale homes.
Homeowners at Pine Hill, closer to the Currituck Sound and one of the 1990s' first ``affordable'' neighborhoods on the Outer Banks, are also year-round residents who enjoy the quiet beauty of Kitty Hawk Woods.
Construction is underway on another large chunk, directly behind the Wal-Mart: Barrier Island at Kitty Hawk, a planned unit development of time share vacation homes.
The town has approved the first phase of residential buildings and plans for a commercial tract which will house the project's sales and recreation centers.
Light years from Wal-Mart (but only a mile as the crow flies) and smack-dab in the middle of the upland forest, Oyster Bay Realty & Construction is building Southern Woods, a two-tier development with 50 approved lots, on remnants of the Kitty Hawk Woods Partnership land.
Twenty Southern Woods lots (two to three acres each) line the west side of Kitty Hawk Woods Road. Phase I, five lots priced from $29,000 to $35,000, is sold out. Fifteen lots in Phase II, priced at $45,000, have just gone on the market. Three are already sold.
Across the road, Oyster Bay is selling Southern Woods Cottages, 30 homesites priced at $35,000, platted in five-lot clusters off long, common drives that wind through thick stands of trees. Twelve cottage lots have been sold or are under contract.
Oyster Bay began accepting reservations for Southern Woods in June 1993 with sales starting three months later. Three houses are completed on the west side, where homes must be 1,200 square feet or larger; two more are under construction.
On the east side where cottages start at 900 square feet, five are complete and one is under construction.
Oyster Bay sells its lots without houses, but most buyers find the company's package deal for house and lot affordable, says company president Jim Geraghty. He offers 95 percent financing with no construction or lot loan necessary.
Stock house plans are included in Oyster Bay's sales package but most of the houses built so far have been custom homes, he says. ``We can do whatever the buyer wants.''
Protective covenants establish homeowners associations for the two subdivisions but there's nothing ``real strict,'' says Geraghty, ``except that all houses must be built on masonry foundations.''
Property owners are even allowed to keep horses, a long-standing tradition in the woods. Neither subdivision has recreational facilities but both must maintain the private roadways that service the properties.
For more information about Southern Woods, contact Oyster Bay Realty & Construction, P.O. Box 1600, Kitty Hawk, N.C. 27949, 919-261-2040. A model home is open daily from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or by appointment. MEMO: Send comments and questions to Chris Kidder at P.O. Box 10, Nags Head,
N.C. 27959.
ILLUSTRATION: Houses in Southern Woods are framed by a tall stand of trees.
by CNB