THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 16, 1994 TAG: 9412160545
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DeGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: COLINGTON HARBOUR LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
With Hurricane Gordon heading toward Outer Banks beaches and gale-force winds whipping up waves, Bob Buchanan went to haul his 19-foot power boat out of Kitty Hawk Bay last month.
He drove to the ramp where he has pulled his craft out for the past five years. A metal chain blocked the concrete drive. Without notice, someone had closed Colington Harbour's only public boat ramp.
Anyone who still had a vessel in the neighborhood's waterways was - literally - up a creek.
``All of a sudden, out of the clear blue sky, they closed the boat ramp on November 15,'' Buchanan said Wednesday night. ``It was appalling. There was no explanation why they did it. The hurricane was two days away. And everyone needed to get their boats out.
``They just put a chain across there and a sign at the entry gate saying `Boat Ramp Closed Until Further Notice.' One guy was so mad about it, he cut that chain with bolt cutters to get his craft out,'' said Buchanan, who also owns a 14-foot sailboat. ``Now, a heavy board blocks that ramp.''
After an open Colington Harbour Association meeting Wednesday night, the neighborhood's seven-member board of directors met behind closed doors to discuss the boat ramp's fate with their attorney.
A neighborhood at the west end of Colington Island, about four miles west of the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, Colington Harbour was the first community on the Outer Banks to have a guard gate.
Today, about 1,200 homes line the 25-year-old winding streets, skirting canals and numerous speed bumps. An estimated 2,000 residents - more than the entire town of Southern Shores - make Colington Harbour their permanent home.
``Many people moved here because of the deep-water harbor and easy access to the sounds,'' Buchanan said of his completely residential community. ``A lot of people own boats back here.''
Joe Hardman, a Colington Harbour resident who chairs the neighborhood's board of directors, said his elected group had to close the boat ramp because insurance officials ordered them to seal it.
``One boat was damaged there and a personal injury claim was filed against us when someone got their foot caught on the ramp about a month ago,'' Hardman said Thursday. ``The insurance people called our attention to it and brought in an engineer from Raleigh. He wanted us to close the ramp.''
Colington Harbour Manager Eve Trowe said the association never intended to close the ramp permanently. Officials opened it briefly once in late November - if users signed a liability waiver.
The concrete slab structure has sloped from bay to parking lot for about five years. A ramp has existed at the spot since the subdivision began selling lots in the late 1960s. No one can remember the ramp ever being closed before.
``We've been trying to fill in the cracks and hope to put bids out for repair sometime next week,'' Trowe said Thursday. ``I'm doing all I can to get the thing fixed once and for all. We're trying to coordinate with our insurance agent and our attorney to come up with parameters under which we can open that boat ramp - at least long enough for folks to retrieve their boats on an interim basis. Ultimately, we may have to have the whole thing replaced.''
Trowe directed questions about boat-ramp needs, costs and timetables to the association's insurance agent and attorney. J. Fletcher Willey, the insurance agent who handles Colington Harbour's policy, refused to comment Thursday. Colington Harbour Association lawyer Dwight Wheeless did not return telephone messages.
``We asked if they would open that ramp one Saturday and Sunday this month, just so people could get their boats out for the winter,'' Buchanan said. ``The nearest haul-out docks are in Manteo - and that's a pretty long haul. That ramp's never been closed before. Some of the slabs are cracking, sure. But it's been that way for years. They didn't warn us. They haven't tried to accommodate us. We just want to get our boats out.'' by CNB