THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 7, 1995 TAG: 9502070309
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CURRITUCK LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
Despite what one commissioner called a ``generous offer'' of land and a million dollars, the Currituck County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Monday night to reject a 601-lot developement called ``The Plantations.''
Two other controversial proposed developments - Dove Roost and Dozier Acres - were tabled until the fall at the developers' request. Action on another planned unit development, the Currituck Club, was again delayed.
In rejecting the scheduled plan for Virginia Beach developer Alan Resh's development, the panel cited a recently created adequate-facilities ordinance that essentially says the county must provide facilities such as schools to meet residents' needs.
``I'm obviously disappointed - not surprised, but disappointed,'' Resh said immediately after the decision. ``I think we made every effort to meet all the requests that the county put forth.''
Resh had offered to donate 40 acres and $1 million if commissioners approved his Plantations proposal.
The land would be used for a new elementary school and recreation area. The $1 million would come from a $6,000 fee attached to each of the 172 lots that were requested above a previously approved site plan of 429 lots.
Most of the proposals up for debate Monday night had been the subject of sharp public criticism since they were introduced last fall.
The largest of the developments, The Plantations, has been singled out in some cases because of the impact that the complex would have on the county's overcrowdedschools.
Enrollment at Moyock Elementary and Currituck County High School exceed capacity, and other nearby schools are at or approaching their limit.
A new high school, tentatively scheduled to open in the fall of 1996, should alleviate some of the overcrowding. Other school populations then will shift and create more room in Moyock.
Resh said at a previous meeting that if his Plantations request was denied, he would proceed with plans to build a golf course community already sketched out for the Moyock property when Resh bought it.
That development, however, also could encounter difficulties if commissioners approve an amendment to the county's Unified Development Ordinance that was up for public hearing Monday night.
Among numerous provisions aimed at controlling growth, the ordinance would void subdivisions approved before April 1989 if no work has been done on the site.
About 800 of roughly 4,000 undevelopment lots in Currituck County would be affected, including Resh's 429, county planning director Jack Simoneau said.
``I'm going have to challenge that,'' Resh said. ``I just can't sit by idly and let it go.''
Local developers James H. Ferebee Jr. and E. Fletcher Humphries both have decided to postpone the push for their developments.
``The Ferebees would like to withdraw their application for Dove Roost until the county gets the schools situation solved, possibly until Sept. 18, 1995,'' Ferebee said in a letter sent Friday to commissioners.
Humphries, developer of 111 lots to be called Dozier Acres in the Crawford Township, made a similar request Monday evening.
``What we are going to do is put it on the back burner until they get a new school building,'' he said prior to the meeting. ``We're not withdrawing.'' by CNB