THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 28, 1995 TAG: 9503280248
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CURRITUCK LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
A developer has asked a court to stop construction of The Currituck Club, a golf-course community that would sprawl over the the last large tract of undeveloped land on the northern Outer Banks.
The Coastland Corp., which built Ocean Sands and Crown Point, has filed an appeal to reverse last month's approval of the project.
County officials were officially notified Monday of the appeal filed Friday afternoon in Currituck County Superior Court.
The latest civil case involving the the Board of Commissioners objects to the unanimous vote to rezone 586.7 acres and support a sketch plan for The Currituck Club.
The club was approved for 608 homes of different types, a 100-room hotel, an 18-hole golf course and clubhouse and two commercial tracts. All would be located on the Currituck Sound side of N.C. 12.
Property owners from Ocean Sands, Crown Point and Spindrift - across the highway - have protested the planned-unit development because of its impact on resources and services, especially water, sewer and traffic.
The county's planning and inspections department recommended the plans be denied because the development lacked enough accessways into the three-mile-long neighborhood.
Originally intended to include three gateways, the plans were approved with only one opening after the developer, Mickey Hayes of Kitty Hawk Land Co., failed to reach an agreement with Coastland Corp., which owns a strip of land on the west side of N.C. 12.
In court papers, Coastland Corp. and two other groups claim commissioners made several errors in approving The Currituck Club that could be detrimental to neighboring communities and lower property values.
The island's limited supply of water will dry up more quickly - water that only Ocean Sands and Crown Point residents pay for through a water and sewer district tax, court papers said.
Traffic on the increasingly crowded N.C. 12 will bottleneck at The Currituck Club's only accessway, the petition added.
The charges are being made by The Coastland Corp. and Ocean Sands and Crown Point homeowners associations against Currituck County, its commissioners and The Currituck Club's various developers.
The petition lists 13 reasons why a judge should reverse the commissioners' decision and reject The Currituck Club sketch plan.
The petition says The Currituck Club's application was incomplete and did not meet all county codes.
The appeal also states commissioners ``failed to follow the rules of law'' because they discussed the development with Currituck Club officials outside an official public meeting.
Specifically, Coastland said some board members held ``off-the-record discussions'' with The Currituck Club applicants that led to a six-acre tract at the northern end being dedicated to the county days prior to their vote.
``Such a procedure is arbitrary, capricious, improper and unlawful when the board is acting in a quasi-judicial manner,'' according to the petition.
The county has 30 days to file its records and a response to the appeal.
The court suit was the second this month against action by the commissioners.
Last Monday the company hoping to build The Plantations on the mainland asked a judge to rule against the commissioners' recent rejection of the 601-lot subdivision in Moyock. by CNB