THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 11, 1995 TAG: 9504110325
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: KILL DEVIL HILLS LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
An attorney for Asheville developer C. Wayne Kinzer announced a plan Monday to tie the Ocean Acres wastewater treatment plant into a private sewage treatment plant Kinzer owns.
The Kill Devil Hills Board of Commissioners took no action on the proposal, but turned it over to the municipality's planning board.
Under Kinzer's plan, the Ocean Acres facility would be linked to the Outer Banks Beach Club Plant. Joe Adams, legal counsel for the developer, said the plan would allow Kill Devil Hills to shut down the Ocean Acres facility, which Adams maintained is inefficient and in need of repairs.
Shutting down Ocean Acres, Adams said, would eliminate the discharge of pollution from the plant into Buzzard's Bay. He maintained that the Outer Banks facility discharges no material into the bay.
Adams also pointed to an increase in the town's tax base as a result of the shutdown. If the two facilities were linked, the current building moratorium in Ocean Acres subdivision could be lifted.
Kill Devil Hills had banned further development in the subdivision because the Ocean Acres facility could not handle the additional demand. There are about 90 undeveloped lots in the subdivision.
Kinzer has been negotiating with the town concerning the Ocean Acres plant for a number of years. Most recently, Kinzer agreed to construct a line with grant funds to link Ocean Acres to the Outer Banks plant.
Current customers would be able to join the system at no cost. New customers would be allowed to tie onto the system at rates set by the North Carolina Utilities Commission for a period of three to six months. After that, customers would be added as long as capacity was adequate.
The proposal also guarantees no rate increases for two years, except as approved by the utilities commission.
The sticking point, Adams said, is the town's request to require Kinzer's firm, Peppertree Resorts Inc., to lease the Ocean Acres plant for $1,000 per month for 20 years.
Kinzer has proposed that the facility be turned over to him in exchange for impact fees, which are required by law to be charged to new customers. The property then would be turned over to the Nature Conservancy, and the town would maintain the collection system in order to be eligible for state and federal grant funding.
In January, an apparent agreement had been reached between Kinzer and the town, but later the town began exploration of alternate wastewater treatment methods. Communications between the two parties broke down after Kinzer's firm had asked for $600,000 fee in addition to other terms, town officials said. Adams, however, said the firm had not asked for the money.
``It's been a confusing situation,'' said Commissioner Bill Morris. ``We're going to send it to the planning board to study it, and see what happens.''
In a related matter, the commission heard a report from Commissioner E.M. ``Coy'' Harbeson on the Ocean Acres Advisory Committee. The committee requested a meeting with Town Manager Debora Diaz, a seat on the Run Hill Working Group, and a lifting of the building moratorium in Ocean Acres. Those requests were denied by the commission.
The Run Hill Group, made up of representatives from the Dare County Board of Education, the Town of Kill Devil Hills and The Nature Conservancy, are working to find a solution to the problem of wastewater dumping into Buzzard's Bay.
And in other action, the future of tattoos looks blue, at least in Kill Devil Hills. The commission unanimously rejected a proposed change in the town's zoning ordinance that would allow tattoo parlors.
``I voted against it because I don't think it promotes the kind of family atmosphere we're trying to portray,'' Morris said. by CNB