THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 20, 1995 TAG: 9505200348
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: KILL DEVIL HILLS LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
An Asheville developer's proposal for this beach community's wastewater treatment facility could end 16 months of negotiations.
However, Kill Devil Hills officials say they want more time to study the proposal and get more public input.
The commission held a special meeting Thursday night to update the public on the negotiations to merge the town's Ocean Acres wastewater treatment facility and the Outer Banks Beach Club facility owned by C. Wayne Kinzer.
Kinzer has been in negotiations with the Run Hill Working Group, an ad hoc committee made up of representatives of the town, the Dare County Board of Education and the Nature Conservancy.
One of the goals of the group is to eliminate pollution now flowing from the Ocean Acres wastewater treatment facility into the Albemarle Sound.
Under Kinzer's proposal:
Kill Devil Hills would construct a forced mainline linking the Ocean Acres facility with the Outer Banks Beach Club plant.
Existing customers of the Ocean Acres facility would be connected to the new system at no cost.
The Outer Banks Beach Club would guarantee rates remain the same.
The Outer Banks Beach Club would guarantee capacity for new customers to join the system for three to six months after the new system is on line.
The Outer Banks Beach Club would maintain property adjacent to the facility for possible expansion.
Kill Devil Hills would give OBBC the franchise to provide wastewater service in Kill Devil Hills.
Some Ocean Acres subdivision residents were angry following the meeting, alleging a deal had been struck behind closed doors.
But George Wood, an engineer who has acted as a mediator among the three entities in the Run Hill Group, emphatically denied that any agreement has been reached.
``There has been no deal. We don't have any type of agreement. There is a proposal on the table, and the town and the Run Hill Group are going to study this proposal.''
Wood said the town, through its Ocean Acres Advisory Committee, will seek public input on the proposal.
Kill Devil Hills Commissioner E.M. ``Coy'' Harbeson said more details of the Kinzer proposal needed to be clarified. Harbeson is the liaison between the town and the Ocean Acres Advisory Committee. Harbeson expressed particular concern over provisions concerning a three- to six-month window for new customers to join the system.
``I'd like to see more time given to new customers who want to tie on to the system.''
Kill Devil Hills Mayor Terry Gray also took a cautious approach.
``We're not sure what the intent of the proposal is,'' Gray said. ``We're going to have to get more input, and to study the information we're going to get from an engineering study done by the Nature Conservancy.''
The Conservancy has agreed to provide land as the site for constructive wetlands, which would take the materials currently being dumped into Albemarle Sound. An engineering study on the proposed tract is currently underway.
Gray said the town wants to make sure two primary goals can be reached before an agreement is signed.
``For the long term we want to stop point-source discharge into Albemarle Sound,'' he said. ``For the short term we want to provide an adequate sewer system for the people of Ocean Acres and the town.''
Asked if a third goal was the outright privatization of the town's wastewater system, Gray responded, ``I'm not going to say that. There may come a time when we may have to get back into it.''
Attorneys for Kinzer submitted the current proposal at the April 10 meeting of the Kill Devil Hills Board of Commissioners. by CNB