THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 6, 1995 TAG: 9508060040
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: EDENTON LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
In the closing days of the last General Assembly, legislators took $250,000 from the funds of the Northeast Economic Development Commission and passed a law saying the money had to be spent on improvements for Edenton's airport.
As far as could be determined last week, members of the troubled Economic Commission never had a chance to approve or even consider the legislative bonanza for Edenton.
Some of the pump-primers weren't even aware of the $250,000 maneuver until the Edenton airport money showed up signed, sealed and delivered in the new state budget.
``We were very careful to check the commission's bank balance so we wouldn't leave them short. We found they had around $900,000 in the bank,'' an aide to Sen. Marc Basnight, D-Dare, said last week. Basnight is president pro tem of the Senate and is known for getting money for northeastern constituents.
The Edenton budget item calls for a $125,000 airport expenditure in 1995-1996 and another $125,000 is earmarked for 1996-1997. The statute specifically states that the money must come from Economic Commission funds.
For months enthusiastic Edenton supporters have been leaning on their General Assembly legislators to find some money to create a regional airport in Chowan County. Major aviation facilities are still in place at the airport from U.S. Marine Corps aviation operations in World War II.
One eloquent pleader has been Charles H. Shaw Jr., a founding member of the 15-member Economic Commission. Shaw is a retired oil company executive and from day-one of his time on the panel he has urged his colleagues to include the Edenton Airport on their pump-priming agenda. ``But I don't recall that we ever formally acted on it,'' Shaw said last week.
Chowan County Manager Cliff Copeland was among the many airport supporters who appealed for help to State Rep. William T. Culpepper III, who represents Edenton in the 86th House district. In the closing days of the last session, Culpepper and Basnight steered the almost invisible little Edenton Airport item through the rocks and shoals of final budget debate in the state House and Senate.
Culpepper and Basnight were less successful with an earlier sleight-of-hand legislative effort for the Pirate's Cove Marina Restaurant on the causeway between Nags Head and Manteo in Dare County. Culpepper introduced a bill that would allow the marina to sell mixed drinks but the measure was withdrawn when Manteo's town fathers denounced it. Pirate's Cove is legally in Manteo, a town that has four times rejected mixed drinks in referendums.
But the legislators decided that Edenton's airport was different.
Tight budget money was initially a problem until fiscal aides of Culpepper and Basnight decided that idle funds of the Economic Development Commission could be well-spent on Edenton's airport.
The deal seemed fair enough: If the legislators giveth, the legislators could taketh away.
The Economic Commission was created by the General Assembly a little over two years ago and handed $2.4 million to bring more prosperity to the Albemarle area. Another $1,036,927 came from the legislatures this year for the commission's 1996-1997 operations.
From the beginning, the commission has been reluctant to spend money, devoting hours of debate to procedural shadow, rather than pump-priming substance. Two $58,000-a-year paid economic and tourist directors were fired last week in a convulsive move by panel members to get the N.E. Economic Commission off of dead center.
But in Edenton, politely muted joy over the airport money was everywhere. Many civic agencies and county leaders have dreamed for years of a fine new regional air transportation center in their historic city.
Outside of Chowan County, some other officials are not so pleased.
Weeks ago, a Department of Commerce officer warned that helping the Edenton airport could set a sticky precedent. There are six other regional development commissions in North Carolina and the Commerce official said there are questions in Raleigh about whether other air-minded communities will now demand economic fund money for their airports, too.
Other agencies exist to help airports, the Commerce official said.
Pasquotank County Commissioner Jimmy Dixon Jr., expected to be the next chairman of the Economic Development Commission, expressed cautious concerns. ``We've spent years trying to improve our own Elizabeth City airport, so I expect I'll hear from members of our airport commission. Several airlines have tried to put our area on their routes but there's never been enough traffic,'' said Dixon.
Elizabeth City's airport is part of the giant U.S. Coast Guard Air Station eight miles southeast of the city. The civilian facilities are confined to a small area of the big landing field.
``The first I heard about the Edenton airport plan was when our industrial developer asked me what it was all about,'' said Dixon. by CNB