THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 24, 1995 TAG: 9508240505
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: COROLLA LENGTH: Short : 43 lines
In an effort to protect pedestrians from increasing traffic, property owners in Corolla's Whalehead Beach want to prohibit on-street parking.
Whalehead Beach residents asked the Currituck County Board of Commissioners this week to consider an ordinance restricting public parking to designated lots within the subdivision.
``People are not using them,'' Whalehead Property Owners Association President James R. Moore said of the designated lots. ``Wherever there's a beach access, they will park on those side streets.''
Whalehead Beach is one of the oldest subdivisions on the county's stretch of barrier island and also one of the only communities with public beach access.
``None of the other subdivisions have made accommodations for the general public to use their shores,'' said Ernie Bowden, chairman of the commissioners' board and a resident of nearby Carova Beach.
Moore said the residential and commercial development around Whalehead Beach has brought more traffic into the subdivision, where visitors often stroll, bike, skate or jog through residential streets.
Moore said the traffic problems were likely to worsen when a new development named The Currituck Club is built on the last large tract of land on the west side of N.C. Route 12.
``We're going to look like the county fair,'' he said.
The property owners are asking the county to enact an ordinance that would prohibit parking on the following east-west roads: Dolphin, Marlin, Sailfish, Coral, Bonita, Mackerel, Perch, Tuna, Sturgeon, Barracuda and Herring.
The proposed ordinance is geared toward day-trippers rather than vacationers who may have more vehicles than a house's driveway can accommodate. Those drivers generally park on the property rather than along the roadside, Moore said.
A public hearing on the proposal will be scheduled in early October. by CNB