THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 7, 1995 TAG: 9509070553
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: COROLLA LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
The Currituck Club has won preliminary approval to begin construction of two residential-home phases in the sprawling golf course community.
The Currituck County Board of Commissioners granted unanimous approval Tuesday night of two preliminary plats for a total of 186 single-family lots at the southern end of the 587-acre development in Corolla.
The board's OK on construction of two parcels within The Currituck Club came at the commissioners' regular meeting and was preceded by little discussion.
The developer, Kitty Hawk Land Co., must receive one more approval - at the final plat stage - before lots can be sold.
Since the concept for the golf course community on the Currituck Sound side of state Route 12 was first introduced to the board last winter, the plans have had opposition.
Residents at Spindrift, a 30-lot oceanfront subdivision directly across the highway, raised concerns about sewage disposal, water consumption and beach use by the new development.
Kitty Hawk Land Co. plans to build an 18-hole golf course surrounded by 640 homes, a 100-room hotel and two commercial sites.
Another neighbor, Coastland Corp., developer of Ocean Sands and Crown Point, has petitioned the courts to stop the development because of public safety issues.
This month, the group, through its attorney, renewed its concerns.
E. Crouse Gray Jr. of Kill Devil Hills said the Virginia Beach-based Coastland is particularly concerned that a single entrance will be used to serve so many people.
With only one way in and out, ``should there ever be a major storm (which is obviously very likely) there would be a traffic nightmare to funnel all those people through the one accessway onto'' state Route 12, Gray wrote in an Aug. 4 letter to commissioners.
The attorney also noted potental problems for emergency vehicles and personnel trying to reach residences in the far end of the development.
Commissioners Tuesday noted there were many developments, including Knotts Island and numerous mainland communities, served only by one entrance.
The two developers also are disputing a 20-foot easement at the historic entrance to The Currituck Shooting Club, which would provide The Currituck Club with another access.
Kitty Hawk Land Co. President C.J. Mickey Hayes Jr. and project engineer Bill Gilbert have assured nearby property owners that a wastewater treatment plant would not emit any odors.
Gilbert also said in a recent letter to the county's chief planner that an innovative design system would mix rejected water from a reverse-osmosis plant with wastewater irrigation. The solution would then be sprayed on the golf course to irrigate grass.
The Currituck Club also is expected to be one of the chief beneficiaries of a Dare County water sale being discussed by both counties. by CNB