THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 30, 1995 TAG: 9509300283
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS , STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Disgruntled Perquimans County waterfront property owners will have to keep on looking at an unusually long recreational dock and platform that neighbors claim spoils the view of Albemarle Sound.
In fact, they may soon see a boatlift on a second deck at the end of the pier.
The Coastal Resources Commission on Friday turned down a request by the protesting Perquimans property owners to shorten or tear down the long pier built at Longbeach Estates by Robert and Mary Casper of Virginia Beach.
Instead, the CRC, meeting at Sunset Beach, approved the latest permit issued by the Division of Coastal Management to the Caspers.
The permit would allow the Caspers to do further work on a 21-foot by 21-foot square platform at the end of their 177-foot pier. The permit, issued last November and renewed in February ,approved the Caspers' plan to build a boatlift and stairs on the platform.
Longbeach Estates is in a cove on the southeast bank of the Perquimans River near the entrance to Albemarle Sound.
``We're disappointed,'' said William C. Young, one of the complaining Longbeach homeowners. But at least the CRC said that a survey will be ordered to determine exactly where that dock is located.'' Young acted as spokesman for 29 other property owners who signed petitions protesting the Caspers' wharf.
But Mary Casper told the CRC commissioners that she and her husband think the view of the river and Albemarle Sound is delightful -dock and all.
``We come down every weekend to enjoy it,'' said Casper.
Eugene B. Tomlinson Jr., chairman of the CRC, directed that the official survey of the Casper's dock and adjacent waters be completed within 90 days. Tomlinson said the commission would notify all parties if and when any further action is taken by the CRC after the survey.
The Division of Coastal Management in 1991 issued the first permit that allowed the Caspers to begin work on their dock. As the pier grew in length and the large platform took shape at the end, neighbors began to organize in protest.
Because Longbeach Estates is built in a cove, the Casper's property, like that of several neighbors, is pie-shaped with the narrow end facing the water.
The Caspers claim they built the dock within an area of water enclosed by lines that extend out from their land as provided by riparian law covering water ownership. Because of the pie-shaped waterfront lots, the Casper dock appears to protesters to be located in a way that spoils the view from neighboring homes.
At the Friday hearing, the CRC upheld the permits issued to the Caspers by the Division of Coastal Management. The autonomous CRC develops waterfront and estuarine policy that is enforced by the Coastal Management Division. The DCM, in turn, is part of the N.C. Dept. of Natural Resources and Community Development.
The survey ordered by the CRC should resolve the areas of riparian rights owned by the Caspers and their neighbors, said Young, the spokesman for the protesters.
``That's the only good thing that happened at the meeting,'' he said.
In recent years, two administrative law judges at separate hearings have criticized the permitting of the DCM that allowed the Casper dock to be built.
But the CRC approval of the Casper's latest permit can only be overturned by further action in higher N.C. Courts, said Young.
``I guess that's where we'll have to go,'' he said. by CNB