THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 29, 1995 TAG: 9512290561
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
A court ruling that paves the way for the 601-lot subdivision called The Plantations will be appealed by Currituck County commissioners.
All five commissioners said Thursday the board plans to challenge Superior Court Judge William C. Griffin Jr.'s decision to overturn the county's rejection of the Moyock residential development proposed by Tate Terrace Realty Investors Inc.
``The county has indicated they plan to appeal. So we may have just fought the first round,'' said M.H. Hood Ellis, an Elizabeth City attorney representing the Virginia Beach developers.
The judge's order reverses the commissioners' actions last winter denying the sketch plans and special-use permit request submitted by Tate Terrace and developer Alan Resh.
Resh was out of town Thursday and unavailable for comment.
The county and its commissioners also are required to pay limited costs of the action, which Ellis said amount to less than $100.
The commissioners' controversial rejection had been based on an ordinance, approved around the same time, that said the county must provide facilities to meet new residents' needs.
In The Plantations case, the already overcrowded Moyock Elementary School was the main issue.
Resh countered with an offer of 40 acres for a recreation field and school site and about $1 million in ``impact fees,'' which could be used for a new school.
In the 1 1/2-page court order, Griffin wrote that the commissioners' decision to deny the developers' application ``was not supported by competent, material and substantial evidence.''
The judge added that the decision ``was erroneous as a matter of law, and was arbitrary and capricious.''
County attorney William R. Romm said Thursday he had not seen the order.
County Manager Bill Richardson also said he had not reviewed the document, which was filed with the Currituck County Clerk of Court on Wednesday afternoon.
Other county officials involved with the case expressed disappointment.
``The people of Currituck elected commissioners to control the growth until we could get schools and facilities built,'' Commissioner Paul O'Neal said. ``And the judge is thwarting the wishes of the citizens of Currituck.''
The Plantations is an expanded, altered version of a 429-lot golf course community that was approved prior to Tate Terrace buying the 520-acre tract in a foreclosure sale several years ago.
``The 601-lot subdivision, compared to the 429 units, represents quite a difference - not only in numbers but in the quality of development,'' said Ernie Bowden, who was chairman of the board when the subdivision was rejected.
The upscale golf course community would likely have attracted numerous retirees who would not place a burden on county services, particularly public schools, Bowden said.
The Plantations is not the only Moyock development to be rejected by commissioners on the basis of inadequate facilities. Tate Terrace, however, is the only developer to legally challenge the board's decision.
``I don't think there's any precedent that's going to cause an avalanche to come down on the county,'' Ellis said.
Commissioner Gene Gregory disagreed.
``If this ruling is allowed to stand, it will kill all the gains that we will have made when the new high school comes on line and Knapp becomes a new elementary school,'' he said.
A protracted legal fight also is likely to cost the county in related expenses.
The county has spent $25,230 on legal fees submitted through Oct. 31 by attorneys for Poyner & Spruill, a Raleigh law firm hired to help Romm fight the Tate Terrace case.
That has been the only outside expense incurred by the lawsuit thus far, said Daniel F. Scanlon, the county's finance director. ILLUSTRATION: Legal battle over development far from over
DREW C. WILSON
The Virginian-Pilot
The 601-lot Plantations development in Currituck County is expected
to be a larger version of nearby Quail Run subdivision, shown here.
by CNB