THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 14, 1996 TAG: 9602140533
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Dare County planners have unanimously approved a conditional use permit for Duck Station, a proposal that had drawn a flurry of opposition from nearby property owners in the resort community.
The Planning Board will recommend approval to the Board of Commissioners based on revisions made to the original plan. Restaurant seating was reduced to 40 from 49; the drive entrance was pared from 30 feet to 25 feet and an apartment on the top floor was eliminated from the plan.
At a Monday night meeting, developers said the combined convenience store, restaurant and gas station along Highway 12, across from the Duck United Methodist Church, will be done tastefully and will provide necessary services to the north beach village.
``It will be a tremendous asset to Duck,'' said Whitt Sessoms III, a Virginia Beach developer, ``not only on an aesthetic standpoint, but we'll be paying taxes. Also, they needed another gas facility.''
Sessoms said the approximate 3,000-square-foot building will be constructed in Old Nags Head style, with cedar siding and a cedar shake roof, painted in earth tones with white shutters. The sign in front of the business will be sandblasted wood.
``It'll look better than anything up there now,'' said James Braithwaite, Sessoms' partner.
Construction is expected to begin within 30 days after county commissioners give the go-ahead. Developers anticipate the project to be completed within 90 days at a cost of about $2 million.
Mike Mangum, vice-president of the Duck Civic Association, said the group had expressed concerns to the planning board, but had never taken a position on it. Some association members, however, circulated a petition against the facility, reportedly gathering 400 signatures.
Mangum said opposition against Duck Station centered on concerns about wetlands, overusage of land, traffic and preservation of a century-old oak tree at the 1.1-acre site, which is zoned commercial.
Braithwaite said great pains were taken to make sure the tree will be preserved. He said it's so pretty that he eventually plans to highlight it with a spotlight.
``Their concerns were valid,'' Mangum said of the protesters, ``but it all comes down to law. I don't think you'd find anybody who wants to develop anything anymore.''
Duck resident Martha McKeon, a project opponent, said Duck Station is too big for the property, the ground is not suitable for a gas tank and it's redundant.
``What point is there to having a planning board if you can do anything you want with the land?'' she asked.
McKeon said that there already are 11 restaurants within a one-mile radius and a gas station within yards of the proposed facility.
``We have no need for these things,'' she said.
Developers have been held under tight scrutiny by the planning board, said Brant Wise, land surveyor with Coastal Engineering, which has done the site work for the project.
``If anything, we're going beyond anything that's required to try to appease the community,'' Wise said.``These developers have been more than conscientious in this project.''
With the conditional use permit, which is automatically pegged to an application for a restaurant or gas station, developers are held to the strictures of the plan they submitted, and could have the permit invalidated if the conditions are violated, said Donna Creef, chief county planner.
The planning board's recommendation to approve the permit is scheduled to go before the Board of Commissioners on Feb.19 at 9 a.m. by CNB