THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 12, 1996 TAG: 9606120494
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: KILL DEVIL HILLS LENGTH: 107 lines
Neighbors who oppose a go-kart track along Colington Road lost their battle when owner Jimmie Summerell decided he didn't need a conditional use permit to construct the recreational facility.
Summerell withdrew his application to the Dare County Planning Board Monday night for the permit that would have allowed him to add canopies to the site, apparently ending legal challenges to his proposed track.
Planners expressed frustration about being unable to address the concerns of residents who live near the site because the land is zoned for nearly any use.
``It's impossible for us to legally tell someone it's not permitted,'' said Planning Board Director Ray Sturza.
Under the current S-1 zoning - what planners characterized as the lowest zoning standard - Summerell already had the go-ahead to build Colington Speedway, a three-track facility on 4.7 acres about a mile west of U.S Route 58, across from the Zanzibar Restaurant. But his desire to construct two canopy structures on the land would have required additional approval.
After about 45 minutes of comments and discussion at a publichearing Monday night, Planning Board Chairman Elmer Midgett said he suspected the issue was moot because Summerell may have already decided it wasn't worth the hassle to build the canopies.
``The conditions are tied to whether he puts up his canopy,'' confirmed Sturza.
Nodding his head from his seat in the audience, Summerell responded sharply, ``I'll just put up tents.'' He withdrew the application minutes later.
Eight residents who live near the proposed track earlier said they fear that the 39 karts will pollute the area with noise and fumes. They were also upset that lights at the facility will be left on all night.
``I feel for the price we paid for our property, I'm opposed to a carnival-like atmosphere in my backyard,'' said Jean Wilson, a Wright Woods resident.
Many in the rows of residents who attended the hearing were from First Flight Village, The Landing and Wright Woods. All three subdivisions are north of the proposed track.
Several speakers said they thought the track is too far off the beaten path to attract customers, and suggested it would be more suitably located on the tourist-friendly bypass.
Linda Pasqua of Wright Woods said she and her husband bought their home because it was in a quiet, year-round neighborhood.
``I feel like having something like that, that close would totally destroy what we set out to do,'' she said.
But Summerell said he's only improving the land, which was formerly used for a concrete business.
``Before you judge me, at least take the time to look at what I've got,'' he told the board. ``I've lived here all my life and all I am is a hard-working man trying to get ahead.''
Summerell, who lives in Colington Harbour and owns Summerell's Concrete, said in an interview Tuesday at the site that he has invested $250,000 in the venture, half of what he estimates it will take to get the complex open by July 1.
When it's completed, there will be a ``kiddie'' track, a family road course and a slick track, where the cars intentionally slide. Fourteen of the cars are open-topped, Indy-style with cockpits. The other 25 are closed-body Nascar-style; all are 5 1/2 horsepower. Each five-minute ride will cost $5.
The tracks will be illuminated dusk-to-dawn by two 400-watt lights on each of seven 35-foot poles. Summerell said he plans to be open noon to 10 p.m. daily through October.
Concerning complaints about noise and fumes, Bill Grelen, a mechanic at the facility, said the karts have 4-cycle Honda motors and are quieter than 2-cycle motors. He said in a test run Monday, the sound of the motors could barely be heard at the stockade fence along the rear portion of the property.
Grelen said people are thinking of ``the old days of the 2-cycle open motor go-karts with terrible mufflers.''
``It's a lot less noisy than a lawn mower,'' he said. ``It's not an offensive sound.''
Summerell said neighbors surrounding the facility ``haven't even said anything to me.'' He also said the closest occupied house behind the track is about a quarter-mile away.
``There are just a bunch of people with nothing to do and they think they can stop me,'' he said. ``And they can't.''
A weak zoning law is the the reason, said Brant Wise, a registered land surveyor and a homeowner in Cliffs of Colington.
``The big thing that people need to realize in Colington is there's nothing to stop anybody. The way it is right now, with S-1 zoning, they can do anything they damn well please,'' Wise said.
``It says ALL uses are permitted, literally anywhere - hog plants to nuclear reactors,'' Sturza said of S-1 zoning.
``The situation is, that at some point in time, there needs to be a more articulate planning map,'' Sturza said. ``And until we get a consensus, we're going to continue to have these problems.''
Sturza said the area off the 3-mile stretch of Colington Road that lies in unincorporated Dare County would be best protected from unpopular use if it was zoned village-commercial.
He said the county will hold several public workshops near Colington starting in July to see if the public is ready to reconsider stricter zoning ordinances.
``Historically, the county commissioners will not adopt a new zoning map unless there is strong consensus from the public,'' Sturza said. ``There's a great resistance to government regulation, until there's something unpopular like this. You don't get the traffic light till you get the wreck. It's the same thing with zoning.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by DREW C. WILSON/The Virginian-Pilot
Jimmie Summerell works toward the July 1 opening of Colington
Speedway, a Go-Kart track he is developing along Colington Road
about a mile west of U.S. Route 58. He skirted opposition to the
track by dropping a request for canopy structures. by CNB