THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 7, 1996 TAG: 9607070101
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 202 lines
Change stormed into the Outer Banks in the late 1970s, rearranged century-old lifestyles and reeled in buckets of money.
Scores of new jobs hoisted the local economy into, if not prosperity, at least unaccustomed financial stability.
Development met with haphazard controls, enforced by a bureaucracy that was confounded by pressures to grow as well as preserve.
By the mid-'80s, policymakers caught their breath and took inventory.
``We really haven't done too bad,'' state Sen. Marc Basnight said last week. ``We've done better than other areas. We've developed well.''
Basnight, a Democrat who took office in 1984 and grew up in Manteo, remembers the Outer Banks' more tranquil lifestyle and unspoiled vistas of his youth. But the 48-year-old senator also recalls the days when people could not find enough work to feed their families year round.
``You don't have to leave now,'' he said. ``You can make a living here and stay near home.''
Geneva Perry, a Kitty Hawk native and member of the Dare County Board of Commissioners, said most residents were caught off guard by the almost-overnight altering of their landscape - a large part of which has occurred during the past decade.
``For the average person, they did not have that vision,'' she said of the rapid changes. ``I think that it was a real awakening time. . . . It took several years for it to kind of sink in. But I think by the '80s, all of a sudden they were saying, `What can we do to control this?' ''
The past 10 years have been a time of maturing for the barrier islands. In accepting the inevitablity of growth, local governments across the Outer Banks have rallied behind the positive - economic strength - and responded by increasing services and protections for the expanding population.
To the good fortune of most Dare citizens - and to the credit of local lawmakers - robust expansion resulted not only in more services, but also in lower taxes.
In unincorporated Dare County, the tax rate per $100 of property valuation decreased 19 cents between 1985 and 1995: from 59 cents to 40. The tax base, meanwhile, fattened from $1.2 billion to $4.1 billion.
``I think we, in Dare County, get a lot for our tax dollar,'' Perry said. ``But I think in the last several years, we've gotten even more for our tax dollar than perhaps in the past.
``Tourism has given people who live in the area a much higher scale of living. It allows us to make a year-round living. It was so seasonal before. It has brought a much more stable economy.''
To keep up with the additional visitors - and year-round residents - the number of Dare County employees has nearly doubled since 1985. The county's annual budget tripled. The total payroll swelled to more than three times its former size. Many officials' salaries jumped by more than a third.
Two new primary schools were constructed in Kill Devil Hills over the past decade to house the 56 percent hike in student population. In response, the number of county teachers doubled. The Board of Education's annual general fund nearly tripled.
The effects of growth rippled up and down the 120-mile stretch of barrier islands.
Hatteras Island native Allen Burrus, a member of the school board for the past eight years, said his once-remote island community has gained more in the preceding decade than it has lost.
``Government services have gotten a lot better,'' he said. ``The ferry system is better. The roads are better. . . . We didn't have adequate drainage. Electricity was always going out before. There's better water. Better fire equipment. . . . I think schools have improved, especially the access to technology.''
Burrus said N.C. Route 12, the only road on Hatteras Island leading to and from northern Dare County, was not only frequently impassable because of ocean overwash 10 years ago, it was so low in spots that rain and saltwater remained in puddles for days.
``It's easier for people to get here now,'' Burrus said. ``Tourism has caused a little more affluency. It's created more jobs. It's offered more variety of goods and services to be rendered.''
Undoubtedly, grumblings from local residents about the suddenly overbearing crowds, traffic and development have been stilled somewhat by the correlating increase in services.
``Certainly, we have to cope with some of these things,'' said Lib Fearing, a Manteo resident since 1947. ``It's just like in the large cities. . . . For those that live here, you try to pick and choose the times you go out.''
Fearing noted that along with government, growth in the private service industry has proved convenient for locals: more stores, more restaurants, better access to a wider range of goods. At the same time, health care has improved dramatically. Even the range of volunteer groups and churches has grown in area communities.
It's typical of progress, she said.
``You have to pay a price for it,'' Fearing said. ``But you reap the benefits.''
Former Kill Devil Hills commissioner Lurana Cowan agreed. ``There are more service clubs down here now, more organizations for year-round residents to join, women's clubs, garden clubs, professional organizations and Rotary clubs,'' said Cowan, who has lived on the Outer Banks 20 years. ``The streets are getting wider. Governments are putting curbs in, and re-paving more often. It's a big expense. But it's also a big help.
``There are also more cultural things down here now,'' Cowan said. ``Groups bring in plays, concerts, theater productions. Recreational facilities have really been added, too. It used to be, when you came here, you'd just go to the ocean and that was it. Now, there's plenty for everyone to do.''
Retail sales more than doubled in Dare County since 1985. Occupancy and restaurant revenue expanded almost 2 1/2 times in the past 10 years. Much of that money was needed for local governments to keep up with the rapid growth - and corresponding demand for services.
``We've become urbanized,'' Perry said. ``You used to know everybody you saw. You were also very limited in the services you'd get. You had to leave the area to get the supplies you needed, even medical care. That is not the way it is today. We are very self-sufficient on the Outer Banks.''
The phenomenon of rapid growth is not unique to the Outer Banks. It may, however, seem more dramatic than elsewhere because the barrier islands are so isolated geographically - and are hemmed in by ocean and sounds.
Until early in the century, the Outer Banks were accessible only by boat. Improvements in major East Coast highways, better bridges leading to the islands, widening of local roads and expansion of the state ferry system over the years encouraged more and more visitors to cross the shallow sounds from the mainland.
More people has meant more demands on the area's infrastructure. Municipalities were forced to hire more police, social workers, health and building inspectors, planners, engineers, emergency managers, public works personnel, water treatment workers and firefighters.
Hurricanes have remained an overwhelming threat - the value of earlier warnings made possible by new technology has been almost canceled out by the unwieldy task of evacuating hundreds of thousands of tourists off the barrier islands.
Indeed, traffic congestion may be one of the more onerous results of sudden growth. Yet, residents can't argue that roads are not better.
``One thing that hasn't changed, despite everyone's best efforts of changing it, is the difficulty in getting around,'' said Wynne Dough, curator of the Outer Banks History Center. ``Because we're still growing, every attempt at improvements has only changed the scope of the problems.''
As Dough, a Manteo native, sees it, visitors who used to be discouraged from coming here because of the narrow highways into the barrier islands flooded onto the Banks after they heard of the road and bridge improvements.
``After a while, we reach a sort of equilibrium,'' he said. ``It's just as laborious getting around as before - now we have more people.''
With more people come more problems. Since 1985, area police departments have expanded by one-third or more. Firefighting personnel increased even more dramatically, with professionals replacing volunteers in many areas. The county hired a fire marshal. And each municipality put a fire chief on the payroll.
Other emergency services, like ambulance transport and ocean rescue, emerged. The system is only recently proving adequate to meet the needs of the booming population.
``The more people you have, the more worries you have,'' said Southern Shores Mayor Kern Pitts. ``The more people you've got, the more potholes you get. . . . There's bound to be more problems. The rules of the game change with time. It's continuous.''
Other casualties of growth have been small-town friendship and security.
``We have lost some of the quaintness of the area . . . some degree of neighborliness, and some degree of safety,'' Perry said.
And progress can turn the heat up on the public sector.
``I think it does require more time for an elected person to do their homework,'' Perry said. ``I think that as the demands are greater, the responsibilities for how you manage government are greater.''
Burrus said the public now seems to expect more from governments in every way.
``It's become a more difficult job to meet the expectations of people,'' he said. ``The people who moved in have brought a higher level of expectation and less tolerance. They come out of the metropolitan areas. And it's hard for them to understand why garbage can't be picked up every day. They have a different idea of what's important.
``There's also an expectation of teachers - a lot more demands and different types of needs.''
The future may be less of a shock to more jaded residents. But only those with their heads in the sand here would think growth won't continue to change the Outer Banks.
``We're lurching toward the erasure of the tourist season,'' Dough said. ``The shoulder season has become so broad. Twenty-five years hence, crowding (as) in June and July will be the rule in November. We're going to have to figure out if this is a good thing - or whether we should all go to Western Australia.''
Ultimately, what may be most at risk is the unique culture and character of the barrier islands.
For instance, Dough said, regional speech patterns - the Outer Banks brogue - are starting to be replaced by another, still distinctive, style.
``Outer Bankers are always going to speak in a way that sets them apart from the mainland, regardless of the way their grandfathers' spoke. But if you listen to a lot of youngsters, they don't sound much like their families.
``The Outer Banks' identity has survived,'' Dough said. ``It may be on life support. But the heartbeat is strong.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
DREW WILSON/The Virginian-Pilot
On the U.S. Route 158 Bypass, traffic moves past the Kill Devil
Hills water tower at the town's fire station and police offices. As
the number of seasonal visitors and full-time residents has grown,
the town has hired more police officers and firefighters, built new
schools and constructed new roads. The expanded services are ``a big
expense,'' said a former town commissioner who has lived on the
Outer Banks for 20 years. ``But it's also a big help.''
Graphics
JOHN EARLE/The Virginian-Pilot
GROWTH ON THE OUTER BANKS
SOURCE: Dare County
KEN WRIGHT/The Virginian-Pilot
TAX STATS BY TOWN
SOURCE: The towns
[For complete graphics, please see microfilm] by CNB