THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 17, 1996 TAG: 9607170363
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: COROLLA LENGTH: 67 lines
A public hearing is scheduled for Aug. 5 on a possible ordinance amendment that would outlaw bonfires in Corolla.
Also in Corolla, an additional lifeguard stand will be built in Ocean Sands.
The bonfire debate has been brewing for a few weeks, since Currituck County Sheriff Glenn Brinkley asked the county to get rid of the fires.
A permit system was begun last year to cut down on items used for kindling - such as decks and wooden deck furniture.
The system, from that standpoint, has been a success. But other problems have arisen or been brought to the forefront, namely rowdy behavior and criminal activity around the bonfires.
The sheriff's department does not have the manpower to patrol up to 40 bonfires a night, Brinkley has said.
Some 550 permits were issued last year, and almost 400 have already been issued this year, said Marshall Cherry, who is head of Corolla Fire & Rescue.
Increasingly, the partylike atmosphere at the fires has attracted underage teenage drinkers and fostered use of illegal drugs, officials have said.
Since then, commissioners have been discussing ways to help sheriff's deputies and Corolla Fire & Rescue officials control beach activities.
The proposed amendment, as written, would prohibit bonfires from the Dare-Currituck county line north to the beach access ramp at The Villages at Ocean Hill.
Commissioners at Monday night's board meeting in Currituck also suggested extending the ban to the Fruitville Township line, which is about 1 1/2 miles north of the off-road ramp.
Ernie Bowden, who represents Fruitville Township, said he would not support a bonfire ban any farther north.
He has twice mentioned a petition against banning bonfires, which was signed by 185 people in Knotts Island and recently faxed to him.
Corolla has grown dramatically in the past few years, and beach communities' high densities have raised the danger levels for some bonfires.
Cherry said permits are not issued if there is an easterly wind that could threaten nearby structures.
Bowden said that because communities north of Ocean Hill are less densely populated and accessible only by four-wheel-drive vehicles, bonfires are not a problem.
``At some point in time, that place is gonna be just as crowded as any other place,'' Commissioner Eldon Miller Jr. responded.
Commissioner Paul O'Neal, who represents Corolla, questioned whether a countywide ban might be more effective - and fair.
``What's the difference between a bunch of drunks north of the ramp, and a bunch of drunks south of the ramp if they are all a bunch of drunks?'' he asked.
The vote to hold a public hearing was 3-to-2. Miller and O'Neal were the dissenters.
Also at Monday's meeting, commissioners agreed to fund a lifeguard stand for $6,215 at the public access in Ocean Sands' Section F.
In recent years, commissioners have grappled with publicly funding lifeguards for private beaches. Corolla has few public access areas, unlike some beach communities in Dare County.
Developers have argued that anyone can rent homes in these upscale beach communities, and those who do so pay an occupancy tax that provides such services as lifeguards.
The stands apparently influence tourists' rental choices, said Cherry, whose office fields calls all winter about the location of lifeguards on the beach.
``And people rent houses next to those lifeguard stands, especially families with young children,'' he said. by CNB