THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 17, 1997 TAG: 9701180374
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SOUTH NAGS HEAD LENGTH: 89 lines
In a last-minute reprieve from the wrecking ball, a 23-year-old condominium that is slowly being claimed by the ocean has attracted the attention of state Sen. Marc Basnight.
Nags Head Sails, an 18-unit building on Old Oregon Inlet Road, was scheduled to be demolished last week. But Basnight's office had earlier called the Federal Emergency Management Agency office in Washington to ask that the demolition be forestalled.
``What I would like to explore is the possibility of acquiring the property for the public,'' Basnight said Wednesday. ``What I envision is utilizing the building for a youth center . . . any governmental use that would benefit the community - until there is a need to tear it down.''
The Manteo Democrat, who is part owner of Basnight Construction, looked at the condominium last week and said it is not in the poor condition of most about-to-be demolished structures.
``It was surprising to me that it even happened,'' the senator said about the FEMA's approval of the demolition. ``It's a good solid building.''
Adjacent to the Comfort Inn in South Nags Head, the condominium is on 180-feet by 573-feet of oceanfront property, about three lots. Portions of South Nags Head have suffered severe erosion.
Carol Thomas, a member of the Board of Directors of the Nags Head Sails Homeowners Association, said members have grappled for a solution as the surf has steadily consumed their beachfront property. Since 1974, when the condo was built, the beach has eroded about 140 feet.
After investigations determined that it was estimated it could cost about $4 million a mile to renourish the beach and about a half-million dollars to move the building - if it could be moved - they decided to apply for relief under FEMA's Upton-John flood program.
``The building is really truly a wonderful building. It's just that the ocean has moved into that area,'' Thomas said. ``The Board of Directors spent hours, weeks, months, years researching what we could do to save that building. . . . We were looking at losing everything vs.recouping something. I don't think it would take a heck of a storm to bring that building down.''
Enacted in 1988, the Upton-John provision allowed homeowners whose buildings were in a ``zone of imminent collapse'' to apply for a portion of the value of the property, said Jim Shortley, collector of claims for FEMA. Applicants must have had national flood insurance and be threatened by 10 feet plus five times the annual erosion rate. The program was revoked in 1994. But with the one-year sunset clause, the homeowners' association slipped its application in under the wire and met FEMA's conditions.
The 15 homeowners will be paid $1,177,435 million for the building and 10 percent of the demolition cost, which is estimated at about $155,000. It is one of the single largest claims awarded under Upton-Jones, Shortley said. The program paid out a total of ``roughly'' $20 million in the seven years it was in effect, he added.
Basnight's theory is that one way or the other, the homeowners will get their money from the federal government, said a spokesperson for the senator. And since it is already locked into paying for the building, why not see if the state can put it to good use?
``If the building can be purchased for a nominal fee - a token amount - that would be terrific,'' said Kyle Armentrout, Basnight's aide. ``(The senator) feels it could be used for an indefinite amount of time. It could last 10 to 15 years.''
Armentrout said the state will make an offer to the FEMA office within a week. Part of the state's bid would be an agreement to demolish the building when it became necessary. Even if the offer is accepted, liability and flood insurance issues would have to resolved, since the federal government would no longer bear responsibility for either, Armentrout said.
Until there's an answer, the demolition contractor will be held at bay.
Thomas puzzled why the state has suddenly expressed interest in the building. She said it can't have the building without buying the land from the homeowners. The land has been appraised for up to $400,000, Thomas said. And she said the building needs at least $50,000 in work.
It was a tough process for the homeowners to come to a point where they could accept the inevitable. Although they were mostly seasonal residents, they had become attached to their place at the beach. But they all dutifully prepared in November to have the condo torn down.
``Plans were under way. The owners had removed all their furnishings. All the utilities were disconnected,'' she said. ``The demolition contractor was all ready to go.''
And the owners were guaranteed to receive a check for at least a part of the value. Thomas said each unit was appraised at about $130,000 six years ago, and they would each get about half that value per unit from Upton-Jones.
``It was a gift on silver tray,'' Thomas said of the program. ``People who could take advantage of it did. And those who didn't were a fool.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
DREW C. WILSON/The Virginian-Pilot
State Sen. Marc Basnight momentarily saved Nags Head Sails, right,
an 18-unit building that was to be demolished last week.