THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 12, 1997 TAG: 9702120472
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 72 lines
Outer Banks waterfront residents could lose the right to build piers off their properties if a proposed state Coastal Resources Commission amendment is adopted next month, local officials say.
The proposed pier regulations would, among many changes, amend standards that allow neighbors to waive a 15-foot side setback for docks and piers in estuarine waters. Another amendment would require more review before permitting a 200-foot pier, the maximum length the law allows.
Opponents contend the proposals could severely affect waterfront landowners in Dare County.
``I think the rules are a little over-broad,'' Dare County Planning Director Ray Sturza said recently. ``If we're going to have them, we're going to have to fine tune them.''
Sturza said the Outer Banks has shallower waterways and more uneven shorelines on its sounds and canals than most coastal regions. He also said the regulations are ``full of bureaucratic technical red tape.''
``Taken to the extreme, they could preclude estuarine docks and piers on many of the existing small lots with estuarine shorefronts throughout coastal North Carolina,'' he wrote in a recent report to the Dare County Board of Commissioners.
The proposals were criticized by Dare County Commissioner Douglas Langford at the Feb. 3 meeting.
``The rules they designed don't work in this area,'' Langford said. ``This is a very dangerous act of terrorism of the part of the CRC.''
So far, Kill Devil Hills and the Colington Harbour Association, along with the county, have officially protested the proposals. The measure may be voted on at the coastal commission's March 20-21 meeting.
``Nothing is set in stone yet,'' said commission spokeswoman Alison Davis. ``The whole goal of these changes is to reduce or prevent shoreline congestion and to add a little more review to some permits.''
Davis said comments on the proposals will be reviewed by the commission's rule-making committee. It has the option of making a recommendation to the commission to vote at the March meeting, or to send the proposals back for more study. If the amendments are approved by the commission, the changes would go into effect no earlier than August 1998, Davis said.
As the setback rule is now, if residents on waterfront land want to build a pier, they can ask their adjacent neighbors to waive the required 15-foot setback, which would allow friendly neighbors to have their respective piers closer than the standard 30-foot allotment.
``We think that makes good sense,'' said Eve Trow, community manager of Colington Harbour Association.
Trow said because many Colington Harbour lots are narrow canalfront pieces, property owners would be essentially blocked from constructing piers and moorings. And the ultimate result, she added, is their waterfront land would lose a lot of its worth.
``I think there would be an instant devaluation,'' Trow said. ``Part of our tax base is based on the notion that a private land owner can build a dock and moor his own boat on his property.''
Kill Devil Hills also protested tightening of the pier construction rules. The Board of Commissioners on Jan. 22 unanimously approved a resolution opposing the CRC proposals.
Davis said one of the biggest changes would involve what is known as the ``one-third rule'': a pier can protrude into a waterway no more than one-third of the width of the body of water.
``That's supposed to be a maximum, but they've seen it as their right,'' Davis said. ``As you get people on both sides of the water, you're taking up a lot of water - and it's supposed to belong to everybody.''
Davis said the proposed changes would allow 100-foot-long piers, rather than the current 200-foot maximum. But she said the longer piers may be permissible under an exemption. If the water is too shallow even at 200 feet, she said the amendment could permit an even longer pier.
For more information on the proposals, call the Coastal Resources Commission at (919) 733-2293.