DATE: Thursday, May 15, 1997                TAG: 9705150465

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY JEFFREY S. HAMPTON, CORRESPONDENT 

DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY                    LENGTH:   66 lines

4 RECREATION GRANTS COME TO ALBEMARLE CURRITUCK COUNTY'S FIRST PARK, AT MAPLE, IS AT THE TOP OF THE LIST.

Four municipalities in northeastern North Carolina received coveted recreation grants from the state.

Currituck County heads the list with a $250,000 grant to build a 19-acre park near the Maple airport. It will be the first public park in the county.

Economic Development Director John Mulvey was happy to hear the news.

``The most frequent comment from the public is that they wanted a public park,'' Mulvey said citing a land use study conducted by the county in 1990.

``This is fantastic,'' Currituck County Commissioner Eldon Miller said. ``This is another step in getting something the citizens really want.''

Getting smaller grants were Perquimans, Gates and Hyde counties.

Pasquotank, Dare and Chowan counties and Elizabeth City had applied for grants but did not make the first cut. They may be on a later list.

Michael Etheridge, Pasquotank County's solid waste disposal director, who wrote the grant request, was obviously disappointed.

``We felt pretty comfortable,'' Etheridge said. ``We felt we had a really, really good grant. I thought everything was top of the line.''

The state Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources issued grants from $12,855 to the maximum $250,000 to 29 municipalities statewide to build and improve recreation facilities. The funds come from the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund.

The General Assembly established the PARTF in 1994 from 75 percent of the excise tax on real estate deed transfers. From that amount, 65 percent goes to state parks, 30 percent to local parks, and 5 percent to coastal beach access. The fund is expected to generate $18 million a year, according to a press release from the supervising state agency.

This is the first year local governments have received their full share of the money, and it has created excitement among recreation directors. The authority selected the grant winners from among 121 requests totaling more than $14 million. The state will grant more than $5 million by the end of the fiscal year in July.

The Parks and Recreation Authority, made up of appointed citizens, oversees distribution of the grants. The grants must be matched locally.

The Currituck County park will include a large picnic shelter, ball fields, a basketball court, and a walking trail among other sports facilities.

Gates County will receive $106,000 toward a 14-acre park including ball fields, tennis and volleyball courts and trails.

Hyde County gets $65,000 to develop a 7-acre park with a playground and community center.

Perquimans County gets $20,950 toward a 3.4-acre waterfront park with a boardwalk, picnic shelter and playground.

When the fourth-quarter tax revenues come in, approximately 25 more municipalities will get grants, said Margaret Jordan, a spokeswoman for the state DEHNR. She would not say whether Pasquotank, Dare, Chowan counties or Elizabeth City were on the list.

Politics must not have had much pull in the selection process. Sen. Marc Basnight of Dare County appointed three of the 11-member authority. One of its members is Troy Boyd of Elizabeth City.

Elizabeth City applied for $80,000 to build soccer fields with lights and a volleyball court for phase I of a new 25-acre park on Wellfield Road.

``If we don't get it next year, we'll have a good shot at it next year,'' Elizabeth City Parks and Recreation Director Jim Overman said.

Pasquotank County requested a $100,000 matching grant to build a park called Fun Junktion at the former landfill site on Simpson Ditch Road.

Dare County requested $250,000 to build a youth center that would include a gymnasium and multipurpose rooms.

Chowan County requested money for a soccer field with lights.

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