
DATE: Saturday, August 9, 1997              TAG: 9708070335
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY      PAGE: 20   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:  107 lines

FIRST PLANNED COMMUNITY AT OUTER BANKS STILL THRIVES

Southern Shores, a 2,600-acre community north of Kitty Hawk on North Carolina's Outer Banks, stretches from ocean to sound, rolling across secondary dunes, winding through a canopy of maritime forest.

One of the area's first golf courses, Duck Woods, lies like an evergreen oasis at its heart, fed by fingers of Ginguite Bay and the creeks and ponds that thread through surrounding neighborhoods.

When speaking of Southern Shores property, diversity has been both the inspiration and the attraction in this 4-mile-square piece of barrier island since naturalist Frank Stick and his partners began building on it in 1947.

Stick envisioned a vacation community where the natural face of the land and its resources would be respected. Huntington Cairns, a protege of H.L. Mencken and a friend of Stick's, called Southern Shores ``the other Eden.''

Cairns loved the area and built one of the first vacation homes in Southern Shores in 1947. Over the years, he brought a parade of American writers and artists to his oceanfront paradise, leading some to speculate that the community was only for the well-to-do.

In the late '60s, the developer said, ``For while it is true that a significant number of well-to-do citizens own seasonal dwellings here, the goal is not to reserve this magnificent tract of sand, sea, forest and fresh water for a favored few, but to make it available to a greater number of individuals of average means who plan and deserve either a vacation or a retirement home.''

Frank Stick was right about most aspects of Southern Shores, but he underestimated its appeal as a year-round community. Today, it has a year-round population of more than 1,800; about one-third of those folks are families with young children.

In 1955, David Stick succeeded his father, Frank, who retired as head of the Kitty Hawk Land Co., Southern Shores' developer. And it was David Stick who left the most enduring mark on the community.

In the northern section of Southern Shores, he moved the highway west of the beach and drew plans for ``oceanside'' homes off dead-end streets. He stopped drawing lots on a grid and began following the contours of the land.

Lot sizes were increased. By the mid 1960s, an average Southern Shores lot was 18,500 square feet; in other Outer Banks communities, 5,000 square feet was the standard.

Stick followed his father's plans to preserve natural beauty. Roadways were constructed to bypass and overlook scenic spots rather than pass through and destroy. Utilities were placed underground. Recreation areas were set aside. Commercial property was limited and separated from residential.

Restrictive covenants, architectural review procedures and setbacks - things many homeowners take for granted today - were drawn up with the future in mind. At the time, they represented extraordinary vision.

David Stick believed from the beginning that Southern Shores would become a year-round community. He pushed development into areas that typically did not interest vacation home buyers. ``The basic change I made was trying to develop non-oceanfront property and make it appealing,'' Stick said in a 1993 interview. ``Everybody wanted oceanfront in those days.''

Today, most year-round residents live in the wooded and soundfront neighborhoods that David Stick drew himself, lot by lot. He said he labored over each one, because ``I wanted to be proud of anything we did. I didn't want a lot here I wouldn't be happy living on.''

Chicahauk, a 550-acre subdivision in the heart of Southern Shores where 25 percent of the land was set aside as green space, was Stick's last project before retiring in the mid-1970s. It is still recognized as a masterpiece of land planning.

Kern Pitts bought oceanfront property in Southern Shores in 1967. But when he retired from the Army in 1974, he moved into a soundside home on Dogwood Trail. Citing the woods, the water and the golf course, he calls Southern Shores ``the Shangri-La of the Outer Banks.''

In 1979, fearing Shangri-La might fall prey to developers who didn't share their community vision, residents of Southern Shores incorporated as a town to be masters of their own destiny.

Pitts' philosophy of providing the least amount of government for the least amount of taxes while assuring a high quality of life has kept him in the mayor's seat since the first elections that year.

Southern Shores has been able to think big while keeping government small because its citizens are extraordinarily active in the community. Innovative building, recycling and other programs have been provided with property taxes of just 22 cents for each $100 of assessed value in addition to Dare County taxes - less than half the tax rate of some other beach towns.

Other services are provided through the Southern Shores Civic Association (annual membership dues, $35), which owns and maintains the town's ocean and sound beach accesses and boat marinas.

In 1979, fewer than 300 people lived in Southern Shore all year; there were 350 houses. Today, more than half of the community's 2,850 home sites have been built. Approximately 500 Southern Shores homes - mostly east side properties near the ocean - are vacation cottage rentals.

The community is nearly complete, but the reasons for buying property in Southern Shores are still what they were 40 years ago, Stone said.

``The foresight in planning, the beauty of the land, the quality controls and the good value.'' ILLUSTRATION: FOR SALE

Although most Southern Shores properties are now on the resale

market, Kitty Hawk Land Company (261-2131 or 800-488-0738), the

community's developer, is still an active presence. The company is

offering several $33,500, half-acre, wooded lots with 8.5 percent

owner financing on Dogwood Trail and Duck Woods Drive.

Recently advertised Southern Shores homes ranged from $106,000

for a classic two-bedroom ``flat top'' in one of the subdivision's

oldest neighborhoods to $433,000 for a three-bedroom soundfront home

with owner financing.

Several Outer Banks real estate companies concentrate on Kitty