DATE: Wednesday, September 3, 1997          TAG: 9709030491

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: JEFFREY S. HAMPTON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CAMDEN                            LENGTH:   78 lines

RESIDENTS SAY NARROW ROAD CAN'T SUPPORT NEW SUBDIVISION

Homeowners on Muddy Road predicted auto accidents and lawsuits after county commissioners on Tuesday approved a 20-lot subdivision along the remote and narrow dirt road.

Residents said commissioners gave the go-ahead to avoid a lawsuit from the developers, Country Meadows Inc.

``Why can't somebody sue that wrecks along that road?'' Libbie Light said while standing in a neighbor's yard just after Tuesday's meeting.

Light lives in one of six spacious homes that make up Edney Creek subdivision. The lots are all at least 5 acres.

The Country Meadows lots will meet the county's minimum size of one acre and will sit just a few hundred yards from the end of Muddy Road and the Edney Creek homes.

Four new lots along Muddy Road have already been approved, making the subdivision a total of 24 lots on 33 acres. Common areas such as playgrounds will occupy some of the acreage.

Despite the protests, Camden planning director Mike Frangos recommended that the commissioners approve the subdivision because it meets the county's rules.

``The road has been washed out repeatedly,'' Frangos said. ``It's a horror story. But I have to be the planning director and say these people have the right to develop on this right-of-way.''

Frangos became the county's first planner eight months ago.

Muddy Road leaves Old Swamp Road and winds along farm fields and a swamp. The North Carolina Department of Transportation occasionally adds dirt and gravel. The road varies in width from 20 feet to 40 feet, and in some places trucks cannot pass. Heavy rains cause the swamp to overflow onto the road, and wind storms often blow trees across it, residents say.

Resident Cathy Ellison said she ran her van into the ditch trying to get around a road grader last year. In May, her son collided with another car coming around one of the sharp turns, she said.

``That's not a DOT-maintained road,'' said Commissioner J.C. Rountree, the lone dissenter on the five-member board. ``That's just a horse path they're trying to grade.''

Rountree represents the north end of the county, including Muddy Road.

Ellison argued that Section 104 of the county's planning codes allowed the commissioners to reject a subdivision if it compromises the ``safety and welfare'' of residents.

The right-of-way on Muddy Road is too narrow for paving. DOT requires at least a 45-foot easement and the agency does not buy right-of-way on secondary roads, said Don Conner, division engineer for NCDOT.

``The people along Muddy Road are going to have to donate right-of-way,'' Conner said. ``If we don't get right-of-way on Muddy Road, it won't get paved.''

DOT has power to condemn the property, but the move must be approved by the Board of Transportation, Conner said.

``They generally will not condemn more than one parcel,'' Conner said. ``Condemnation is rare.''

Camden resident Martha Pierce Cherry opposes the new subdivision and says landowners along Muddy Road will not give up their property for a right-of-way. Her brother owns a large tract along the road. Cherry and others call one-acre lots too cramped to preserve country living.

``The trickle of new people here has become an overwhelming flood,'' Cherry said of people buying land in Camden County. ``They come here and try to force city ways on our rural area.''

The Edney Creek property belonged to her ancestors for several generations until a developer bought it from heirs at an auction in 1990, she said. Cherry still owns a 5-acre lot there, including the old Pierce family cemetery.

Frangos said the problem may have been avoided if commissioners had seen the subdivision plans earlier in the process. Frangos plans to present to commissioners this month the county's first unified development policy.

The major feature of the new policy requires that commissioners approve sketch plans of a proposed subdivision.

``That's the best chance to say yes or no because they (developers) haven't invested a lot in it yet,'' Frangos said. ``(Country Meadows) could have been shot down then.''

The new development policies, however, would leave the minimum lot size at one acre.

``We live at the end of a hellacious road so we can come home and have some space,'' Ellison said.

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