DATE: Tuesday, November 4, 1997             TAG: 9711040297

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: MANTEO                            LENGTH:   67 lines

DON'T MOVE LIGHTHOUSE, BOARD TO ASK DARE COMMISSIONERS VOTE TO SEEK ADDITION OF A FOURTH GROIN.

Dare commissioners vote to seek addition of a fourth groin.

Less than a week after Congress allocated $2 million toward a study on moving the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, the Dare County Board of Commissioners decided Monday to ask federal officials to protect the beacon at its present location.

The board unanimously approved a resolution Monday asking that the National Park Service be given authority to seek funds for a fourth groin to stabilize the eroding shoreline in front of the nation's tallest brick lighthouse.

``The majority of Hatteras Islanders feel that relocation of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is very costly, risky and is unnecessary,'' Danny Couch, a Buxton businessman, told the board. ``We're all Dare Countians and Outer Bankers by choice. . . . If you remove this element, you're disrespecting everything we're about.''

Accompanied by several other members of the southern Outer Banks business community, Couch told the panel that moving the tower would be disruptive to business and would diminish its historic significance and integrity.

``It's kind of been forced down everybody's throat - `By golly, we're going to move this thing' - but it's not going to come without cost,'' Couch said.

The park service last winter dropped its pursuit of a fourth groin to save the 208-foot-high structure in favor of moving the 3,000-ton lighthouse a half-mile from the surf. Federal lawmakers this year were able to ask for only $2 million of the total costs to move it. But the Clinton administration is expected to support appropriation of the additional $10 million next year.

Opponents of the proposal fear the 127-year-old black-and-white beacon would not be able to survive being boosted up on rails and slid slowly inland. They say the groin, at $1.7 million, is a lot cheaper and would buy many more years for the beloved Outer Banks landmark.

``It's the most publicized piece of real estate in the state of NorthCarolina - it surpasses everything,'' said Frisco resident Ward Barnett. ``Lose it - we all should bow our heads in shame.''

But Commissioner Richard Johnson said that any effort to change course at this point could be counterproductive because he said the approval process for a groin, even sandbags, could be time-consuming. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' groin project was turned down by the state last year.

``This fourth groin might be longer coming than we think,'' Johnson said.

Board members were also concerned that if the timbers supporting the structure are rotting, protecting the lighthouse at its Buxton beachfront spot would be a moot point.

The board agreed with chairman Geneva Perry to approve the resolution with a letter asking for a study to make sure the foundation is safe.

In other business, the board scheduled a public hearing Nov. 17 on the updated schedule of rates and values that will be used to appraise property in the county. The values, bound in a book the size of a large city phone directory, are one of the final steps in the revaluation process.

Property owners should be receiving new property assessments by late February, said County Tax Assessor Greta Skeen.

Skeen said it's still too early to determine the outcome of the revaluation, last done in 1990. But she said there are indications that building costs have risen and the tax base will end up increasing slightly. As far as land values, she said, ``some are going up, and some are going down.''

Bill Connolly, assistant director of the ad valorem tax division of the North Carolina Department of Revenue, said the new schedule of values fairly reflects the actions of buyers and sellers.

``I think the public will accept it,'' Connolly said.

Also Monday, the board agreed to create an advisory board and citizen panel on siting cellular towers. A six-month moratorium on new towers was also approved.

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