Development Board
Criticized By Member
? (Continued From Page 1-A)
much," Myrie said.
Monks also said he had contacted
prison officials and learned that the
state would not consider building a
correctional facility in the county
unless there was a significant show
of support for the idea. He said he
had asked the RDC members to dis
cuss the idea with their county com
missioners.
After hearing their responses.
Monks said he determined that the
idea of building a prison "was not
something the group felt it wanted to
pursue." He said members indicated
that a correctional facility would be
"too controversial" and would hurt
tourism.
But Myrie insisted that the pro
posal was not given a fair hearing.
He said the RDC should have thor
oughly researched the idea and pre
scnted its findings to the county
commissioners. He also dismissed
claims that a prison would harm the
tourist industry.
"You would never know it was
here," Myrie said Tuesday. "This is
one of the biggest counties in the
state. We could put it out in the
Green Swamp and have the alliga
tors guard it."
At the urging of several board
members. Monks said Monday night
that he would include the prison pro
posal in his quarterly report to the
county commissioners next month.
In other business, the commis
sioners chose Don Hughes to serve
as chairman; John Ramsey, vice
chairman; Arthur Clawson, secre
tary; and Elizabeth McLean, treasur
er. Ralph King and Vernon Ward
were welcomed as new members.
Holden Beach Rental
Agents Under Scrutiny
(Continued From Page I-A) "Real estate agents, under state
said the town would send a follow- law, are not allowed to misrepresent
up letter informing the real estate a property for sale or rent," Brogden
commission that Swans' letter was noted. 'The agent has a duty not to
not intended as a complaint. misrepresent facts they can verify on
Swarts said he was seeking infor- their own."
mation from the real estate commis- Town officials say they're con
sion on how to deal with the over- cemed about overcrowding because
crowding of rental units, an issue it can lead to septic system failure
that has been debated at Holden and pollution of ground and surface
Beach for years. waters.
Despite the lev... fecmp. "The consequence is if the system
to distance itself from Swarts letter, ^ . . ? We ^
Brog<kn said the state is investigate & can k? anyone from
ing. We have this information in ?ofl? , f .. ?
6 . . . , . . using that property and it becomes
ZUSfcmZ- " 8?me "towi"-a
The real estate commission re- The state investigation will proba
ceived responses Monday from Alan bly be lengthy. "The typical time
Holden Realty and Brunswickland frame on this kind of inquiry is four
Realty. Brogden said Alan Holden to six months," Brogden said.
wrote in his response that agents ad- Overcrowding is an issue across
vertise the capacity requested by the state, not just along the coast or
homeowners. in resort areas. "This is not the first
"I don't know that's a sufficient kind of case we've had like this. It
defense. We're still looking into will probably not be the last,"
that," Brogden said. Brogden said.
STAFF PHOTO BY EtIC CARLSON
Riding The Lip
Brett Fulford of Holden Beach executes a perfect "floater," propelling his surfboard up the face of a wave and riding the lip as it crashes
down. An overnight storm and strong south winds brought head-high surf to the Holden Beach Fishing Pier Saturday morning.
SBTA Seeks Voting Districts For Town Council
(Continued From Page 1-A) numbere mean as much as money"
to the effort to purchase the property
She criticized the engineers' most for conservation purposes.
recent proposal to pump wastewater He expressed alarm at the recent
from southwestern Brunswick announcement that owner Janie
County to Horry County, S.C., for Pace Price wishes to develop the is
treatment and disposal, claiming land with "a motel, marina, restau
"they want to put the stuff into rant and at least 288 bedrooms."
South Carolina so it can come run- The town council and planning
ning back to us." board are currently studying options
SBTA board members are expect- for zoning Bird Island but cannot
ed to represent the organization's legally prohibit Price from the "fi
position at a town-sponsored public nancially bcneficial" use of her
hearing on the sewer system May 26 property. Although Price has said
at 6 p.m. in the Maples Clubhouse she would consider an offer to pur
of Sea Trail Plantation. chase the island, there have been no
Bird Island negotiations yet. Efforts are under
Bird Island Preservation Society way to seek public funding to aug
(BIPS) Chairman Bill Ducker said ment money raised by BIPS.
his organization now has nearly 800 Ducker criticized Price's plans to
members and added, "at this point, construct more than a mile of bridg
ing and causeway from her 40th dcr water," he said, adding that the
Street property to Bird Island, high-rise bridges 21 both Ozzsr: !s!s
"Those waters she intends to cross and Holden Beach were closed to
belong to all of us," he said. "What private vehicles for shorter periods
is proposed essentially converts pub- during the storm.
lie lands to private use." A 1990 lawsuit filed by SBTA
Price's access proposal is before halted plans to construct a high-rise
both the U.S. Army Corps of bridge at Sunset Beach pending
Engineers and the N.C. Division of completion of an environmental im
Environmental Management. pact statement. The environmental
Bridge study, according to Waldmiller, "is
Waldmiller reported that the really not under way yet, and it's a
Sunset Beach bridge was out of two-year project."
commission for more than nine Town council recently voted
hours during the severe winter storm unanimously to try to speed up the
of March 13. He criticized the re- study and replace the bridge.
newed charge by town and emer- Waldmiller thanked Shallottc
gency officials that the bridge en- Police Officer Joe Chie, also a vol
dangers lives and property. ? untcer firefighter and emergency
"It couldn't have been used any- medical technician, who stayed on
way, because the causeway was un- the island throughout the storm.
Attorney Soys Soles Bill Contradicts Itself
BY ERIC CARLSON
Slate Sen. R.C. Soles' bill to di
vide the town of Calabash into two
municipalities contains contradicto
ry sections describing two different
ways in which district voting would
be weighed in a referendum, the
town's attorney said Tuesday night.
"There's definately a problem in
the bill," Cnlabash Attorney Mike
Ramos told the town's board of
commissioners.
Section 4 of the proposed legisla
tion states that the division of what
is now Calabash would become ef
fective "only if approved separately
by the qualified voters of District #1
of the Town of Calabash AND the
qualified voters in District #2 of
Calabash." (Emphasis added)
But Section 6 says just the oppo
site, Ramos said. It reads, "...if a
majority of the votes in EITHER
district are 'for' ihe question," then
the split becomes effective.
The bill's title further confuses
the issue, calling it an act to remove
Carolina Shores Village from the
Town of Calabash "subject to the
approval of the residents of EITHER
Districts #1 AND #2 of the Town of
Calabash..."
However, statements made by
Soles suggest that Section 6 proper
ly states the intent of the legislation.
In a telephone interview on the day
the bill was filed. Soles told the
Beacon his intent was for a majority
vote by either district to bring about
the split
Ramos said he had discussed the
Soles bill with officials at the N.C.
League of Municipalities and was
told that the organization is "100
percent opposed to it." suggested
that the apparent contradictions in
the bill be brought to the League's
attention in hopes that the wording
can be clarified before Senate con
sideration.
The Soles bill calls for a referen
dum on the separation question and,
on the same day, a vote in Carolina
Shores on whether to incorporate the
large golf and retirement community
as a new town with its own mayor
and five-member council.
Soles said he introduced the bill
because of what he sees as irrcocon
cilable differences between the new
comers in District 2 and natives of
the old fishing and restaurant com
munity that comprised the original
town of Calabash (District 1).
But Mayor Douglas Simmons, a
lifelong District 1 resident, said he
believes Soles was merely following
through on a campaign promise
made to wealthy downtown restau
rant owners who oppose the town's
strict enforcement of a long-standing
sign ordinance.
At an earlier meeting, the town
board unanimously approved a reso
lution opposing Soles effort to split
Calabash.
The commissoncrs Tuesday also
directed Ramos to ask the League of
Municipalities to press for more de
tails in Soles bill. Among the ques
tions the board wants answered are
how the existing town's assets
would be divided and how extrater
ritorial jurisdictions would be estab
lished between the two new towns.
Sewer Issue Votes
In another matter, the commis
sioners cast three identical split
votes on a new phase of ongoing ef
forts to provide central sewage ser
vice to downtown Calabash. As they
have done frequently in the past,
District 2 commissioners George
Anderson and Robert Noe voted
against moving forward with the
project. District 2 member Jon
Sanborn joined Keith Hardee and
Edward Rice from District 1 in a
majority vote to proceed.
The board voted 3 to 2 to endorse
a letter to Gov. Jim Hunt requesting
funds for a regional sewer system to
serve southwestern Brunswick
County. The towns of Sunset Beach
and Ocean Isle Beach have also
agreed to sign the letter. But
Shallotte and Holden Beach have
declined, saying they would not sup
port the request until the county
agrees to endorse the regional sys
tem.
By the same 3-to-2 margin, the
Calabash board agreed lo allow sew
er system planning engineers Joseph
Tombro and Jim Billups to pursue a
feasibility study and the necessary
permits to allow the town to pump
its sewage into the Little River, S.C.,
treatment plant. Officials there have
indicated a willingness to let
Calabash hook on to their system for
up to four y6ars, beginning in 1994,
while a permanent treatment facility
is arranged.
On the third sewage question, the
board again voted 3 to 2 to put a cap
on funding for the feasibility study
and the aquisition of interstate per
mits for the temporary disposal plan.
The commissioners agreed to pay no
more than $7,400, with Sunset
Beach contributing a like amount.
Inspector Criticized
In other business, the board heard
a lengthy complaint from attorney
Benedict Del Re about alleged mis
treatment by Calabash Building
Inspector Edward Schaack. Del Re
owns a small seven-unit business
complex currently housing his law
office, a restaurant, an art dealer
ship, a barber shop, a post office and
a dress shop.
Del Re accused Schaack of threat
ening him with a lawsuit, ordering
workers off his property and misin
terpreting town ordinances. He also
accused Schaack of a conflict of in
terest for allegedly offering his ser
vices as an engineer to rectify defi
ciencies in Del Re's buildings that
Schaack discovered while acting as
building inspector.
Schaack denied several of the
charges and asked to speak with the
commissioners in a closed session.
(Continued From Page 1-A)
Davis, Warren and Johnson all
cited enforcement problems as their
primary reason for opposing the
county-wide smoking controls.
Warren also expressed concern that
the rules could hurt business.
"I'm a reformed smoker myself
and I detest it. But we also need to
recognize the rights of businesses,"
Warren said. "1 don't want to go on
record in support of something that
could put someone out of business."
The county ordinance asks em
ployers to provide smoke-free areas
for non-smoking workers and to
separate smokers and non-smokers
"to the maximum extent possible"
without incurring any expense.
Owners of restaurants, coffee shops,
sandwich stands and other eating
establishments would b^ required to
set aside 25 percent 01 their indoor
sealing capacity as a designated
non-smoking area.
"Are we going to ask a hot-dog
stand with four seats to set aside
one for non-smoking?" Warren
asked. "I think that puts an undue
hardship on a small restaurant."
The county commissioners
could consider the proposed smok
ing regulations at their next meet
ing, April 15. They can adopt or re
ject one or both proposals, or they
may suggest changes and return the
ordinances to the health board,
Rhodes said.
In other business, the health
board agreed to ask the county com
missioners to approve a S2.5 budget
request for fiscal year 1993-94. If
approved, the budget would in
crease health department spending
by S315,087 or 12.6 percent.
Rhodes noted that most of the
"Are we going to
ask a hot-dog
stand with 4 seats
to set aside one for
non-smoking?"
?Don Warren
requested increase?a total of
$223,392?is needed to provide ad
ditional salaries for new employees
authorized when the commissioners
implemented a personnel study per
formed by the David M. Griffith
consulting firm.
If the recommended DMG
salaries are subtracted from the pro
posed budget, the requested in
crease would be only 3.6 percent,
Rhodes said. Interim County
Manager John Harvey has asked all
department heads to keep requested
budget increases below 5 percent.
The health board sdso voted
unanimously "to endorse the pro
posal of a regional waste water sys
tem in southwest Brunswick Coun
ty. Support for the idea was request
ed by engineers for Powell Asso
ciates of North Myrtie Beach, S.C.,
who have been hired by the towns
of Calabash and Sunset Beach to
help them develop a joint sewerage
system.
The firm has asked the towns of
Shallottc, Holden Beach and Ocean
Isle Beach to join in an effort to ask
the state to help create a regional
system that could serve all five
towns. The health board was asked
to support the proposal.
Smoking Ban Plans Sent
To County Commissioners
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(Continued From Page 1-A) ( , .
conlrol program alone would adc- *1 fC^lOHCll
quatcly improve water quality.
After studying information from "WClStCWQtCT SyStCTtl
both sides, the health board issued a wnul/i hn\)P nn
brief statement saying it "believes VvUUlCl rluvc tin
large wastewater systems must be nvpmll tionifimnt
designed in conjunction with storm- ttwu
water management systems to be nncitivp imnnrt nrt
successful in protecting the coastal l*U&Ulve im/JUCl Ufl
environment."
It adds, 'The Brunswick County
Board of Health believes a regional flCCllth..."
wastewater system would have an
overall significant positive impact Board Statement
on the public health of the citizens
of Brunswick County." gional sewer and stormwater man
On Tuesday, Ocean Isle Beach agement system in the South
and Calabash became the second Brunswick Islands.
and third local municipalities to ask At the same time, Ocean Isle will
Governor Jim Hunt to fund a plan to encourage the county commission
form the coast's first combined re- crs to lead the municipalities as
the public
Sewer Plan Gets Health Board, Towns' Nod
"prime pcrmiucc" for the kind of
system Powell Associates proposes.
Ocean Isle Beach is the only one of
the five municipalities currently
served by a central sewer system.
Both the Holder. Beach Board of
Commissioners and Shallottc Alder
men last week said they are interest
ed in a regional approach to water
quality control but declined to write
a letter to the governor as suggested
by Powell Associates. Both said the
county should lead the effort.
No Weather Report
No weather forecast or weather
summary for the South Brunswick
Islands is available in the Beacon
this week.
Jackson Canady, our weather con
sultant, is on vacation this week.
THE BRUMSWICK&fEACON
Established Nov. 1, 1962
Telephone 754-6890
Published Every Thursday
At 4709 Main Street
Shallotte, N.C. 28459
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