[Army Corps Gets $500,000 To Design Ocean Isle Beach Project
BY SUSAN USHER
A X 500,000 line item in the U.S. Army Corps of
eers' budget will allow the Corps' Wilmington
to continue its work on a hurricane and wave
i project approved for Ocean Isle Beach in the
1960s but never constructed.
The original project was regional, encompassing the
island communities of Yaupon Beach, Long
Holden Beach. Sunset Beach and Ocean Isle
Beach, said Daniel Small, acting project manager for
the corps. Its design concept was put in place, but the
"local cooperation," or matching funds, needed at that
point didn't materialize.
The draft of the revamped Ocean Isle Beach project
is due at the corps' division headquarters in January
1995.
In the fall of 1989, on the heels of Hurricane Hugo,
Ocean Isle Beach Mayor Betty Williamson asked the
corps to reactivate the project Since thai, two more of
the original project towns, Yaupon Beach and Long
Beach, have also asked for reactivation. The corps ex
pects to address those requests after the Ocean Isle
study is done.
Proposed originally for Ocean Isle Beach was a
benn and dune project running 20,000 feet along the
beach, similar to an existing corps project at Carolina
Beach.
"We tried to apply it to today's conditions, but Ocean
Isle Beach has changed so radically, we couldn't place
it there," said Small.
Small said the corps is "revisiting" that original de
sign in terms of changing ecooomic and geographic
factors and modern environmental and coastal manage
ment regulations.
Those include a migrating Shallotte Inlet at the east
end and the semi-private nature of Ocean Isle's west
end, as well as regulations forbidding structures such as
seawalls and mandating protection of public access to
the waterfront.
"The new design will be much more site-specific,"
said Small. "The design acknowledges what is there to
day. We're working to get all the design features and
criteria together."
Determining a continuing source of suitable beach
material is a major part of the benefit/cost ratio analysis
of the feasibility study.
(See CORPS, Rage 2-A)
| I if ":~ SWICK# BEACON
[ Y?or, Numbar 42 Shottolte, HcrthCaroiina, Thvrsdoy, Auq^t 18, 1994 50* ftyCojpy 38 ft?Q?s, 4 Sections, Plus insert* ~]
County Manager
Is Home , Eager
To Get On Job
BY ERIC CARLSON
County Manager Wyman Yelton
is back in town and eager to return
to work, while
the man who
filled his shoes
for the past three
months says he
is looking for
ward to his next
assignment as a
professional
temporary ad
, ministrator.
YELTON | _ f ;
interim
County Manager Charles McGinnis
said Tuesday he may be summoned
to another job closer to his Cabarrus
County home around Sept. 1, but be
hopes to stay on as head of
Brunswick County government until
Yelton can return to work.
Yelton was seriously injured in an
Easter Sunday highway accident
that killed his wife Kathryn and the
University of North Carolina coed
who crossed an Interstate 40 median
in Durham and smashed head-on in
to the Yelton 's Mercedes.
In a telephone interview from his
home in Southport Tuesday, Yelton
said he has been undergoing daily
physical tbesapy at Dosher Hospital
to speed his recovery from a broken
leg, shoulder and arm.
"I'm doing fine,'' Yelton said.
"It's slow, but I'm getting around
pretty good. I'm not as spry as I
used to be, but mentally I'm ready to
go. Based on the way I feel, if the
doctors say its okay, 1 hope to be
back the second week in Sep
tember."
Yelton was planning a trip to
Duke University Medical Center
Wednesday (Aug. 17) for X-rays
and an assessment of his progress.
Although he admits it's been "slow
going," Yelton said doctors expect
him to recover fully from his in
juries within two years.
"It's just going to take a little
tune," he said.
After living alone for several
weeks, Yelton said he is ready to get
out of the house and back into a foil
schedule of work, although he will
continue to begin each day with ear
ly morning therapy sessions.
Yelton said he was "overwhelmed
by all the support I received" after
the accident. He said he was deluged
with cards and letters, many firom
people he had never met
"It really helped get me through,
and I needed all the help I could
get," Yelton said. "It was amazing
how many people I didn't even
know sent me notes and get-well
cards. It was a big help."
Meanwhile, McGinnis said he has
enjoyed his assignment in Bruns
wick County and is pleased with his
accomplishments. During his first
12 days on the job last May, Mc
Ginnis completed a county budget
and pay classification plan that was
adopted without major revision.
After a gentle nudge from the coun
ty commissioners, McGinnis spew
headed the creation of a kmg-talked
about "central permitting" system
that will open Sept 1.
rowmwbersuswuwB
VIRGINIA AND ODELL WILLIAMSON naive frxim Gov. Jim Hunt a rendering of the auditorium
presented the couple by Brunswick Community College.
Auditorium Reflects Vision,
Commitment To Future: Hunt
BY SUSAN USHER
It was a quiet celebration of a
community's vision of tha future
and of a man whose own vision is
helping to make it an everyday reali
ty
The men and women who joined
Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. last
Wednesday evening to mark the for
mal dedication of the Odeil
Williamson Auditorium had waited
a long time for that celebration. It
was approximately nine years ago
when voters approved an $8 million
bond issue to finance construction of
a permanent campus for Brunswick
Community College, and a central
auditorium for the community it
serves.
Steve Skillman, cultural arts coor
dinator for the Brunswick County
Schools and past president of the
Brunswick County Aits Council,
was part of the advisory group that
helped shape the vision of a cultural
fool point, an auditorium planted in
the center of the county that could
attract all kinds of activities and
events and in doing so, bring the
people of Brunswick County closer
together.
They wanted professional consul
tants involved in design of the facili
ty, which was made possible by the
.auditorium share of the bond issue,
and they wanted the auditorium to
have the "professional, first-rate
manager" vital to its success, which
came in the person of Manager
Mike Sapp. It was Brunswick
Community College Foundation
rwmtor ?nH benefactor Odell
Williamson who made that possible,
establishing a $500,000 endowment.
Interest earned from the principal
will help underwrite the cost of
managing the auditorium throughout
its useful life.
While the auditorium's first event
was BCCs 1993 commencement
THE GOVERNOR stayed on the i move hat Wednesday while visit
ing Brunswick County. Promoting his Smart Start initiative, the
state's leading Democrat took time to read aloud ?7 Need A Hug"
to Hum yarn old Meredith Cox^ ^during a tour of The Kid's
last August, the "magic moment"
for Skillman didn't come until May,
when the North Carolina Symphony
performed for 1,500 school children
from all across Brunswick County,
some venturing inside an auditorium
for the first time in their lives.
"You are the owners; you are the
people who madf this a dream come
true for yean to come," Skilhnan
told the audience, inviting them to
stand for a round of applause in thr*r
own honor. They did.
Williamson recalled the ground
breaking in 1969, held using a shov
d and a tub of dirt brought into the
BCC Student Center. He admitted to
his own moments of frustration and
doubt during the four years the audi
torium was under design and con
struction, and he praised the "gram
toots effort" and commitment that
made the vision into a reality.
Clinging to that same theme Hunt
told the sizeable audience, "This
should not be just a dedication of a
building, bat a rededication of peo
ple to malriag their county all it can
be, all that it should be and all that it
(See GOVERNOR, Page 2- A)
Supply School
Will Open With
Terms, Deadline
BY ERIC CARLSON
Supply Elementary School will be
allowed to open on schedule Aug.
23 under strict guidelines from the
county health department, which has
given the school system 90 days to
fix a sewage treatment system that
failed five months ago.
The school can continue paying to
have its sewage pumped out and
hauled away for treatment temporar
ily, provided measures are taken to
protect children from
possible health hazards,
Brunswick County
Health Director Michael
Rhodes said Tuesday.
Last week the board of
health instructed Rhodes
to meet with Superinten
dent Ralph Johnston at
Supply Elementary for an
inspection of the failed
septic system and to dis
cuss the school system's
plan for repairing it Rhodes was
told to report his findings to board
Chairman Patrick Newton, who said
he might call a special mo? tng of
the health board to consider closing
the school.
After examining the system with
Johnston last Thursday, Rhodes said
he prepared a list of conditions un
der which the school could be al
lowed to open using a temporary
"pump- and- ha ul" arrangement for
90 days.
Newton approved the measure
and called off the meeting. But he
insisted that if the school's septic
system is not repaired by mid
November, the health board will
again consider closing the school
until it is fixed permanently.
"I wanted Mr. Rhodes to make it
clear that they cannot open that
school until those conditions are
met," Newton said Tuesday. "After
90 days, if they're making a legiti
mate effort to straighten things out,
we'll discuss their progtess and de
cide if enough is being done.
"I've been under the impression
that they haven't felt any urgency to
get it fixed," Newton said. "But I
can tell you right now, if they're still
fiddling with it after 90 days, there's
going to be a problem."
Rhodes said he was unable to
contact state officials Tuesday to
find out whether they have received
the school system's plans for perma
nently fixing the Supply Elementary
septic system. The N.C Division of
Environmental Management, which
must approve repair proposal, had
not received all the information it
needed from the schools hi week,
Rhodes said.
After visiting the school and de
termining "there is no way the final
repnin can be done prior to the start
of classes," Rhodes said he gave
Johnston a wiktui list of i <?nlilii w
under which the ***" open
and operate while hauling its sewage
away for treatment.
All five of the precautionary safe
ty measures must be in place before
school starts next week, Rhodes
said.
Johnston was instructed to:
? Include requirements in the
school system's contract with
sewage haulers specifying bow often
the 16,000-galton septic tanks will
be serviced and where the effluent
will be disposed. The
previous agreement
called for the work to be
done "as needed." Last
year, the tanks sometimes
required service "more
than twice a day,"
Rhodes said.
? Install an 8-foot
high fence around the
above-ground access
points to the septic tanks.
The fence is intended to
keep children on the nearby play
ground from coming near the area
where trucks will pump effluent out
the tanks.
? Fill to ground level a large hole
dug with a back hoe and left open on
school grounds since last spring.
The deep pit was excavated to allow
inspection of the septic system's ni
trification field.
? Install an automatic alarm on
the septic tank to alert school offi
cials whenever sewage effluent
reaches a pre -determined level. The
alarm will sound outside the build
ing and in the administrative office
to indicate that the tanks need to be
pumped out.
? Repair surface drainage prob
lems on school grounds that often
cause stormwater to back up around
the septic tanks. Asked how severe
the problem was, Rhodes replied,
"It's bad."
The school system has also been
instructed to have tests conducted on
soil samples taken from the area
where sewage seeped to the surface
after the septic system failed.
Rhodes said it is unlikely that the
type of domestic waste from a septic
tank would cause harmful contami
nation of the soiL
Rhodes stressed that the pump
and haul technique used last year to
operate Supply Elementary School
is "a very safe method" of treatment
that is allowed in some areas of the
state as a permanent sewage dispos
al system. Brunswick County does
not permit pump and haul as a long
term sewage treatment method.
"If all the conditions are met, it
will be a safe system," Rhodes said.
"Pump and haul is a legitimate
method. The problem is that it's ex
pensive."
Hauling Supply Elementary
School's sewage away for treatment
has cost the school system more
than $18,000 so for.
Long-Awaited Central Permit Office Nears Reality
BY ERIC CARLSON
Beginning Sept. 1, a property owner who
wants to build a home or business in Bruns
wick County will no longer have to endure a
frustrating administrative process that often
seems more complicated than the actual con
struction.
You won't be required to write the same
name, address, telephone number, tax parcel
identifier, etc., etc., etc. at the top of a half
dozen forms.
No more wandering through the maze of
identical county government buildings, look
ing for the planning department, the tax de
partment, the building inspector, the register of
deeds, the department of environmental
health.
Never again will you be required to wait in
line at one office only to be toid that you must
first walk across the county government com
plex and wait in several other lines before
coming back to wait one mote time.
Simplification is the primary the goal of
"central permitting." a much sought-after but
rarely achieved system linking all the county's
regulatory agencies by computer. Officials
hope it will eliminate the duplication services
by the permitting agencies and alleviate multi
ple headaches for the applicants.
When the "oAe-stop shopping" office opens
for business in the pluming dcpaitmcnt build
ing next month, Brunswick County will join a
handful of North Carolina counties that have
successfully implemented a full-service cen
tral permitting office.
At the Brunswick County Board of Com
missioners regular meeting Monday night.
Interim County Manager Charles McGinnis
announced that the new permitting system will
go into operation Sept. 1.
The board agreed to set an Oct 3 public
hearing on some minor amendments to the
Centralized Permitting Ordinance, adopted last
month. A majority of the commissioners infor
mally agreed to drop a proposed amendment
requiring that all property taxes be paid before
a development permit could be obtained.
"From what I gather, there are about IS
counties where they have some sort of stream
lined system. But there are probably only four
with complete centralized permitting" Mc
Ginnis said in an interview Tuesday.
As in most counties. Brunswick officials
have talked for years about simplifying the
cumbersome proceas of getting development
permits. But it was McGinn is, at the urging of
the county commissioners, who finally
brought together the various county agencies
and implemented the massive restructuring in
leas than three months.
Under the present system in effect across
much of die state, most people who want to
build a home or commercial structure must be
gin by visiting the register of deeds office, the
tax administrator's office, the planning depart
ment and possibly the geographic information
services (GIS) office to establish the owner
(Sce DEPARTMENT, Page 2-A)