P8/C8
),.*.**CAR-RT lot**c
...I
'"Sopbuoenubrarv
482-4418
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
50«
Council rejects Yacht Club lease proposal
BY REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
The town council last
week declined a request
from the Edenton Yacht
Club to lease a portion of
the former Northeast Com
mission building.
The town council voted 4
3 at its Aug. 9 meeting to de
cline the yacht club request,
which would have allowed
the club continued access
to space it currently uses in
the building for storage and
instruction even after the
building is sold.
Mayor Roland Vaughan
broke a 3-3 tie to defeat the
motion, which he called a
thinly veiled effort to block
the establishment of a brew
pub at the location in ques
tion.
The item was introduced
by Administrative Commit
tee chair Steve Biggs. He
and the committee’s two
other members, Norma
Simpson and Elton Bond,
both voted in favor of grant
ing the lease. Council mem
bers Sambo Dixon, Jimmy
Stallings and Bob Quinn
voted “no” on the question,
leading to the 3-3 tie.
Prior to the vote the may
or chastised the members
of the Administrative Com
mittee for what he termed
bringing forward the lease
proposal prematurely.
“In my opinion, the mo
tion (to adopt the lease) is
clearly out of sequence,” he
said.
Vaughan said he felt the
appropriate action would be
for the council, in keeping
with its most recent vote on
the issue, to allow Raleigh
businessman John Glover to
return to Edenton and talk
with the council concerning
any questions council mem
bers have regarding his de
sire to establish a brewpub
at the site.
Once a determination has
been made about whether
to allow Glover to purchase
the building, he said, the
question of the requested
lease could be revisited.
“He (Glover) will come
back at your invitation and
talk about what he’s come
up with (in terms of amend
ed plans for the building),”
See BUILDING, 4A
Fire destroys century-old two-story house
BY REGGIE PONDER
Editor
A century-old house
in northern Chowan
County was de
stroyed by fire early Friday
morning.
Mary De Jesus’s home
was located on Virginia
Road just north of the
Northern Chowan Commu
nity Center.
Center Hill Crossroads
Fire Chief Mike Hamilton
said the fire department
was dispatched to the scene
at 3:19 am. Friday. Hamilton
said he arrived within three
or four minutes and found
the two-story wooden struc
ture already engulfed in
flames.
The Edenton Fire Depart
ment also responded to the
fire.
De Jesus said she was
thankful that she and the
other three people who
were in the house when the
fire started all made it out
alive, even though all her
possessions were lost in the
fire.
“I’ve about cried myself
out of tears, to be honest
with you,” De Jesus said
Saturday morning.
Hamilton said the cause
of the fire is still being in
vestigated but it appears to
started from an electrical
cause.
De Jesus said the insur
ance company also would
be sending someone out
to investigate. She said she
plans to rebuild but may not
be able to “build a grand old
house like this was.”
Some of those at the
See FIRE, 4A
STAFF PHOTO BY REGGIE PONDER
Mary De Jesus’s home on Virginia Road just north of the Northern Chowan Community Center was destroyed by fire early Friday morning. The
fire was extinguished by firefighters from the Center Hill Crossroads and Edenton fire departments.
Hotel renovations waiting on financing package
BY REGGIE PONDER
Editor
The developer planning an
upscale renovation of the histor
ic Hotel Hinton building is still
ironing out details of the financ
ing that will make the project
viable.
SAGA Construction and De
velopment Inc. closed its pur
chase of die historic structure
from Chowan County in July of
last year, following a due dili
gence period that stretched out
over two years.
“We’re continuing to work
on putting the financing toether
and we’re starting to get closer
on that,”
Bob Howsare of SAGA said
this week.
Howsare said rruyor construc
tion on the project is estimated
to take about nine months. The
company is projecting a 12
month turnaround once the fi
nancing is in place.
Howsare said that based on
how he feels about the progress
on the project at this time he
believes the mtyor renovations
should be under construction
by the first of next year, which
should enable the hotel to open
in the first few months of 2018.
He cautioned that he was dis
cussing an ideal timetable based
on a best-case scenario.
Once the hotel opens it is ex
pected to create 50 or more new
jobs on-site.
Although the historic structure
next to the 1767 Chowan County
Courthouse on East King Street
most recently was used as an of
fice building for the county, the
building previously housed the
Hotel Hinton. An earlier hotel in
the same location was known as
the Bayview Hotel.
The site was home to inns and
taverns all the way back to the
colonial period.
Chowan County sold the
building to Preservation North
Carolina, which in tum sold it to
SAGA.
SAGA’s plans call for the de
velopment of a luxury hotel
with guest rooms and suites as
well as extensive meeting space,
a fine dining restaurant and a
rooftop lounge with views of
Edenton Bay and the town’s his
toric district.
Edenton Town Manager Anne
Marie Knighton said project de
velopers are working on both
new market tax credits and tra
ditional bank financing in order
to get the financing in place to
fund the significant renovations
planned for the building.
“They’re still very optimistic,”
Knighton said.
Apex spokesman clarifies company ownership
BY REGGIE PONDER
Editor
A spokesman for Apex
Clean Energy Inc. has
clarified the company’s
relationship to global en
ergy giant BP in the face
of persistent claims by
an activist in Perquimans
County that BP owns
©2009 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
Apex.
Apex is the Charlot
tesville, Va.-based com
pany that has applied for
conditional use permits
in Chowan and Perqui
mans to construct the
300-megawatt Timber
mill Wind Project in the
two counties.
A quasi-judicial hear
ing before the Chowan
County Board of Com
missioners on the
Chowan CUP applica
tion is slated to begin
Monday at 6 p.m. at the
Northern Chowan Com
munity Center.
*
“BP is not a parent
owner of Apex,” com
pany spokesman Kevin
Chandler said this week
when asked about Alan
Lennon’s request that
the Chowan Herald
“correct the erroneous
statement made by Mr.
Chandler,” which was a
reference to Chandler’s
statement - cited in the
article “Public speaks
out on Timbermill Wind
Project” in the Aug. 3
Chowan Herald - that
BP does not own Apex.
Chandler made the
statement to the Chow
an Herald for the Aug.
3 article after Lennon
stated during com
ments at the July 26
meeting of the Chowan
County Planning Board
that Apex was owned
by BP.
Since the publication
of the Aug. 3 article,
Lennon has contin
ued to assert that BP
owns Apex, citing in
formation on the Apex
website that describes
Apex as a subsidiary of
Greenlight Energy Re
sources.
Lennon also cited on
line references to BP’s
acquisition of Green
light Energy Inc.
But Chandler said
that after BP acquired
Greenlight Energy Inc.,
Greenlight executives
regrouped find formed
a new company.
Chandler quoted from
the Apex website’s his
tory page: “Following
that sale, the leader
ship team got together
again to reinvest in the
clean energy industry
through a new venture,
Greenlight Energy Re
sources."
*
One-stop
voting
schedule
adopted
From staff reports
The Chowan County Board of
Elections has announced one-stop
voting hours for the upcoming Gen
eral Election.
There will be one-stop voting at
the Agricultural Extension Center,
located at 730 N. Granville St, Eden
ton, and the Northern Chowan Com
munity Center, located at 2869 Vir
ginia Road, Tyner.
The hours at the Tyner site will be
7:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. on Nov. 34, and 7:30
а. m. -1 p.m. on Nov. 6. At the Eden
ton site the hours will be 8 am. - 5
p.m. on Oct 20-21 and Oct. 24-28.
On two Saturdays, Oct. 29 and Nov.
б, there will be one-stop voting at the
Edenton site from 7:30 am.-l p.m.
Oct 31-Nov. 4, the hours at the
Edenton site will be 7:30 am-6 p.m.
The number of days of early voting
in the county reflects a recent court
decision that overturned a state law
that had reduced the total number of
days of early voting.
The Chowan County Democratic
Party requested that one-stop voting '
last until 6 p.m, on Saturday, Nov. 5,
That recommendation was not ad
opted by the board as part of its one
stop voting schedule.
%