Newspapers / State Port Pilot (Southport, … / Jan. 8, 1992, edition 1 / Page 2
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__ The State Port Pilot OUR TOWN Long Beach Today (Wednesday) Long Beach commissioners are to convene in formally around 4 p.m. to get a grand tour of the facilities they now command. Town manager David Poston said he has designed an orientation ses sion primarily geared to acquaint new commissioners with staff, facilities and equipment. "I want them to know every employee’s name and face and what they do," Poston said. "I want them to know all the buildings we have and every piece of equipment.” Poston said that knowledge will be essential to new commissioners when budget discussions begin in late winter or early spring. Also this week, staff was busy preparing to answer questions at a sec ond public hearing on a proposed public wastewater management sys tem. Commissioners will conduct a second night of public hearings on the proposal Thursday at 7 p.m. at the recreation center. A referendum on a proposed S15-million bond authorization to fi nance the project is tentatively set for March 31. (See related story.) Two opportunities for citizens to serve the Town of Long Beach now exist. This week, persons who are interested in serving on either the town’s parks and recreation advisory committee or the ABC board are invited to send letters of interest to town clerk Pat Brunell. Caswell Beach About 80 percent of all property taxes have been collected from Cas well Beach property owners, tax collector Linda Bethune said this week. She called that collection rate at. this time of year "pretty good." Actually for those who haven’t paid, it’s pretty bad. Monday was the last day to pay property taxes without penalty. Tuesday, a two-percent delinquency payment was tacked on unpaid tax bills. For every month taxes remain delinquent, an additional 3/4-percent penalty will be added. When commissioners meet Thursday, the first order of business will be to select a mayor pro-tem. Commissioners delayed that action at their reorganizational meeting last month as commissioner Bill Boyd, the current mayor pro-tem, was out of town. Commissioners will also hear a report from town attorney Elva Jess on a proposed amendment to the town’s zoning ordinance addressing vested property rights* The amendment comes in reaction to a statute adopted by the General As sembly in its last term. State agriculture department officials will shortly visit Caswell Beach to address the town’s erosion control committee. They will likely make arrangements to test-plant a variety trfbcaclLgrasses on dunes in the town at no cost to Caswell Beach. Yaupon Beach Tax collection is uppermost on the minds of staff in Yaupon Beach this week also. Town clerk Nancy Wilson said the actual percentage of collections hasn’t been calculated yet, but it appears payments are coming in about as fast as they did last year when the town’s tax collection rate was nearly 98 percent. "Maybe even a little better," Wilson said. Commissioners Monday night conducted a public hearing on a pro posed ordinance relative to the Yaupon Beach sewer construction pro ject Next Monday, commissioners will meet in regular session. Boiling Spring Lakes New officers elected to serve the Boiling Spring Lakes Volunteer Rescue Squad are: Cebcrt (Bert) Walls, chief; Grace Webb, assistant chief; Tim Stanley, captain; Elmer Schorzman, treasurer; Jimmy Sel lers, training officer. The squad now has 11 members, including five who have achieved certification at the Emergency Medical Technician-Intermediate level. When the county’s Advanced Life Support (ALS) system is initiated later this year, these EMT-I’s will be able to administer intravenous solutions and perform cardiac defibrillation, when in contact with a designated person at a hospital. Rescue squad members ask all citizens to display house numbers prominently on their homes so identification can be made easily in times of emergency. The squad is also seeking new members to train to become emergency medical technicians. Additional staff is badly needed. The Boiling Spring Lakes Volunteer Rescue Squad responded to an average of 14 calls a month in 1991. Bald Head Island The village’s fire equipment has moved to the new public safety quarters off Muscadine Wynd at the end of Edward Teach, and village manager Wallace Martin says that the balance of public safety func tions will likely be headquartered there by January 25. That is the date of the next village council meeting. Bald Head Association board meet ing and annual meeting of the association, and those sessions will all be held ift the public safety building. The building will then become the regular meeting site, replacing the village chapel, until completion of suitable facilities at a planned government seat - back near the chapel. Martin also reports that planting of 125,000 sprigs of beach grass to help retain renourishment sand is underway, and will likely continue through next week. Southport Aldermen are to receive a report from their library committee as they meet in regular session Thursday night. Recently two Southport aldermen and two county commissioners formed an ad hoc committee to determine the fate of the county library system. Residents of areas in the county told the committee it wanted Brunswick County to run an integrated library system and to abandon a city-county partnership which has a 30-plus-year history. Southport officials seemed to agree it was time to relinquish the control it has held over the system. Aldermen Nelson Adams and Mcezie Childs represented the city in the discussions. In other business to be brought before aldermen Thursday night, the board will hear a proposal from staff to sell surplus property and au thorize the purchase of a used truck. It also will receive a report from mayor Norman Holden on Southport’s possible designation as an "Ail America City”. Staff will reveal the lime and date of a proposed board retreat to dis cuss preliminary budget matters, and a date will be set for a workshop on a proposed pay and classification plan for municipal employees. NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION . It’s there. U. S. Coast Guard officials told citizens of Caswell Beach they weren’t fooling when they said a chain-link fence would encircle the federal compound. Town officials and the Coast Guard volleyed Photo by Ed Harper for months on the fence issue, just one of a number of projects un dertaken in an overall renovation of U. S. Coast Guard Station Oak Is land recently. , I Southport-Oak Island area Land use hearing Thursday By Holly Edwards County Editor What are the biggest environmen tal problems in Brunswick County? What areas should be protected and preserved? How can the county best control development and growth in its coas tal communities? These are some of the questions Brunswick County is asked to con sider every five years when it up dates its Coastal Area Management Act (CAMA) land use plan. And Thursday evening, Southport-Oak Island residents will have their op portunity to let the county planning board and board of commissioners know how they feel about land use issues. A public participation work shop is scheduled at 6:30 p.m. at the Southport-Oak Island Chamber of Commerce welcome center and the public is invited to attend. The workshop will be co-hosted by commissioner Gene Pinkerton of Yaupon Beach and planning board member John Barbee, of Southport. According to Pinkerton, many of the environmental problems in the county arc tied to land use, and a strong land use plan will lead to a strong zoning ordinance. "Land use and zoning arc married," he said. "If you can get a good zoning ordinance, you won’t have nearly the number of land use problems." County planner John Harvey cur rently is working on a zoning or dinance, and he said there will be numerous inter-relationships be tween the land use plan and the zoning document. "Zoning is sup posed to be based on a comprehen sive plan, and it will take the land use pian into significant account," he said. Harvey also said that public opinions and concerns expressed at ‘Land use and zoning are married. If you can get a good zoning or dinance, you wont have nearly the number of land use problems. ’ Gene Pinkerton County commissioner the upcoming public participation workshops will be used as guidelines for the land use plan as well as the zoning ordinance. ,, In past public workshops, Harvey said, Brunswick County residents have been mainly concerned about road and bridge improvements, bet ter storm drainage systems, better water distribution systems and a bet ter waste disposal system. The big gest environmenial concerns ex pressed were litter control, wetlands protection, the prohibition of atomic waste sites and the protection of scenic roads. The state has been conducting studies on whether or not the fishing industry is harming the environ ment, but Harvey said the studies have been inconclusive. "The public doesn’t perceive trying to sustain a fishing industry as a problem,” said Harvey. "But there is a question that the fishing industry may be over-fishing, over clamming, ovcr-oystcring." Another major environmental con See Land use, page 10 Yaupon Beach sewer cost: $28 a month By Richard Nubel Municipal Editor The average (5,000-gallon-per-month water customer in Yaupon Beach will pay about S28 per month in sewer charges when that city constructs a public wastewater management system. Each owner of developed property will also have to pay between $1,200 and $1,400 in up-front costs in assessments and tap and connection fees. About 20 property owners learned of those costs Monday night as Yaupon Beach commissioners, together with a consulting engineer, con ducted a public hearing on a proposed ordinance permitting sewer system development. Subsequent to the public hearing, commissioners voted to allow consult ing engineers Boney and Associates of Raleigh to present the ordinance to state agencies which control loan funds for which the town has applied. Commissioners said they still have to work out details of the proposal, es pecially assessment charges to owners of comer lots and vagaries in the model ordinance which address the filling of existing septic tanks and other matters. Commissioners also may opt to alter the proposed schedule of fees in the ordinance, realigning the balance of fixed fees with user fees. Under the terms of a financing proposal initiated by the Boney firm, Fast week's highs & lows jaixuaky Average High 48 degrees Average Low 34 degrees i ■ Data courtesy of Foxy Howard Graph by Debi McKellar Yaupon Beach has qualified for a loan at 3.57-pcrccnt interest from the federal Clean Water Act revolving loan fund, a fund that is administered by the state. The loan will finance the bulk of treatment facility cost. Line construction costs will be financed by a combination of a proposed S6.50-pcr-front-foot assessment of each property owner and a S350 tap-on fee. The front-foot assessment may be financed over a period as great as ten years, under the law, but engineers have recommended the offer of only a five-year finance period. Commissioners are to decide on how long a fi nance period is to be offered. Tap-on to the Yaupon Beach wastewater management system will be mandatory. Property owners will additionally have to bear the cost of ex tending sewer lines from their septic tanks to a clean-out pipe which will be installed by the town. Local plumbers will perform that task at cost to the property owner, under the proposal. Consulting engineer Robert Graham of the Boncy firm said final review comments from state regulatory agencies will be received by next week. "If we can get all of their questions answered, we should be able to ad vertise (bids) in February and award bids in April or May. We can start construction immediately thereafter." Lakes appointments made Tuesday night By Richard Nubel Municipal Editor Newly elected mayor Mark Stewart took additional steps to es tablish his administration as Boiling Spring Lakes commissioners met in regular session Tuesday night. Commissioners named Joan Kin ney to membership on the city’s planning board. She replaces former chairman Bob Rollosson, who resigned last month in protest of other board appointments Stewart made - appointments Rollosson said.were made without the planning board’s counsel. Elmer Schorzman was named chairman of the planning board. Commissioners also appointed four new members to the city’s lakes committee. They are Mike Williams, Davey Williamson, Tony Gaw and Marvin Necessary. In realigning commissioners’ as See Appointment, page 10
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