South Brunswick Cougars
continue their streak against
Wilmington girls teams - 1C
Nel
‘Twas a ti
Sea Notes,
the brass en
y for
:: and
IB
Ou
Bald Head
group keeps u
million dollar goal
n
v'ard
Page 2
Long Beach
Inspections
‘state audit’
not sought
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Town councilor Helen Cashwell
called on council Tuesday night to
request a "state audit" of accounts
kept by the Long Beach building
inspections department, but council
demurred.
"Council has a duty to protect
town employees from any appear
ance of impropriety," Cashwell said
“1 think we walk a fine line doing
business with contractors. Council
has a duty to safeguard money paid
to the town "
In other matters brought before
council Tuesday night, councilor
Horace Collier asserted councilor
Erances Allen had breached council
policy by approaching Brunswick
County officials with results of an
engineering study the town had
commissioned, but Allen said she
would not be "shackled" by other
council members in her quest to
seek facts and figures.
Justifying her call for a slate audit
of funds that pass through the
town’s building inspections depart
ment, councilor Cashwell pointed to
a report from independent auditor
Menton Padgett last month which
asserted funds received as construc
tion clean-up bonds had not been
posted to the town's general ledger
and, in some instances, had not been
returned in a timely fashion
Cashwell said the town on June 3(1
held $52,890 in cleanup bonds,
generally $100 bonds, some dating
to 1981. She asserted some ol that
money had been collected as "float
ing bonds ' and a poor audit trail
made it impossible to determine the
projects to which the lloating bonds
had been applied.
Floating bonds are monies posted
by a contractor that may be used to
assure clean-up of a series of pro
jects as the contractor moves from
job to job.
Cashwell also questioned the
building inspections department's
policy of granting credit to contrac
tors for building permit fees. While
she asserted Long Beach was
unique in doing so, councilor Kevin
Bell, a HVAC contractor, said he
had credit established both with
New Hanover County and the City
of Wilmington for the same purpos
es.
Cashwell said inspections officials
had not given all contractors equal
access to credit.
"I have no problems as long as we
See Long Beach, page 10
This right busy old elf seems to have been everywhere (his season, 'at
iday hopes of this youngster at his recent Dosher Memorial Hospital
Dosher patients as part of the tree-lighting ceremony.
Photo by Jim Harper
lilt he had time to listen to (he hol
r. Santa also had time In visit with
Caswell Beach
Modular request
prompts review
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Although a recent request for a permit to place a modular home in 1C
Arboretum bothers no one, the request itself prompted Caswell Beach
commissioners to direct the town planning board to revisit provisions nt ihi
town s zoning ordinance applicable to modular and manufactured Iron' -
Modular and manufactured homes are those built entirely or partia 11 s ;|
the site on which the home is to be located.
Patty Verrecchia had requested a permit to construct a modular home
lot 28 of I he Arboretum Commissioners I hursday determined buildme
inspector Charles Britt was empowered by existing ordinances to gram 11
See Review, page 9
School
needs
urgent
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
A new elementary school,
a new middle school, ten ad
ditional classrooms at Bolivia
Elementary and 11 more
classrooms at South
Brunswick Middle are the
most urgent facility needs of
See School, page 6
Trouble with trash
Brunswick
must recycle
garbage plans
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Brunswick County began hauling
garbage back to its landfill at Supply
after a recycling plant in Fayetteville
where trash had been hauled since
January under a 25-year contract sud
denly shut down Monday morning
BC’H Energy Corp suspended op
eration of its sorting plant and incin
eration project “to facilitate the
completion of necessary plant modi
fications " It has left county officials
scrambling to deal with the setback
which may take six months to resolve.
“We are taking our garbage to our
landtill now,' said county manager
Jim Varner on Monday. “We needed
to get our engineers together to de
cide what is best. We're taking our
garbage to our landfill until we can
work something out”
The county's 25-year contract to
It may take $8
million to $12
million and up to six
months to replace
conveyor belts at the
materials recycling
plant and incinerator
haul garbage out of the county began
January 1, 1996, under a deal strut!
with owner and operator BCH Eneig\
(named after the three counties 01
Bladen, Cumberland and Hoke sup
plying waste to the plant) and paren
company Vedco Energy Corp <>
Houston, TX. The plant was built m
See Garbage, page 9
Southport
Aldermen seem
to link rezoning
to city services
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Though warned by the citv attor
ney their questions suggested an ille
gal contract for zoning was being
sought, two Southport aldermen
[rushed Thursday night lor a devel
opment company's assurance it
would develop a 131-acre parcel to
the board members' liking
Alderman Nelson Adams, warned
he could not ask a developer to com
mit to specifics of development as a
condition of winning a re/oning re
quest, convinced fellow board mem
hers to delay action on ( Meamlei l)e
veh'pment Company's request that
the parcel, bounded by Moore and
f eonard streets opposite f erry Road
m the city’s extraterritorial jurisdic
See Rezoning, page X
‘I don’t mind it
being residential,
but I think certain
things should take
place. If you’re
going to rezone an
area, you should
know what’s goinu
to take place.'
Paul Fisher
Southport alderman
Between N.C. 211 and waterway
New golf development is proposed
By Terry Pope
County editor
Zion Hill Road is a narrow, country byway in a rural and
agricultural zone between the Midway community and Sup
ply
It slices through pasture that's home to horses, who seem
both undisturbed by traffic and heedless of change that may be
in store if development plans by Bluegreen ( orp. of Wilmington
are approved by the Brunswick County Board of Commission
ers next month.
Bluegreen Corp. wants to turn more than 1,000 acres on both
sides of Zion Hill Road, about a half-mile south of N. C. 21 1,
from a rural tract to a golf course community that will prov ide
housing for more than a thousand families
Developers want it rezoned from rural to R-7500 (low den
sity residential) so they can design a planned unit development
(PUD) to include golf courses and a mixture of single-family
Bluegreen Corp. has gained i
unanimous recommendation from
the county planning board f r
rezoning of the tract at Zion Hill
Road
and multi-family homesites along with o|h h i
alion and nature, a project on par with e\M
such as St James Plantation and Brunswick I1
I his is what this county is going to he. ..m
Brunswick County planning director Jude K
what s going on along River Road with Jack, •
lor recre
mmunities
inon.
-aid interim
Between
t reek, with
Brunsw k k Plantation to the south, ev ervbody is wanting to do
planned unit developments
Pld)s. unlike sul'divisions. ate not allowed in nun! /ones
under the uirrent /oiling ordinance Most take advantage of
county water Hues and piov ide other infrastructure needs, such
as comm units sew or ind pas ed streets, he to re die lots are sold.
Developers suhnnl a master plan initially and then go hack to
the county planning hoard tor site-spec 11tc approval as the
project actually advances.
“It gives developers more flexibility, as far as being creative
with the design," said Ms. Russell.
Bluegreen Cotp. has gained a unanimous recommendation
from the county planning hoard lor rezoning ot the tract at Zion
Hill Road A hot leading was approved by county commis
sioners Moiuluv and a public hearing set for January 6, at b
p.m. No maslei plan has been submitted to the county planning
staff, but local representative lot the company. Jay Houston of
See Golf, page 8
Forecast
Winter is on it's way with colder
temperatures in stole lor tins week
end. We can expect highs to only he
near 5(1 and falling to the dll's at night
INSIDE
Police report ... 10
Obituaries.11
Church.. 6B
Calendar ...... 8E
District Court .. 4C
Superior Court . 5C
TV schedule .... 6C
Classifieds ..... ID
TOP STORIES ON THE INTERNET www.souihnnrt.net