50 cents
Playoff time
South boys, girls play Tu^
Sharper image
Unusual work on cutting
° t
Trash’ choices,
Yaupon Beach weighs
3- o
Published every Wedne
L? O 'TJ ^
pa
'~orn
coo
COO
TJO
May 13, 1998
THE STATE PORT
Volume 67, Number 38
Phone 910-457-4568/Fax 910-457-9427/e-mail pilot@southport.net
Brunswick
CP&L
tax levy
reduced
By Terry Pope
, County Editor
The check from the largest tax
payer in Brunswick County will be
somewhat smaller next year, rough
ly $1.5 million less.
A sales assessment study by the
N. C. Department of Revenue has
indicated the county’s public utility
companies should be assessed at
77.8 percent of market value, based
on what homeowners are actually
paying during the fourth year of an
eight-year revaluation cycle.
Carolina Power and Light Co.’s
Brunswick Nuclear Plant will see its
value adjusted from $1 billion to
$778 million, which means a reduc
tion in its payment by about $1.5
million. There are actually seven
utility companies that qualify for
the adjustment in Brunswick
County, but none with as much at
stake as CP&L.
County tax administrator Boyd
Williamson said in reality personal
property is being assessed around
74 percent of market value, so the
77.8-percent ratio for public utilities
is slightly better than the county
expected from the Department of
Revenue. Both sides have indicated
they will accapt the figure and
won’t appeal.
The adjustment is the result of a
Ilawsuit by public utility companies
•that claim across the state firms are
being penalized while homeowners
benefit from, revaluation cycles. To
settle the issue, every fourth and
seventh year in a cycle utility com
panies qualify for an adjustment,
too.
Brunswick County’s new-home
construction is expected to offset
the $ 1.5-million loss from CP&L,
said Williamson. For the 1998-99
fiscal year budget, his office esti
mates new construction jn business
es and homes will add, $230 million
See CP&L, page 9
KINGFISH :j
_
-; —> P^TT™
44
4
t ■*■■ .. p
yilpl' ""Iff.' Jil.lV'J'lilJiJpW''/ -,
Photo by Jim Harper
V'^W
Bo Crump was pleased and proud after setting a new Oak Island pier record
with this 53.6-pound king mackerel caught at Ocean Crest Pier last Thursday.
The Fishing Report has more information on the spring kina run in the Sports
section, and our Waterfront writer discusses other records Crump’s catch may
lwve established.
- .•■kte&aJScr
___
I
Riverfront property
Court battle
looms over
city appeal
By. Richard Nubei
Municipal Editor
Aldermen will decide Thursday night
whether or not to review rulings of the city
planning board on preliminary subdivision
plats.
Depending on how aldermen act, they could
either hear the case of an aggrieved landown
er, or risk sitting as defendants in a civil
court.
The first order of business, when aldermen
meet in regular monthly session at 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, will be to consider an amendment
to the city’s subdivision ordinance which
would give the board of aldermen authority to
hear appeals of the city planning board’s deci
sions on preliminary subdivision plats.
In February, River Drive property owner
Ron Thompson appeared before aldermen,
claiming his preliminary plat for River View
subdivision was unjustly denied by the city
planning board, effectively halting his plan to
create five lots from of his one parcel of land
at 106 River Drive.
Thompson also asserted the planning
board’s action was racially motivated, as he is
the only African-American property owner on
River Drive and old deed covenants for prop
erty in that section of the city even prohibited
ownership by non-whites.
Under terms of the city’s subdivision ordi
nance as it now exists, Thompson’s only
remaining option is to sue the city in Superior
Court. City attorney Mike Isenberg, however,
has suggested aldermen should created one
more avenue of administrative relief for
Thompson - and others who may find them
The owner asserted the
planning board’s action
was racially motivated,
as he is the only African
American property owner
on River Drive
selves at odds with the planning board — by
amending the subdivision ordinance to afford
review by aldermen of planning board rulings
on preliminary plats.
“In the event that the planning board disap
proves the preliminary plat or approves it
conditionally, the applicant may appeal to the
board ot aldermen in writing wiibin 15 days
of the action by the planning board. The
applicant and a representative of the planning
board shall be given an opportunity to be
heard before the board of aldermen.
Following the hearing, and after review of the
planning board’s decision and reasons there
fore, the board of aldermen shall have the
authority to affirm, reverse or modify the
action of the planning board in accordance
with the subdivision regulations,” the pro
posed amendment says.
In January, the city planning board offered
Thompson, in writing, six reasons it had
denied his preliminary subdivision plat.
Thompson appeared at the February meeting
See Appeal, page 6
K-8 initiative
DuPont grant to CIS
will aid math, science
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Teachers who struggle with hands-on methods to teach math and sci
ence should benefit from an $85,000 grant awarded to Communities In
Schools Monday by the Dupont Co.’s-Cape Fear plant near Leland.
The grant will be used to fund a K-8 science initiative involving a
math and science center on the Brunswick Community College campus
for school teachers and students. Plans are for the center to be operating
next fall.
The DuPont company is plotting a national initiative to support sci
ence curriculum aligned with the National Science Education Standards,
said Tom Harris, site manager at the DuPont Cape Fear plant. Harris pre
sented the grant to the Brunswick County Board of Education on
Monday.
Brunswick County is one of three school districts chosen from 139
See DuPont, page 6 ,
‘This grant is a
wonderful and
powerful way to
begin our initia
tive.’
*
Carol Midgett
Southport Elementary
SBSD
Resignations
withdrawn
by members
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Two days after they offered a joint let
ter of resignation, the Southeast
Brunswick Sanitary District chairman
and secretary were coaxed back into ser
vice and restored to rank by two of three
remaining commissioners.
James W. (Bubba) Smith has resumed
the position of board chairman and
Lucille Laster has been returned to the
position of board secretary. Return of the
two came after the three remaining com
missioners met with Smith and Laster
Wednesday morning, May 6, in an "emer
gency" session called by acting chairman
Gene Formyduval. After a closed-door
session, commissioners voted 3-0 to
See SBSD, page 7
Community center
By Richard Nubei
Municipal Editor
That sunken garden of weeds and clover overlooking the Cape
Fear River at the foot of Fort Johnston Drive may soon give way
to a brand-new Southport treasure.
Long anticipated, new bids have been received by city officials
for replacement of the Southport Community Building.
This time, the bids are on the mark.
“This is definitely doable,” city manager Rob Gandy said
Tuesday, peering down on a bid tabulation sheet. “It’s definitely
within our budget.”
A preliminary bid tabulation fixes the cost of replacing the
Southport community center at between $720,000 and $725,000
- a price city officials targeted about three years ago but have
been unable to arrange until now.
While information could not be prepared in time for aldermen
See Building, page 6
County changes water procedure in midstream
By Terry Pope
County Editor
1 he plug has been pulled on an unpopular method of
routing water lines to neighborhoods in favor of a sys
tem ihat doesn’t keep assessments on the books for ten
years.
Ai a special joint meeting of the Brunswick County
Board of Commissioners and Brunswick Utility
Operations Board last week, commissioners voted to
keep pushing forward with a priority list of ten water
expansion projects, but under an entirely different
method.
That list includes routing water lines to Sunset Harbor
as well as the Boone’s Neck community,. Riverview,
Little Sha.llotte River Estates and Lakewood Estates.
Laying lines at Sunset Harbor will be in two phases and
cost $660,000.
It will be done as a capital improvement project (CIP)
and financed by the county with costs recouped through
point-of-service fees and tap-on charges rather than
property assessments. Commissioners have scrapped the
old Special Assessment District (SAD) policy which
was used to finance more than 20 expansion projects in
the past. ■. *
“A few of'them I agree haven’t paid off,” said A1
Morrison, chairman of the UOBu“Ithink this is the first
-ffme we’ve had anyone say, ‘This is what \$e want to
do.’ I think this group has worked hard to do what it
could with what it had to work with.”
In fact, of the 23 SAD projects financed by the county -
See Water, page 7 • -
■ NEWS on the NET: www.southport.net —