February 10, 1999
THE STATE PORT
Ah, Sprinj
and our fancy tur
sneezing and oth<
time. What a mix
Phone 910-457-4568/Fax 910-457-9427/e-mail pilot@ southport.
net
Volume 68, Number 25
North looks for i
South just looks|
Published e\
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' in Southport, NC
Y2K
has its
price
By Terry Pope
County Editor
It will cost Brunswick County an
additional $132,555 to avoid the
Y2K computer crisis next year,
when hardware that isn’t in compli
ance when year 2000 arrives may
crash or stall from the millennium
change.
A steering committee of county
. employees from a number of depart
ments developed a county plan for
dealing with the Y2K problem that
could affect delivery of services to
the public. The tax department, cen
tral permitting, 911 emergency ser
vices and sheriff’s department oper
ate from computers that will need to
be upgraded to avoid what has
become a national fear - that ser
vices will essentially come to a halt
as computers fail to read dateline
-digits ending in 00.
But assistant county manager
Robert Hyatt remains hopeful that a
recent budget amendment the
Brunswick County Board of Com
missioners approved should cover
costs of bringing the county depart
ments into a safety zone.
^ “The main equipment that will
need replacement will be the older
PCs (personal computers),” said
Hvatt.
Funds were included in the 1998
99 county budget for hardware, soft
ware and programming necessary to
bring the county’s main computer
v system into Y2K compliance. How
ever, funds were not included to
deal with computers which are used
in offices that serve the public. An
in-depth inventory had to be done of
non-compliant hardware which will
either need year 2000 microchips, or
replacement.
Hyatt said the county had the
option to include the costs in the
upcoming '1099-2000 budget in
stead of appropriating additional
funds from the current budget, a
practice the board of commissioners
does- not like, but it would have
pushed the county six months short
of meeting the Y2K deadline by
January 1, 2000.
“I think the cost to the county will
be basically the same,” said Hyatt.
“1 do believe that there is a signify
cant benefit to the county, other than
money, in replacing the necessary
equipment as soon as possible. The
benefit is time.”
To wait for the next budget cycle
would have given the county just six
months to purchase the new equip
ment, have it installed and tested to
ensure it would work without inter
ruptions when January 1, 2000,
arrives. Counties operate on fiscal
year budgets that start July 1 and
end June 30, rather than on a calen
dar year.
‘T feel that this is too close for
See Y2K, page 6
TOWN CREEK
William Smith and Frankie Stephenson enjoyed a pleasant
ful — afternoon recently bass Ashing on Town Creek.
Photo by Jim Harper
but for them perhaps a bit too peace
McAdams
will move
to South
By Laura Kimball
Feature Editor
South Brunswick High School
will have a new principal next
year.
James McAdams, the current
principal of Bolivia Elementary,
will move to South Brunswick
for the 1999-2000 school year.
“I’m excited about the
change,” he said, adding that he
already knows many of the
teachers since he used to work
See McAdams, page 11
Northern schools
Year-round plan
gets mixed grade
By Laura Kimball
Feature Editor
The year-round school format in
three Brunswick County schools
was the (jause of grumbling Mon
day night at the monthly board of
education meeting.
Jean Sidbury of Leland told the
school board it is difficult for fami
lies to go on vacation, for parents to
further their education, for divorced
parents to divide custody and for
families to get into a routine when
their schedule is always changing.
“There are a lot of us who have
tried the year-round system, and
we’re not happy with it," she said.
“It’s been really hard."
Schools that have adopted a year
round schedule are Belville Ele
mentary, Lincoln Primary and
Leland Middle. The first year-round
school year was the 1997-98 term.
Faye Burckhalter of Leland is not
unhappy with the format, but she
feels the community has had no say
See Schools, page 11
Yaupon wades in
Towns, county
seek to erode
CRC expansion
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Yaupon Beach Monday night join
ed the growing number of coastal
municipalities which oppose a
major expansion of the N. C. Coast
al Resources Commission's authori
ty over land development.
Mayor Jim Lowell of Holden
Beach recently told county commis
sioners that, if enacted, “most of
Long Beach and Holden Beach
could not be 100-percent replaced
under new regulations” if they were
significantly storm-damaged.
Yaupon Beach commissioners
Monday night adopted a resolution
opposing the CRC's proposed
Estuarine Shoreline Regulation
changes. Long Beach Town Council
adopted a similar resolution of
opposition last week.
The CRC is a nine-member panel
appointed by the governor to regu
late development along the shore
line in 20 coastal counties. It was
formed with adoption of the Coastal
Area Management Act (CAM A) of
Several proposed
changes which
would drastically
affect development
along the state’s
coastline, specifi
cally on Oak Island
and in other
Brunswick County
beach towns
1974 - ostensibly to balance the
competing forces of development
and preservation - and has broad
power to enact development regula
tions in its area of jurisdiction.
CRC proposes several changes
See CRC, page 8
Wal-Mart proposed
City shopping
for right deal
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Will the City of Southport contin
ue to pave the way for Wal-Mart?
If annexation of land for the retail
giant is to proceed, aldermen
Thursday will call for a public hear
ing on the matter to be held
February 25.
Thursday night, city officials will
be asked to take the next step in the
process that will bring 31.7 acres
near Carolina Power and Light
Co.'s canal into the city by the
process of satellite annexation. The
would-be developer of that property
is said to be courting Wal-Mart as
anchor to a $12.5-million “upscale"
retail complex.
Meeting last month, aldermen
agreed to a request from Wyatt
Development Company to rezone
for commercial use two 16-aere
parcels lying between the CP&L
canal and Sandfiddler Restaurant.
Wyatt Development spokesman
Howard Hill said the company
planned to purchase the land tor
development of a shopping center
featuring an anchor store of 150.000
square feet. Retailers, and possibly a
restaurant, would fill another ten
units in the shopping complex of
between 1,500 square feet and 4.500
square feet each.
Hill refused to identify the anchor
store for the complex, but said its
“executive committee" had met and
had committed to the Southport site.
In addition to rezoning the proper
ty last month, aldermen accepted
from Hill the two parcel owners'
petitions for annexation to the city.
One of the two parcels is owned by
E. J. and Amaretta Prevatte and the
other is owned by Robert Lowe.
Although both parcels lie outside
city limits, both are in Southport's
See Wal-Mart, page II
County zoning ordinance
Changes affect roads, open space
By Terry Pope
County Editor
A new ordinance that requires
developers to build roads to state
standards and set aside ten percent
of each project as open space for
recreation has taken effect in
Brunswick County.
The Brunswick County Board of
Commissioners last week approved
a resolution that repealed the former
county subdivision ordinance adopt
ed in October, 1991, and replaced it
with one the county planning
department and planning board has
been working on the past six
months.
Most of the changes affect the way
major subdivisions ' must be
designed before they gain approval
of the planning board. Developers
must post a bond, letter of credit, or
a combination of both, guaranteeing
125 percent of the cost for infra
structure for tracts that are subdivid
ed into more than five lots.
That is to ensure the utility lines,
curbs and gutters, sidewalks, water
or sewer taps and roads built to N.
C. Department of Transportation
standards are not ignored by devel
opers, resulting in problems for
homeowners in the future. There are
numerous subdivisions with sub
standard roads built in the past
where school buses and mail carri
ers now cannot reach homes and
where DOT officials cannot legally
provide road maintenance to help
those in need.
The old ordinance allowed a
developer to delay construction of
roads until 25 percent of the subdi
vision property had been sold. That
also led to questions about who is
enforcing the improvements and
looking out for the homeowners.
“We’ve got a mess in Brunswick
County with these subdivision
roads,” said JoAnn Bellamy
See Zoning, page 8
Redwinebets
against casino
Casino boats would be banned from berthing in North Carolina, under
tetms of a bill introduced before the N. C. General Assembly by Rep. E.
David Red wine of Brunswick County;
As South Carolina officials move to tighten lax gambling laws that
have given rise to gambling “cruises to nowhere,” gaming boat opera
tors have begun to look north to Brunswick County for possible ports.
Calabash and Southport are mentioned as possible home bases for gam
bling boats.
“The bill’s language will accommodate the large cruise ships that
sometimes dock in Wilmington or Morehead City as a port of call, but
hinder casino boats looking for a quick cruise,” Redwine said.
The legislation introduced by Rep. Redwine would not only establish
See Casino, page 6
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