THE STATE PORT
All-Brunswick
The best football players in j
the county are honored in this i
week’s edition
Volume 69. Number IS
Phone 91(M574568/Fax 910457-9427/e-mail pilot@southport.net
Published every Wednesday in Southport, N. C.
Oak Island
post office
in the bag?
By Richard Nubel
Staff Writer -
, Site selection tor the long-awaited
new U. S. Post Office at Oak Island
could be announced by late February or
early March, a postal official said
Tuesday:
Selecting an adequate site for the
promised 12.000-square-foot,’ first
class Oak Island post office has been
difficult, but a postal service site review
committee likely will convene on Oak
Island in late January, said Robert E.
Hill, a real estate specialist with the
LISPS regional center in Greensboro.
That sets the postal service on a
course to begin acquiring property by
March. Construction commencement
will depend largely on site selection.
Local officials and the public will have
some say in where the new post office
is located. •
“Tire process requires that after our
people have made a review of proper
ties, we notify the local mayors of the
sites we have looked at,” Hill said.
“They have 30 days to comment on
sites that they feel are in the best inter
ests of the community.”
Notice of the properties being consid
ered by the postal service also will be
posted at the Southport post office.
At the completion of the public com
ment period, the postal service may
announce its final site determination,
llilJ said.
Because of Oak Island's small com
mercial lots and general development
pattern. Hill said offers to sell USPS
adequate land for its new facility were.
few. Several months ago USPS
announced it would accept offers of
parcels four to five acres in size.
Pieces of property that size are diffi
cult to come by on Oak Island and cre
ative offers took a long time to piece
together.
“Most of the things that have been put
together have been put together after
the fact,” Hill said, in reference to the
deadline USPS set for accepting offers
■ of land on which to build.
Piecing together one or more offers
adequate for post office construction
was a difficult, lengthy process.
“They have been very time-consum
ing,” Hill said. "People have been very
nice and very cooperative, but there is a
lot of process when you deal with the
federal government.”
If all goes according to plan and site
selection is made in late February or
early March, it is still too soon to say
when the first letter will be posted in the
U. S. Post Office at Oak Island. Just
how much preparation the site eventu
See Post office, page 8
WONDROUS EYES
„ . Photo bv Jim Harper
Eveiyone knows the question, but there’s no telling what youngsters will come up with for answer;. More on
the Christmas requests Santa heard Monday at the Southport fire station in the Neighbors section.
Simmons trades places
Sue chairs county board
By Terry Calhoun
Staff Writer
The chairman and vice-chairman of the Brunswick County
Board of Commissioners swapped seats Monday night at the
December reoiganizational meeting of that body.
Outgoing chairman Jo Ann Simmons nominated William
Sue to the chairmanship. Upon his election by unanimous
vote and his change of chairs with Simmons, his first action
was to nominate her for vice-chairman.'
Her election also was unanimous.
Before relinquishing, the gavel, Simmons thanked the board
for her three years at the helm. Sue is a five-year veteran of
the board.
In othei business, the board of commissioners;
B Appioved a plan to work with the Utility Operations
Board (UOB) to plan and fund small capital improvement
projects lor the county water system. With the aim of improv
ing quality and taste of water running in “dead-end" lines, the
See County, page 9
Consortium meets
Bald Head may
shin its position
for commitment
By Richard Nubel
Staff Writer
It Bald Head Island were to soon ben
efit from a 50-year federal commitment
to renourish its miles of beachfront, vil-,
lage leaders might feel less pressure to
seek 2.5 million cubic yards' of sand
from the U. S. Army Corps of Engi
neers' Wilmington Harbor Project.
Brunswick Beaches Consortium
chairman Harry Simmons said much of
the December 16 consortium meeting
at Oak Isliuid Recreation Center will be
devoted to discussion of securing such
a federal commitment for Bald Head
Island. In a 50-year program, the feder
al government shares costs with local
governments to completely renourish a
local beachfront. The program comes
with assurance the beach will receive
maintenance renourishment sand every
three years for a 50-year period.
"Bald Head Island claims it has been
told it can't get into a 50-year project,"
Simmons said. He said two possibilities
come-to mind: Buid Head Island’s 50
year ivnourishmetii program could he
joined with Oak Islands 50-year
renourishment program, scheduled for
^construction in 2003; or, a separate pro
gram could be established for Bald
The village has
objected to the
corps’ proposal,
asserting it needed
no less than 2.5 mil
lion cubic yards of
sand from the
Wilmington Harbor
Project and would
sue, if necessary, to
get it
Head Island atone. .
“Ihc won,t-case scenario is that nei
ther option would work." Simmons
said.
Simmons said he is still tiwing to
identify federal officials who mav
See Beach sand, page 11
Speaker addresses
city ‘smart growth’
By Terry Calhoun
Staff Writer
"Isn't it sad what happened there?”
It's a question, according to J. Myrick
Howar d, that is asked more and more through
out North Carolina as unbridled commercial
and residential development changes the char
acter of those places people once en joyed visit
ing.
Howard, Preservation North Carolina (PNC)
executive director, advocated the concept of so
called "smart growth" during his presentation at
a special program hosted jointly by the
Southport Historical Society and the City of
Sec Southport, page 13
‘We’ve got to
grow different
ly. Can we
build a tax base
in a different
way?’
J. Myrick Howard
Rice’s Creek
Developer seeks
PUD designation
By Terry Pope
Stall'Writer
Designers of a new golf course at Winnabow say they will
enhance the environment rather than impact it with a 1,226-acre
development along the banks of Rice’s Creek.
“It’s our job not to impact those wetlands,” said Dan Weeks, a
landscape architect working with Bluegreen Golf Clubs Inc. to
develop a design for the tract between U. S. 17 and Governor’s
Road.
Weeks addressed the Brunswick County Planning Board at a
public hearing last week. Winnabow residents appear divided on
the issue — some favor and some oppose the project. County
planners tabled a decision on whether to rezone the large tract
from rural to medium-density residential (R-7500), which would
allow developers to file for a planned unit development (PUD)
pennit.
PUDs are commonly used to aid design of laige golf course res
idential communities and give designers flexibility to come up
with innovative ways to route traffic and cluster housing units
around greens and fairways.
Before county commissioners is a recommendation to amend
the county 's zoning ordinance to allow PUDs in rural zones. If
that passes, the rezoning issue facing county planners over the
Bluegreen tract becomes a moot point. Bluegreen would be
allowed to file for a PUD even without the zoning change.
The planning board makes recommendations to county com
See Rice’s Creek, page 10
i
HIGHWAY 211
Construction
brings traffic
to standstill
Roadwork necessary for installation of a
long-awaited traffic light at the intersection of
Highway 211 and Dosher Cutoff continues to
frustrate drivers trying to reach area destina
tions, but an end to delays appears to he at
hand.
Morning and afternoon rush-in >ur delays of
an hour or more have been reported by
motorists driving to and from Southport from
the Long Beach Road area. Traffic along
Dosher Cutoff also has been slowed to a virtu-'
al standstill during pealfdnve times.
N. C. Department of Transportation (DOT)
officials would give no timeline lot comple
tion of the project. However, as electiieal work
for the signal progressed early this week, a .
spokesman at the Wilmington DOT regional
office said that final paving of the stretch
should be completed this weekend.
Continuing road construction around the
Wal-Mart Superstore parcel has contributed to
traffic delays.
Photo by Jim Harper
Trank? Mary Freeman had a word for it as she directed the flow through improvements at the Dosher Cutoff
Highway 211 intersection last week. The work is in preparation for installation of a traffic light there, and paving of
the roadway is expected to be completed this week.