North Carolina Newspapers

Fishing's Locking up r5L Huge: One Year Later y S Future Fireman? Pier fishing is looking up along the South jL, Local barrier Island communities look back?and E ? wjSjH Thirteen-year-old Dallas Sellers watches from the Bmnswlck islands as the fall season draws near. M ? ft. ahead?one year after Hurricane Hugo made landfall ^^4 II rear of a tanker as firefighters from across the Doris Starnes of Rock Hill, S C.. caught this II mV <r j , U at Charleston, S.C., causing millions of dollars In state train Sunday at Supply. A story and photos on flounder Tuesday. For the weekly fishing damage to Brunswick County homes and beaches. Brunswick County's second "Fire/Rescue College" report and other fishing news, see Page 12-C. The story's on Page 3-A /is on pa9e 9 B x. HV wk - 1 ? II Twenty-eighth Year. Number 44 cimoimebrunswickbeacon Shallotte. North Carolina, Thursday, September 20, 1990 25c Per Copy 36 Pages. 3 Sections. 2 Inserts Suit Aims To Block Construction Of New Sunset Beach Bridge BY SUSAN USI1KR A suit filed Friday in U.S. Dis trict Court in Raleigh seeks to pre vent or delay construction of a high rise bridge at Sunset Beach. The suit asserts that state and na tional policies were violated in as sessment of the project's environ mental impact and that a full envi ronmental study should be complet ed before the project is pursued any further. Furthermore, it claims that the court should void the six state and federal permits the N.C. Dept. of Transportation has already obtained to build the federally-funded bridge, alleging that they were based on "inadequate and inaccurate" assess w , , i menus of the project's impact on its community. Federal Judge W. Earl Brut is ten tatively scheduled to hold a hearing the week of Monday, Oct. 1, on the plaintiffs' request for a temporary restraining order to prevent the state from proceeding with the project. Bids were opened Tuesday for the project and the state Board of Transportation is cxpected to award a contract for construction at its Oct. 5 meeting. The project was first proposed approximately 10 years ago and has been the subject of continued con troversy. Sunset Beach property owners have been divided in their views regarding replacement of the pontoon bridge, which is the last re maining example of its kind in the stale. A hearing had first been sched uled for Monday, a civil division clerk in U.S. District Court said Tuesday, "But we didn't get to it." In regard to the suit, Bill Jones, a spokesman for N.C. DOT, said Tuesday that the agency is "disap pointed in the sense that we want to go on with the project bccause we think it is needed." Plaintiffs in the suit arc the Sun set Beach Taxpayers Association and Courtney J. Mullin, Minnie Kelly Hunt, William G. Hunt, War ren D. Knapp, Clctus A. Waldmil lcr, Kathryn McCoy, Dailey Long wood Canady and Albert N. Wells. All of the individuals cxccpt Can ady are members of the SBTA and own property at Sunset Beach. Can ady is a commercial fisherman from Longwood. Plaintiffs arc represented by Jim Maxwell and Ruth A. McKinney of the Durham law firm of Maxwell & Hutson. Slate and federal transportation officials and agencies named as de fendants include Samuel K. Skin ner, secretary of the U.S. Dept. of Transportation; Thomas D. Larson, administrator of the Federal High way Administration; the U.S. Dept. of Transportation; the Federal High way Administration; Thomas J. Harrclson, secretary, and William G. Marlcy, slate highway adminis trator of the N.C. Dept. of Trans portation; and the state Department of Transportation and Highway Ad ministration. The state plans to replace a sin gle-lane. swinging pontoon bridge on S.K. 1172 over the Intracoastal Waterway that links the island with the mainland at .Sunset Beach. The proposed two-lane, high-rise bridge would have a fixed concrete span with 65 feet of vertical clearance. Defendants claim that under state and national environmental policies, the project warranted completion of a full Environmental Impact State ment An EIS is required any time a project is considered a "major fed eral action" or is expcctcd "to sig nificantly afTcct the quality of the human environment". In the case of the Sunset Beach Bridge, however, the state instead completed an Environmental As sessment in 1981 followed hv a "Finding Of No Significant Impact" or FONSI in 1985. Defendants ar gue the conclusion "contradicts" DOT's own findings that the bridge may result in accelerated develop ment on Sunset Beach, improved accessibility, increased tourism and use of existing recreational areas, and increased property values and tax base. (See SLUT, Page 2-A) STAFF mOTO BY TE??Y fOPt THE KIUHT weather conditions helped this woods fire near Maco Sunday destroy 237 acres before it was contained. Poor visibility kept A'.C. 87 closed for five hours. Weather Conditions Fueled Woods Fires H Y TERRY POPE were used to cut trenches along the edge of the "It was so hot, that it just jumped right over Lower humidity levels and brisk autumn- fire. The last of the plows were pulled from the (highway) 87," Logan said. like winds helped fuel some unexpected woods woods at around 5:30 a.m. Firefighters worked to save a home and auto fires that kept firefighters busy throughout the "At one time, we had four of the six plows salvage business owned by Jimmy Baggett, but night Sunday and early Monday morning in two there stuck in the mud," Logan said. "It was so the fire destroyed some of the 200 cars parked locations in Brunswick County. wet in there." in the field next to the home. Ironically, the In the largest of the two fires, more than 237 Logan said the weather conditions now hap- home they worked to save Sunday was de acres were scorched along N.C. 87 near Maco. pen to be right for brush fires in Brunswick stroyed by fire Monday night, but Logan said he Another fire burned an undetermined amount of County, although spring is usually the heavy believes there is no relation between the two land on Makatoka Road off of N.C. 211 near fire season for this area. fires. Supply. "The way the weather is, with the low hu- It took two hours to contain the woods fire "Both fires, I believe, arc the result of con- midity and the cooler days," he added, "even that broke out on Makatoka Road. Logan said trolled burnings that appeared to have escaped though the woods are wet it will still burn, several county units, including Supply, Shal frorn the paper companies," said Cecil Logan, People should be sure and not leave an open fire lolte, Civictown and Tri-Beach volunteer fire Rnjnswick County emcrgcncy management co- unattended." departments responded iu uiai call aiuunu 3 ordinator, on Tuesday. Units from Winnabow, Bolivia, Boiling p.m. It look firefighters more than 10 hours to Spring Lakes, Leland, Navassa, Acme-Delco, Another small brush fire was reported on contain the blaze in Maco that also threatened Buckhead and Sunset Beach volunteer fire de- Old Cedar Road near the entrance to DuPont's 10 homes. None was damaged as a result of the parunents responded to the fire, sending 17 Cape Fear plant at Leland at about the same fire and no injuries were reported. trucks and tankers. time Sunday afternoon. It was quickly con Eight volunteer fire departments and the The fire started on the west side of N.C. 87 tained by Leland volunteer firemen. N.C. Fcrest Service worked past midnight and jumped the highway at two places. The "We really didn't have a fire season in the Sunday contain the Maco fire, which was road was closed to traffic for about live hours as spring," Logan said. "We were lucky, but now it first reported around 3:30 p.m. Six fire plows smoke limited visibility. looks like we're finally having our share." Amendments In State Septic Tank Rules Expected To Up Odds For Site Approval BY SUSAN USHKR Brunswick County Health Direc tor Michael Rhodes believes that rules changes approved last month by the Commission on Health Ser vices will increase the odds that more local lots will qualify for sep Uc tank systems. Rhodes credited the Brunswick County Board of Health, the depart ment's environmental health staff and Rep. David Redwine with help ing bring about die changes, which he said will allow "environmentally safe installation of these systems" on sites where they had generally not been allowed for the past year or possibly longer. Generally, the new rules mean that environmental health specialists at the health department will return to evaluating sites by the standards in place here between 1977 and 1982. The amendments approved at the Aug. 22 meeting in Raleigh will ap ply U) lots platted on or before Dec. 31, 1989. 'That says to planners and developers 'your lots need to be larger (now) if you're going to have septic tanks and wells,"' said Rhodes. County officials were successful in getting the cut-off date changed, said Rluxles. As first presented last month the cut-off dale would have been Jan. I, 1983, which he said ar bitrarily tied the amendments to ear lier, unrelated changes in the rules. The changes approved last month arc essentially ones that Brunswick County officials had thought would be covered in septic tank rules changes announced nearly a year ago that went into effect Jan. 1. "We had been working on this about a year," said Rhodes. "We thought we knew what was coming, but we got an even bigger surprise. "What we thought would be less restrictive regulations actually made it more stringent in Brunswick County because of the small lot sizes we have," said Rhodes. The rules were changed to allow installation of septic tanks in certain "previously filled" lots. But the state at the same time set very grad ual slope requirements for most lots and limited the "loading rate," or the volume of sewage that could be handled by the system within a giv en time frame. Most lots in Brunswick County are small, 65 feet in width or less, having been platted before the state adopted its uniform septic tank rules. That small size prevented in stallers from being able to comply with the new rules, leaving the lots generally unsuited for development except where public water and com inuiiily sewer treatment systems were available. In other cases, the changes made the difference in how some lots could be developed?whether a lot could accommodate a three- or four-bedroom house or only a one or two-bedroom house. That was a major concern for developers of ex pensive barrier island or waterfront property. The health department estimated that as many as 8,()00 individual lots in Brunswick County could not be developed with the use of indi vidual scptic tank systems. "In most cases," Rhodes said, "those lots that were 'provisionally suitable' (for site permit approval), that needed draining and/or Tilling, could not be built on because of the slope and loading rate require ments." (See SKHTIC TANK, 1'age 2-A) State Opens Bridge Bids An Evansvillc, Ind., firm is the apparent low b"! ' smong 11 firms vying for 3 eoniraci to build a high rise, fixed-span bridge at Sunset Beach. Barring issuance of a preliminary injunction to the contrary, the state Board of Transportation plans to award the contract for the project at its Oct. 5 meeting in Cherokee. Trayior Brothers Inc. submitted a bid of 58,394,819.55, which N.C. Department of Transportation spokesman Bill Jones said is .3 per cent above the state's engineering estimate of S8.37 million. Jones said the figure is well with in the acceptable range of hid for the project. However, the bids open ?v had not been reviewed yei iu^ any irregularities. Bids ranged n- *: :ne 3(2.2 fi<ii lion figure submitted by Metric Constructors Inc. of Charlotte. The second lowest bid, S8,651,380.46, was submitted by The Hardaway Co. of Columbus, Ga., while the third lowest bid, S8.69 million, was submitted by Lec CoiISwuCuGm Co. of Charlotu*. DOT s latest cost estimate is SI 1.2 million for the Sunset Beach Bridge project, including construc tion, engineering and right of way acquisition. The bridge would re place a swinging pontoon bridge that connects the mainland and is land. DOT Condemns Sea Trail Lai id In Sunset Bridge Right Of Way The N.C. Department of Trans portation has begun eminent do main proceedings against Sea Trail Corp. after the two couldn't agree un jusi cuiiipCiiSdiiOn' foi land claimed by the state for construction of the planned high-rise bridge at Sunset Beach. Eminent domain refers to the government's right to take private property for public use, usually with compensation to the owner. In condemnation proceedings filed earlier this month in Bruns wick County Superior Court DOT has asked that a jury determine just compensation for the property. Sea Trail Corp., developer of a large residential and golf course complex in the Sunset Beach main land area, rejected the state's offer of $228,000, according to the suit filed by Eugene Smith, a senior de puty attorney general. Also named as defendants arc Dennis Crocker, trustee for NCNB, and NCNB, which holds four deeds of trust re lated to the contested property. The proposed route for access to the new bridge lies to the west of the existing bridge approach. It cuts across Sea Trail Golf Links, passing L J P. ,???>?( T-.,.,. If u 1A.11111U juii.x.1 uuicii iuwii nail, and then across Shoreline Drive/ N.C. 179. Also involved is land ad jacent to the intersection of N.C. 179 and Shoreline Drive. DOT is taking fee simple title to a portion of the property for right of way for the new bridge approach. It is Liking the remainder of the land in question as slope easement to provide lateral support for the high way or for temporary construction easement for the duration of the bridge project The state said the slope casement would revert to the owner, accord ing to the suit, at such time as the elevation of the land adjacent to the approach is lowered or increased so that the support is no longer needed. DOT deposited the $228,000 with the court Sea Trail Corp. has one year in which to file its answer. DA's Office To Receive Evidence On Inspector BY TERRY POPE A detective with the Brunswick County Sheriff's Department says he hopes to complete an investiga tion ot the county's former building inspector this week on alleged fel ony charges. Chief of Detectives Phil Perry said Monday lie will present evi dence to the district attorney's of fice by the middle of this week to determine what, if any, charges will be filed against Julius D. "Buddy" Lewis, who resigned as head of the Building Inspection Department three weeks ago. The investigation stems from al leged conversion of money paid for a county building permit that was never officially issued. Perry is in vestigating whether the money was pocketed by the county employee instead. "There are still a couple of peo ple to be interviewed," Perry said. "All I can say at this point is that it is still being investigated." Perry received information from County Attorney and Interim Coun ty Manager David Clegg last Thurs day to begin the investigation fol lowing reports detailing how Lewis allegedly cashed a SI25 check from the Faith Original Free Will Baptist Church in Leland. The county did not uncover the problem until the church requested a plumbing insnec lion and the staff discovered there was no building permit on record for the church project, Clegg said. At the church site on Village Road in Leland, a placard display ing the building permit had been erected, and church officials were able to produce a check dated April 4 which, Clegg said, was "purport edly" used for the permit. Alleged ly, Lewis had asked the church to leave the check blank so he could use a departmental stamp, but in stead the check was made out to and cashed by Lewis. If charges are filed against Lewis, it is likely to be conversion of pub lic money for private use, a felony count Perry refused to say how many charges are being investigat ed. The district attorney's office will determine what charges to file, he added. "Considering his position and the methods used, it would be a felony charge," Perry said. (See DA's OFFICE, Page 2-A)