BUDGET HEARING IS JUNE 29
Sunset Beach Town Council Sets Bundle Of Hearings
BY SUSAN USHKR
What could have been a long meeting Monday for
the Sunset Beach Town Council wasn't.
Four of five public hearings first set for Monday
night were rescheduled bccausc they had not been ad
vertised properly; a fifth will be rescheduled later.
Members occupied themselves with setting additional
hearings and handling routine items of business.
That fifth item-a proposed change in the way build
ing height limit is determined-at a joint meeting with
the planning board Monday, June 29, at 6:30 p.m., be
fore a 7:30 p.m. hearing on the proposed 1992-93 bud
get.
Following the hearing council members will meet to
act on the budget of 5722,429, general fund, and
S590.723, water fund, with no increase in ad valorem
taxes. The current rate is 16.7 cents per SI 00 of as
sessed property value.
In public comments at the close of the meeting.
Sunset Beach Taxpayers Association President Clete
Waldmillcr objected to a proposal that would tic mea
surement of a 35-building height limit to the base flood
elevation.
"This is not what the people wanted," he said, refer
ring to an SBTA proposal to the town council to seek a
local bill that would require a referendum on any
changc in building height. According to Waldmiller,
the proposed changc would allow construction of an
additional floor in some areas while not allowing con
struction of a two-story house in others.
Mayor Mason Barber told Waldmiller the joint meet
ing on the proposed ordinance changc was scheduled
because "we found a lot of things we need to look at"
Hearings scheduled or rescheduled for Monday, July
6, at 7:30 p.m. at town hall arc as follows:
?Zoning of Post Office tract at Seaside, with recre
ational/institutional the planning board recommenda
tion;
?Amendment to the flood insurance ordinance to make
it consistent with FEMA regulations regarding eleva
tions in the V-zonc;
?Amendment of the building code to changc when a
building permit is required (sec discussion later in sto
ry):
?Adoption of all building code volumes by the town;
?A request to close a portion of 19th Street;
?A new class of zoning recommended by the planning
board, conservation, and its application to marshes
within the town's jurisdiction;
?A recommendation from the planning board to add
landscaping and nursery operations to the type of busi
nesses allow in the mainland business districts, with
concerns about proper outside storage of materials, sup
plies and equipment to be addressed by the planning
board, said Chairman Richard Good.
Security Sought
Two representatives of the Sunset Beach Volunteer
Fire Department appeared before the council asking
that the town find a way to guarantee-for the purposes
of the department qualifying for a bank loan-that it
would contribute at least 1 percent of the ad valorem
valuation each of the next three years.
Town Attorney Michael Iscnbcrg said the council
couldn't make such commitments beyond its term, but
he is to develop a letter of intent or some other alterna
tive for the town's consideration.
Noting that not one resident of the town participates
in the fire department and encouraging more involve
ment, Barber assure the representatives, "Naturally any
way we can help, we will."
Other Business
In other business, council:
?Approved preliminary and final plats for the River
Creek condominium project in Sea Trail and the
Stanaland tract off Schuyler Drive, which is platted as
three 3-acrc tracts; and
?Received a bid for sanitation services from Waste
Industries Inc., which is vying with current service
provider Chambers of South Carolina Inc. for the 1992
93 contract;
?Reappointed the town administrator as mosquito con
trol officer; made routine amendments to the 1991-92
budget; accepted for certification by the town staff a
petition seeking the paving of Waterway Drive.
?Encouraged the town to enforce no dumping at a for
mer convenience station site on N.C. 179 by having po
lice issue citations if necessary, and noted a need for
belter county signage directing dumpers to the new
trash collection site.
?Heard from Mrs. Fluegel that, after meeting with
builders and contractors, the town proposes to lift the
requirement that a building permit be obtained for any
work valued at S500 or more. Permits would not be re
quired for general maintenance or non-structural work
such as painting, but the town inspections office is to be
notified so that it can ensure the work doesn't exceed
those bounds. "Only structural improvements add to the
value of the property," said Mrs. Fluegel.
In "emergencies" such as weekends or evenings
when an inspector is not available, contractors may pro
ceed with electrical or mechanical work and get a per
mit as soon as possible.
This is among the seven items up for public hearing
at the July 6 meeting.
School Board Refuses Request To
Speak At Special AAeeting AAonday
BY MARJORIE MEGIVERN
Carolina Shores resident Warren
D. "Bud" Knapp, with his compan
ion, Tom Pope, came to Monday's
special session of the Brunswick
County Board of Education, dressed
formally in suit and tic, with copies
of handouts ready for distribution.
Responding to an earlier sugges
tion to this reporter by Chairman
Donna Baxter that "people who
want to get involved (in school mat
ters) should come to school board
meetings," he made the trip from
Carolina Shores to South port to ad
dress the board about his education
al concerns.
It was a crestfallen and angry
Knapp who left 30 minutes later, af
ter having been denied the opportu
nity to speak.
Although Baxter told him he
could attend, but not participate, in
this special session, board member
Robert Slockctt moved to amend the
agenda to allow it. However, only
board member Yvonne Bright
joined Slockcu in voting "yes," and
Knapp and his handouts were set
aside as the board spent the evening
in budget and personnel decisions.
A time is set aside for public
comment at the board's regular
meetings, but special sessions are set
aside to deal with one or more stated
items of business.
"That's a long trip for a 75-year
old man, and then after inviting me
to come to the meeting, 1 was not al
lowed to address them for just two
minutes," Knapp fumed. "They
were just too busy to listen."
Pope added, "If the public can't
speak up, we should change the
name to 'private school system.' "
Materials Knapp had brought
were distributed to the press. They
included financial data from the
Stale Department of Public
Instruction, showing per capita per
sonal incomc by county and appro
priations for education by all coun
ties in 1990-91. Brunswick County
spent $800 per pupil, ranking 21st in
the state, according to this data.
A copy of Knapp's brief message
included a request that the school
board take no action in selecting a
new superintendent to succeed
Superintendent P.R. Hankins, who
recently announced his retirement.
Knapp asked that the position re
main vacant until the new school
board lakes office in January.
Convinced that the county school
system is failing to properly educate
children, Knapp pointed out in his
message the importance of the su
perintendent and the history of the
last four administrations, whose
contracts, he contends, had been
"bought off." He said, "They don't
know what the qualifications of a
superintendent should be."
Of the four previous superinten
dents, however, the balance of the
contracts of only two were bought
by the board before completion, ac
cording to Dougie Dcitz, school
board secretary. These were for John
Kaufhold and Ben Brooks. Two oth
ers, Eugene Yarb rough and Ralph
King, completed their contracts be
fore moving on to other positions.
With his message undelivered, an
indignant Knapp returned home
while the school board was in exec
utive session, saying he would now
"find out what my legal rights are."
Deitz said public address to the
board must follow a prescribed poli
cy.
"People can speak only at regular
sessions of the board," she ex
plained, "and then they have to con
tact the central office at least a week
in advance, asking to be placed on
the printed agenda."
She acknowledged that some
times individuals arc allowed to
speak who had not made prior
arrangements.
Cape Fear Lacks Dissolved Oxygen
Needed To Maintain Water Quality
BY MARJORIE MEGIVERN
There is not enough dissolved
oxygen in the Cape Fear River to
maintain water quality, according to
a study report just released by EA
Engineering of Atlanta.
The stale's Environmental Ma
nagement Commission (EMC) es
tablished standards for the quantity
of dissolved oxygen required to de
stroy pollution in this primary nurs
ery area, standards that are not now
being met due to industrial dis
charges into the river.
Several industries along the Low
er Cape Fear River and discharging
into it recently contracted for an en
gineering study to discover a strategy
that would avoid state reclassifica
tion of the river as High Quality
Water (HQW). The N.C. Department
of Environmental Health and Natural
Resources (DEHNR) advised indus
tries in 1989 that it intended the re
classification. Believing the resulting
stricter discharge standards would
prohibit their expansion, many of
these companies organized and au
thorized the study.
Preston Howard, of the DEHNR,
said the study, begun last year, is
now complete and will be discussed
at a meeting to be held in the next 30
to 60 days.
"The committee will then make a
recommendation to the EMC and
hearing officers," he said. "The chief
finding in the report is that we have a
dissolved oxygen problem in the riv
er."
Howard said Federal Paper Board
was identified as the primary dis
charge culprit and is under an order
to reduce its discharge from the orig
inal SO million gallons per day by
October 31, 1995.
"They have already reduced the
quantity to 8 million gallons," he
said, noting that compliance was an
expensive proposition for an industry
with such a high capacity, involving
the purchase of new equipment
Also under a consent order to re
duce discharge is the Wilmington
Nonhsidc Wastewater Treatment
Plant.
The Cape Fear River basin is a
nursery area for many estuary-de
pendent and freshwater fish that are
valuable for recreational and com
mercial reasons. The shallow marsh
habitats arc shown to be critical ar
eas for the earliest developmental
stage of fish and shellfish.
Also, the region is a high-growth
area, Brunswick County being the
county experiencing the greatest
growth (42.4 percent) in the state.
In the study area along the river,
68 industries have active discharge
permits, most of them established in
the last 40 years. Federal Paper
Board was permitted in 1951, fol
lowed by Carolina Power & Light in
1954, General Electric in 1960, and
Cape Industries and DuPont in 1968.
Others since then include Wi
lmington's Southside Wastewater
Treatment Plant, Koch Sulfur Pro
ducts and Takeda Chemicals.
The study covered the following
water characteristics:
?general quality, including alkalini
ty, conductivity, dissolved oxygen,
and hardness;
?conventional pollutants, such as fe
cal coliform bacteria, suspended
solids and turbidity;
?nutrients; and
?metals, such as chromium and lead.
Aside from finding that dissolved
oxygen levels were low, the study
report stated that, with 30 percent of
all North Carolina rivers polluted, 94
percent of this pollution was due to
non-point sources (NPS). NPS in
cludes stormwater runoff and urban
and construction activities.
HEARING IS MONDAY
Varnamtown Aldermen May Raise Taxes
Vamamiown residents will pay
more town taxes next year if the
board of aldermen passes its pro
posed budget Monday night
But the first tax hike in town his
tory shouldn't break anyone. The
owner of a 550,000 house would on
ly pay an extra S2.50 in taxes.
The proposed 1992-93 budget to
tals $84,000 and is based on a tax
rate of 5 ccnts per SlOOof property.
A public hearing on the proposed
budget will be held Monday, June
22, at 7:30 p.m. in the town hall.
V am am town's tax rate has been 4
1/2 ccnts per Si 00 since the water
front community incorporated in
1988.
Proposed expenses next year in
clude S7.600 for street lights,
S7.500 for buildings and grounds
improvements, $3,000 for the
clerk's salary, S2.750 for insurance
and bonds and $1 ,500 for legal fees.
Vamamtown plans to put $34,640
in a reserve fund and donate $2,500
to the Tri-Bcach Volunteer Fire De
partment and $1,600 to Coastline
Volunteer Rescue Squad.
Based on the higher tax rate, offi
cials expect to collect $4,347 in tax
es next year. The town's valuation is
about $9 million and the collection
rate for taxes is around 88 percent.
Other revenues in the proposed
spending plan include 538,000 in
state sales tax, $35,273 from the
town reserve fund and S3.700 in
franchise tax.
The amount of money appropriat
ed from the reserve fund may
change before the budget is adopted,
pending the purchase of a three-acre
tract on Sabbath Home Road.
Aldermen want to use the land for
a future park and have agreed to pay
landowner Bobby Caison 540,000
for the property.
Mayor Judy Galloway said last
week the deal still hasn't been com
pleted. Town officials were waiting
for a survey of the property.
She said aldermen hope the pur
chase goes through before they adopt
the new budget so they can take the
down payment out of this year's bud
get. The 1992-93 proposal includes
S 1 0,000 to pay off the property .
?h
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