Newspapers / The Perquimans Weekly (Hertford, … / Oct. 1, 1981, edition 1 / Page 1
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THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY Volume 37, Wo. 3? USPS42>-080 Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C., Thursday, OCTOBER 1, 1W1 20 CENTS County board denies Holiday Island proposal 'We won't prolong it,' Sherrill said Coastland Corporation vice president Jack Sherrill stated that his firm will not take further action to se?k to have the Holiday Island plots changed if the county Board of Commissioners refuses to approve the change. Following Monday night's meeting of the county Board of Com missioners. where the board refused to grant approval for the change. Sherrill said, "Well obviously, we'll keep it the way it is." In a telephone interview before Monday's vote. Sherrill said that he "won't prolong it. We'll just keep things the way they are. I'm tired of messing with it." Coastland attempted to have 265 small camping sites at Holiday Island changed to 54 larger residential lots. Property owners didn't object to the change ? "there are not philosophical differences (between Coastland and thie property owners) about what they want to do," the Holiday Island Property Owners Association at torney Walter Edwards. Jr. told the board two weeks ago. Rather, the HIPOA objected to possible consequences of the change; how it would affect the sewer system and the roads, both of which the HIPOA plans to take over in the future. The sewer system question ? whether the system can handle the change ? is out the hands of both of the parties involved. The state Health Department and the Department of Environmental Management must decide that. ,? ?> But on the Issue of the roads Sherrill - said that if it came down to whether ' the roa?s had to be paved or not. Coastland would pave the roads in order to have the plot change ap sl ?" And in fact, Sherrill announced at V the meeting that the two parties had come to an agreement to pave the roads. The property owners claim that they were not informed of Coastland's plans until the proposal came before the hoard. Sherrill denies the charge. "We didn't try to sneak anything by," he said. "The property owners were not (Continued on page 2) Riding for St. Judes ' Twenty bikers and one jogger went 12 miles in and around Perquimans County Sunday for the Bike-a-thon for St. Judei' Hospital. The bikers received over $1,000 in pledges for their efforts. Sewer system is not adequate, study shows The Perquimans County Board of Commissioners, in special meeting Monday night, denied a request by the developer of Holiday Island to change the land use at a portion of the resort. The board would not approve a proposal by the developer. Coastland Corporation, to change 265 camping sites at the resort to 54 residential sites. The deciding factor for the board was a report by the state Health Department which said that not only could the present sewer system handle the increase load of the plat change, but in fact the system would be hard-pressed to handle the present load. The decision was disappointing to both Coastland and the property owners organization, the Holiday Island Property Owners Association. Representatives of both parties said they wished to see the plat change approved. The result is somewhat ironic because it was HIPOA that first brought the dispute out in the open by appealing to the board for a delay last September 8. If HIPOA had not made its concerns public, but rather negotiated privately with Coastland. the land use changes will probably have been approved. If HIPOA hadn't gone public, no one would have known that the Health Department's error in originally gaving the sewage system the green light, an error that wasn't discovered until later investigation. In a letter to board attorney John Matthews, the Department of En vironmental Management ? which issues the permit for the system ? stated, as Matthews put it, "The system is hardly adequate, if not inadequate. It is questionable whether the system can accommidate a*y sites, camping or otherwise. " Edward Pierce, representative fqr the Health Department which is alsk> involved in sewer permits, using thje DEM standard figures (100-15(0 gallons per day per campsite, with i*. * 40 percent occupancy of sites; 100-15C gallons per day per bedroom ioi residential sites), showed that with camping sites the system's peak load will be about 4,000 gallons above its capacity of 20,000 gallons. With residential sites, the peak would be about 6,000 gallons above capacity. Pierce added that apparently the DEM had used average loads rather than peak loads in permitting the system about 10 years ago According to the figures presented. Pierce concluded that the system would have to be about twice as large to handle the plat changes Pierce reccomended to the board that it not approved the change. "I could not find any way to protect homeowners ten years down the road." he said. Pierce added that if the changes were allowed, and some time in the future the sewer system became overloaded, he didn't know what might happen, but conceivably the 54 homeowners would be without a sewer system. The attorney for HIPOA, Walter Edwards. Jr., agreed with Pierce's assessment "With the best interests of the property owners in mind," he said. "I would go along with the state." Noting that HIPOA will eventually be deeded the system. Edwards said, "the property owners shouldn't later be saddled with this. There definitely has to be some work done." Edwards did mention that ac cording to the contract turning the system over to HIPOA, Coastland would have to pay for any addition; Jack Sherrill, vice-president of Coastland. disagreed with the Health Department's figures, stating that according to actual readings of the sewage flow, the system is never running more than half of its capacity. "We will never see 100 percent occupancy (of the lots) in our lifetimes." he said. "Base on our past sales, it might take 100 years. I don't think you can justify denying (the proposal)."., The opinion of the board was that if they approved the change, eventually the sewer system would become overloaded and the two parties would in part hold them responsible. "The only way we can approved it is to assume all the lots will be sold," said Commissioner Lester Simpson. Commissioner Marshall Caddy was also concerned about the 54 homeowners who may one day see their sewer cut off because of an overload. "I think we should watch out for these people." he said. "Some people may think we're overstepping ourselves, but I think we should protect them . " Haste : Leaders have to know where to go and what to do ? Hertford Town Councilman Erie Haste believes the town has come a , long way in the last few years, and still has a long way to go. Haste also thinks the council has its work cut out for itself as it faces the Reagan administration's budget cuts. And Haste hopes to be there to work with the council. Haste filed last week lor re-election to the council. The election will November 3. - At presstime, no one has filed to oppose Haste, but Haste doesn't ex pect to go unopposed. "They usually file late. Somebody else will run. you can count on that." Whoever the opponent is, Haste said he haa one quality that an opponent cant match ? experience. He has been on the council for the last eight years, "a rewarding experience and a learning experience," he said. In those eight years, Haste said he had learned some of the ins and outs of government, particularly working with state and federal goverments to receive financial grants. The state and federal government have a lot of programs to aid municipalities, but as Haste said, "they don't just spread it out in the open. You have to know what to do and where to go." He added, "Some people don't for as to take that money, but if Hertford doesn't get it, someone else will get our share. The Reagan administration's cuts in the federal budget will probably take their toll on federal revenue sharing. Haste expects the program will end entirely. Revenue sharing hat been easy money for towns like Hertford, and its loss will make it hard for the town to keep the level of services tt has given the people, t "Revenue sharing has dried up," Haste said. "We'll have to provide the same services without revenue sharing. The town's becoming more efficient. The town hasn't hired people to replace those who have left or retired. The people who work for the town have excepted the responsibility to work harder. "It's going to get tougher for us, and we have to dig harder to serve the town without greatly increasing our costs." Several things have happened to Hertford in recent years. Perhaps the biggest thing is last week's vote to join the North Carolina Muncipal Power Agency's move to buy its own generating facilities. "This is an issue we've been trying to tackle for the last four years." Haste said. "It's been a serious problem for us. The town has gotten into financial trouble before because it didn't pass on rate increases to the people, an Haste ticipating that the increases wouldn't be approved by the federal govern ment and the extra money would be refunded to the town. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way, and the town ended up footing the bill. Though it didn't turn out the way the town planned it. Haste thinks this is an example of the council willingness to hold down the townpeoples' cost. "We tried to keep the rates down as much as we possible could," he said. And though he admits he doesn't understand the technical questions of the new power switch, he said that he voted with on the strength of the ex pected 15 percent savings in future electric bills. Haste counts himself as a con tributor to the beautification of the town, without charging the taxpayer anything for it. Missing Mill Park was constructed for "practically nothing" on the townpeoples' part. The town Beers: Businesses need to know what to expect .* ! Hertford Town Councilman John Boon' greatest concern it attracting new business to the area "I think the basic thing ia lor Um town to increase iu population and increaaeitatax bate," he laid. . Been will take hit concerns to the townpeopie aa he foes up fcr re election to a teat that he haa Mid line* recant memory. So far, ne fee has died to oppoee Bean for hit Nat. ' v-T-kV" '? ' ?' .. ' ? ''"rf Beers alio notes the "loss at our - young people" >s a serious problem connected with the lack of new jobs - "iL> ' ' ? .7' . But Uw cuts in federal and state fptnfliag on municipalities, have made it more difficult for towns lik* Hertford to continue to provide the ? services they have. Beers said he would want the towa to continue to provide tts beet service without raiding taxes All of service* should be cut a little, here and there". Beers doesn't want to describe himself conservative, but neither does he want to be a big spender. "I don't think we skould go forward and then fall back so far that we destroy whatever we have done. I don't think Reagan is falling back, he's just holding up a little." Beers, 52, has two daughters, both married, one just recently, and a granddaughter. He ia\invotved in so many community activities it's a wonder he has time ^ to run J.C. Blanchatf 4 Co.. the garden equips IHVDi aiK/f Wilflf * i' He is a member ef the choir and the ,v ,. ' j*. J. \ administrative board at the United Methodist Church, and a member of the Masonic Lodge. He is treasurer of the Rescue Squad and a member of the American Red Cross and the Fire Department. He belongs to two veterans organisations, the Service to.MUitary Families and the Perquimans County Veterans Services Office. "My wile wonders whether I should run again, but I say 'If they're tired of me they'll tell me.' " be said. received state and federal money for the project. Haste also notes the town's efforts to rebuild housing, also through government grants. "I'd like to see a consistant effort to upgrade the looks of the town," Haste said. "I want to preserve the heritage and history of Hertford. The Newbold White house is a great drawing card for the town. I would assist any ' agency or private organization to upgrade Hei^ford, but I wouldn't use taxpayers' m?. ley." Connected to this issue is zoning. "I think we should enforce the zoning laws." he said. "We've become a little slack on it. Some people don't feel we need zoning, but time will tell we do. " Haste, the father of three daughters, is the owner of Hertford Hardware store and several pieces of real estate in the town. He is a member of the Hertford Rotary Club, a member of the Board of Directors at the Bank of North Carolina in Hobb sville. and a member of the vestry at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. He served as the Hertford representative (Continue# on page 2) This week % For Hertford roiido&U confined by the upcoming movt from VKPCO to NCMPA, pie am turn to
The Perquimans Weekly (Hertford, N.C.)
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