Blackwater Worldwide, Currituck County and Moyock residents have agreed to a "demilitarized zone" about a mile wide that would stop the tactical training company from building firing ranges or driving tracks any closer to neighboring properties.
In a Nov. 10 meeting, the Planning Board agreed to the buffer zone. Currituck County commissioners will decide on the issue in December.
During public hearings in April and May, Navy maps locating a proposed outlying landing field in Camden County showed Blackwater facilities overlapped into Currituck County.
Complaints prompted the county to contact Blackwater. The company had a survey done and acknowledged that four firing ranges, part of a high-speed driving track and a parking lot, among other facilities, had mistakenly been built in Currituck, which requires a special-use permit for them.
Blackwater was also granted a correction to Currituck County's 2004 ordinance on shooting ranges.
Based on Blackwater's application at that time, the ordinance called for a down-range safety zone that covers a 100-degree arc. The ordinance should have called for a 10-degree arc, which greatly reduces the size of the safety zone and makes Blackwater's ranges legal where they are.
Jeff Hampton, (252) 338-0159, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com
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