Details delay development plans for Currituck island

A third attempt to develop a small Currituck Sound island near Waterlily has been delayed while officials work out details such as where residents would park cars and boats.

Albemarle & Associates, which has offices in Elizabeth City and Kill Devil Hills, wants to build a residential neighborhood on Long Point, a 57-acre island near Waterlily along the Intracoastal Waterway that was once home to a Coast Guard station. It would be the first development in Currituck County accessible only by boat.

The county Planning Board tabled the proposal Tuesday and plans to hold a workshop later with county commissioners, said Ben Woody, director of the Planning Department.

Services such as electricity, cable television, fire, rescue, police, trash disposal and school buses would not be available. The developer would have to sign a waiver of county services.

In 2005 the project was withdrawn after staff recommended against it, and in 2007 the project was turned down.

This time, instead of seeking to amend the development ordinance, the county would create a new zoning district strictly for the 21 privately owned islands in the sound, Woody said. The planning staff recommended approval this time as long as all the problems could be resolved.

Also in question are where residents would park their cars on the mainland and where they would launch their boats. A state-owned public boat launch is close by, but the facility probably would not be available for permanent parking of private vehicles, Woody said.

The new district would allow 1-acre lots, but county staff members would rather see fewer homes on larger lots on this island, Woody said. Early plans called for four or five 10-acre lots. Lots of 10 acres or more are exempt from local subdivision requirements but not from zoning laws.

The Coinjock Coast Guard Station began on Long Point in the early 1870s as a drop-off for building materials for the Currituck Beach Lighthouse in Corolla. Deep-water boats could get to Long Point on the Intracoastal Waterway but couldn't cross the shallow Currituck Sound. Smaller boats hauled the materials to Corolla.

Long Point Island was once a peninsula from Churches Island until the Intracoastal Waterway cut through it.

When the lighthouse was finished in 1875, Long Point became the site of a lighthouse attendant's house and supply depot where oil, wicks and other supplies were kept for buoy lights and lighthouses on the coast.

In 1925, the house was moved to a site on the Coinjock canal.

Jeff Hampton, (252) 338-0159, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com