Currituck to revamp county's development laws

CURRITUCK COUNTY, N.C.

More solar panels on homes, increased standardized architecture along the highway, and additional townlike neighborhoods are some of the results expected from a rewrite of Currituck County's development laws.

Officials hope incentives, rather than penalties, promote the changes.

Currituck County plans to hire Clarion Associates, a national planning firm with an office in Chapel Hill, to update the 20-year-old unified development ordinance.

The document is an assortment of laws that govern community planning such as zoning, highway signs, architecture and how neighborhoods are built, said Ben Woody, director of the Currituck County Planning Department.

The revision is expected to cost about $225,000 and take close to two years to complete.

"This is a big project," Woody said.

When finished, the development ordinance would closely follow the land-use plan completed three years ago that calls for new neighborhoods to go up in established areas, such as Grandy and Moyock.

To clean up the highway corridor of N.C. 168 and U.S. 158, codes would offer standard architectural styles. Different communities could have different styles to set them apart. Those who conform would get incentives, such as smaller set- backs from the highway, Woody said.

Solar panels, rain gardens and best environment practices for storm drainage would be among the goals, he said.

Public hearings and meetings with developers and landowners will be part of the revision process, Woody said.

Business owners generally support the project, said David Palmer, vice chairman of the Currituck County Economic Development Advisory Board and owner of a bed-and- breakfast along the highway in Barco.

"Most are in favor of it," he said.

Officials hope incentives will bring about cooperation rather than the opposition that came with earlier changes in development ordinances.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, the county was among the fastest-growing in North Carolina. When the rush began, developers saw Currituck as a money-making frontier with limited regulations compared with cities in Virginia.

Currituck officials hurried to update laws in an effort to maintain the rural character of the county.

The adequate facilities ordinance, passed in 1994, allowed commissioners to turn down development proposals if schools would become overcrowded or other services, such as fire protection, would be strained.

The ordinance received statewide attention and won awards from planning organizations, but at the same time, Currituck was criticized as a bad place to open a business.

The land-use plan completed three years ago coincides with a map that puts communities into four categories: conservation areas, rural areas, limited-service areas and full-service areas.

Conservation areas, such as wetlands, should remain in a natural state. Rural areas should remain agricultural with dispersed housing and no central water and sewer services. Limited-service areas should get some county infrastructure and handle residential development. Full-service areas should be open for commercial development with water and sewer.

Some Jarvisburg residents protested the land-use plan after commissioners cited it as a basis to deny some attempts to rezone farm land to residential, a designation more valuable to developers. But later, a new set of commissioners allowed the rezonings.

A new development ordinance would follow the land-use plan more strictly, Woody said.

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