Developer pointing finger at home based businesses in Carova

In an article in the Daily Advance, the County Commissioners have quite a situation on their hands. They may be forced to address all of Carova Beach and the direction that it needs/wants/should go....this will be very interesting to watch in the coming month.

Currituck investigates Carova home businesses

By Cindy Beamon

The Daily Advance

Sunday, April 17, 2011

A developer’s complaints have prompted Currituck officials to investigate if some Carova property owners are illegally operating businesses out of their homes.

More than three decades ago, Currituck officials banned commercial development on the four-wheel drive beach area, where access is limited to a sand road and county water and sewer services are non-existent.

Developer Chip Friedman said the illegal businesses are a sign that the county needs to loosen its commercial ban in Carova.

Friedman recently charged the county is turning a blind eye to illegal home-based businesses in Carova while denying him the same rights for his Swan Beach property, where he wants to build a 302-unit inn. Friedman said he has a county-approved plat from 1969 that includes business parcels, but the county will not allow him to develop them.

The county is already investigating Friedman’s charges, said Planning Director Ben Woody. He said the county has inspected up to 30 suspect properties and plans to issue six violation notices this week. Four other suspected businesses will need further investigation, he said.

All property in Carova beach, including the 600 existing residences, are zoned for residential use only. Home businesses are allowed but limited. No more than one vehicle can be used for commercial use. From the outside, there can be little or no visible evidence that a business is being conducted. No signs are allowed.

Woody said the number of violations were not unusually high in Carova. A sweep of any similar-sized neighborhood in Currituck would probably yield the same number of violations, he said.

Friedman said the violations indicate pent-up demand for services in an area cut off from commercial development.

“We have been patiently waiting for the county to realize what chaos such zoning creates and to accept the fact that our original business areas are needed for the community’s health, safety and vitality. .. there’s isn’t even an area for a hospital helicopter to land to save lives,” Friedman said in an e-mail statement.

Last year, Friedman sought rezoning for 37 acres in Swan Beach to build a 302-unit inn, recreational facilities, indoor pool, and helicopter landing pad. The proposal was hotly protested by nearby residents who said an inn would be out of character with the remote resort and the Currituck National Wildlife Refuge nearby.

Friedman dropped the request after the county planning staff recommended denial, but he is scheduled to resubmit a similar plan to Currituck commissioners on May 16.

Although Friedman has sought the rezoning, he asserts his 1969 plat already designates business areas for development.

Woody said a series of events prompted the county to forbid commercial development after the 1969 plat was recorded. Access to paved roads to the north was cut off by False Cape State Park. Funding for roads was halted under the Coastal Barrier Resources Act, which basically blocked any federal assistance to the area deemed by the government as unsuitable for development. Woody said Carova was singled out on the barrier island because of its high erosion rate and hurricane-carved inlets.

Despite the limitations, the beach resort has continued to grow and appears to have plenty of room for more. Roughly a third of Carova’s 3,100 platted lots are developed.

Growth has already posed some problems. The county has plans to repair the pot-hole ridden sand road along the remote stretch of beach. The planning staff is also drafting rules to stem the construction of mega-beach homes with 20-plus rooms.

Woody said commercial growth would only compound the demand for county services along the fragile stretch of beach.

Friedman disagrees, however. He said commercial growth is needed to help serve the area’s growing needs.

“It would be unconscionable to have an area of this size and density without business/commercial areas,” his e-mail reads.

Friedman’s lawyer has asked the county to consider a development agreement to allow new business at the Swan Beach site. The offer could halt an otherwise “inevitable lawsuit,” Virginia Attorney J. Bryan Plumlee wrote in a March 30 correspondence to County Attorney Ike McRee