The Northern Outer Banks are pristine and unspoiled. From the end of the paved road to the Virginia line, residents, property owners, and visitors enjoy unspoiled nature, wildlife, amazing beaches, and peaceful serenity.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT IN OPPOSING THE COMMERCIAL OVERLAY DISTRICT IN THE OFF ROAD AND SWAN BEACH.
AT THE NOVEMBER 17th -- PUBLIC HEARING-- THE PROPOSAL WAS UNANIMOUSLY DENIED!!!!! -

We appreciate your support and will continue to keep you posted in the event of other issues that might come up in the off road area. We are sure that the developers will try again. Your help was tremendous!

Over 1000 people signed the petition -- including 433 tourists, 560 Currituck County property owners and residents (of which 318 residents signed and 140 residents in the off road area)

Friday, October 10, 2008

Visitors from coast to coast "No to Commercial"

Visitors from coast to coast are signing the petition and leaving comments that the county should hear. They come here because there is not commercial development -- and will not continue to come if there is commercial development. Comments also center on changing plans for moving to the area or buying property if a commercial development comes to the northern beaches.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

We are hoping to move to Corolla or Duck as soon as we sell our house in Chicago. This might take awhile! But we love the area and especially the horses. There are hardly any other places in this country with the treasure that you have. Why spoil it to make it look like every other dumpy place in America? How many strip malls does one need!

Anonymous said...

I am truely sadened to hear that the commissioners are even considering to overturn the standing restriction of commercial development. The wild 4x4 beaches are the reason my family has been coming to your beaches! We purposly do not chose Duck b/c it is too commercial. We have purposely chosen north of Corolla becuase of the beauty-the ability to see the horses in the wild. I will be sad if the commissioners' decisions put us in a position to chose other beaches to vacation. Oh, by the way, I am brave enough to put my name! Unlike folks who do not have the integrity to lay claim to their statements.

Anonymous said...

The way the 4x4 Northern Beaches are right now with the wild horses running free are why we visit, the peaceful, private and natural enviroment. If the 4x4 beaches were set up for commercial why would anyone to visit anymore?? Why can't everyone leave well-enough alone!

Anonymous said...

I would not even venture into North Carolina for my vacation if it wasn't for the wonderful solitude of Carvoa Beach! I have not found another place in the USA that brings me such peace. To allow commercialization of this natural area would be a sin.

Anonymous said...

Why on earth would anyone drive miles beyond the beaches and offerings of Southern Shores and Duck to get to the Off-Road beaches of Carova if not for the excitement and the challenge of beach driving, the solitude of surf fishing, and the excitement of finding wild horses in freedom, found nowhere else. My family comes to visit and drive on the beaches to find a world we cannot find anywhere else. The first store, the first inn, the first little commercial enterprise that comes to this area, brings with it the next, the bigger and the better, the first step to the demise of what is now a world most of us tourists can't find anywhere else.

Please look ahead, stores and hotels in the off-road may be a quick source of revenue. But short-lived. This can be found anywhere else. But the wild nature of the off-road beaches is something we have not been able to find any place else.(We've looked; this is a rare find!)

Thank you for reading this. Please think of the many touurists who enjoy your beaches for what they are now. We can find stores anyplace else. We can't find an unspoiled beach anywhere else. Please continue to protect what you have!

Anonymous said...

Having visited many coastal areas throughout the world, it was wonderfully surprising to find such an undisturbed, unique place. Allowing any commercial development will negatively affect the landscape, the environment, and hence the value of this unique place.

I have seen other areas that were once pristine ruined when they opened the door to commercial development -- when the development was to be limited -- but over the years this has grown relentlessly. The results being population and building densities that negatively affect water tables, quality of life and ultijmately the quality of tourism because you cheapen the area. It becomes undifferentiated and highly competitive commercial market that leads to low cost drivers and motivators.Look at cancun that went from $300 a night in the 1980s to $80 a night now. And in the 1980s you could not get a room unless you book 6 months in advance. Now the occupancy is only 50%.

Do and you ruin it.

Anonymous said...

There are not too many unique places in the world left. Why would you ruin such a treasure?

Anonymous said...

Bringing commercial to this area will do nothing but drive away the very people who come here to begin with!

Commercial development is not the answer! Look around the eastern seaboard and recognize the marketing niche you have! DO NOT RUIN IT WILL COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT! We will never ever come back again if there is commercial there. Nor will our friends in Ohio and Washington DC.

Anonymous said...

PLEASE VOTE NO.. I have been coming with my family for 15 years. The best part of coming to NC beaches is the off road areas.

Anonymous said...

I have lived in Swan Beach for 28 years, raised 2 children there and have NEVER felt the need for a store, hotel, wedding chapel, fire station or any other commercial structure in my community! Corolla is not that far away. In fact, in the early years we had to go to Kitty Hawk for groceries. What I have always LOVED about Swan Beach is the beauty of the natural environment. Going from my house out to the beach, we pass through a big open flat grassland that floods regularly when it rains, and is home to MANY creatures - horses and deer graze there, hawks swoop low looking for a meal, birds dine on the abundance of flying insects, etc. This grassland is beautiful any time of day or year - and this is the area Mr. Friedman wants to have rezoned commercial so he can build a "historic village"! So how can something that is new be called "historic"?? Insanity!

So lets talk history - Currituck Inlet flowed along the northern part of Mr. Friedman's proposed commercial area. The inlet closed around 1800 but the ocean still likes to cut a channel through to the sound during storms, most recently and dramatically during Hurricane Isabel. During the Ash Wednesday Storm in March,1962 there was a complete washover from ocean to sound through this area resulting in the deaths of two older ladies who lived here. Historically, people lived on the soundside as far from the ocean as they could get. There are all sorts of pieces of the past on the back side of Swan Beach - graves, cisterns, remnants of houses, etc. There was a village at Sea Gull which was obliterated when Lewarks Hill (now known as Pennys Hill) moved over it and covered it up. What all this shows us is something we know but frequently choose to ignore - the coastal environment is characterized by constant change and is subject to forces far greater than man's hubris. Yet we continue to develop our coastlines to the nth degree, often at our peril. Witness the houses falling into the ocean on Hatteras Island just a week or so ago! We need less development not more.

As for Mr. Friedman's history, he is one of the original developers of Whalehead Beach, Ocean Hill, Villages of Ocean Hill, Swan Beach and Carova Beach. He's been making money off this beach for years and years! When will it ever be enough??