File:Coast watch (1979) (20650589112).jpg

Title: Coast watch
Identifier: coastwatch00uncs_1 (find matches)
Year: 1979 (1970s)
Authors: UNC Sea Grant College Program
Subjects: Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology
Publisher: (Raleigh, N. C. : UNC Sea Grant College Program)
Contributing Library: State Library of North Carolina
Digitizing Sponsor: North Carolina Digital Heritage Center

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mean that the hotel is going to last longer," Watson says. "But it doesn't mean it's going to be better." Watson says he believes the new setback will mean that fewer hotels will be built, that some beachfront property will be devalued, and that, as a consequence, Dare County will find its tax base too restricted to handle its tourist trade. He says that there are already too few rooms to rent in Dare County. "It's my feeling right now that when you're running at one-hundred-percent occupancy, you need some more rooms. And with these new regulations, we're not going to get them. Our community is changing, and we are at- tracting more affluent visitors. People with more means de- mand services—nice hotels, nice facilities. "With the limited amount of land left, I think you're go- ing to see more big projects, fewer smaller ones," Watson says. But the opposition from leaders in coastal communities is not unanimous even in Dare County. Don Bryan, who last fall was re-elected mayor of Nags Head, is a member of the commission and an advocate of the setback regulations. "My view is that the Coastal Area Management Act has furnished a tool with which we can make people aware of the problem. It helps us form rules that will benefit ocean- front property owners from the standpoint of protecting the public from loss in the long run, and from the standpoint of protecting the public's interest in the beach." Bryan says he thinks the results of the mayoral election "indicate that the citizens of Nags Head are satisfied with my stand." Before last fall, some 500 beachfront lots were un- developable in North Carolina at least partly because of the setback regulations. Many of these lots simply did not have the buildable depth to accommodate the setback. Officials say the new regulations will make a smaller number of lots eligible for condominiums and other large structures, the more profitable variety of development in many areas. But Owens says that many of these lots affected by set- backs could not be used anyway, often because of problems with sewage treatment or drainage. "When you look at many of the developed beach com- munities and you see a stretch of undeveloped property, there's frequently a very good reason for that," Owens says. "The marketplace has recognized that these lots are un- suitable for development." "Development pressure is continuing, but the supply of good land is constricted, so, over time, there's more and more pressure on these marginal lands," Owens says. Owens points out that many developers have actually supported the setbacks. He says that, within the increased setback zone, "You can still place traditional beach cot- tages, duplexes, quadraplexes, swimming pools, and parking lots. You can design around it." "I think it (the opposition to setbacks) primarily goes back to a philosophical objection people have with govern- ment telling them what they can and can't do with their property—setting some constraints," Owens says. "Because the economic impacts of this increase I don't think are all that significant." By what authority does the state restrict the use of private property? Walter Clark, Sea Grant's coastal law specialist, says the state's authority lies partly in what has been termed its "police power," the power, he says, "to Continued on next page

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