The Division of Coastal Management has issued a CAMA permit
to Lacy Henry to build an 8-slip marina on the Oriental Harbor
at the end of South Avenue.
That 60-foot stretch of waterfront is land that the Town of
Oriental says that it owns. The town had filed
suit against Henry earlier this year.
Which is why, as Oriental’s town attorney Scott Davis
told the Town Commission Tuesday night, the CAMA permit came
as a surprise. “We were led to believe,” Davis said,
“that our lawsuit stayed” Henry’s effort to
get a CAMA permit for a marina.
In the lawsuit filed several months ago, Oriental is trying
to prove in court that the land Henry claimed as his was actually
the end of South Avenue and as such, is town property. The lawsuit
is laden with multiple references to town commission meeting
minutes dating back decades, records that show that the town
had leased the land to various people over the years. That is
something Oriental couldn’t have done unless the town
owned the land to begin with. That lawsuit is pending and is
expected to take another half year to resolve.
Ownership Not An Issue for CAMA
So, if ownership of the land was still in question, how could
the Division of Coastal Management issue a CAMA permit for Lacy
Henry to begin marina construction?
Attorney Davis told the Town Commission Tuesday night that when
it comes to CAMA permits actual ownership of the land is not
taken in to account.
“CAMA said it didn’t want to get involved in the
controversy (over who owns the land), “ Davis said, “But
by issuing the permit, they did.”
Town Files Appeal as Time Ticks
The town of Oriental has now filed an appeal with the Division
of Coastal Management, asking for another hearing to contest
the permit CAMA issued to Lacy Henry at its April 14th meeting.
According to the CAMA permitting process, those who disagree
with a permit have 30 days to file an appeal. Davis said that
because ‘time is ticking on us,” he did not wait
for the town commission’s approval to file the appeal.
Instead he had colleague and environmental law expert Clark
Wright draw up the appeal. Wright donated most of his time and
charged the town $200.
Law Murky Not Only In Oriental
Case
Davis says he knows of at least one other case in NC where a
CAMA permit was issued in the midst of a quitclaim dispute.
In Manteo, he says, one of the parties received a CAMA permit
for building on the waterfront, and tried to claim that the
permit in and of itself was proof that it owned the land.
Davis says that he himself could “file for a permit to
build a marina at Fort Macon,” suggesting that under the
current CAMA law, nothing would prevent him from getting the
permit to build on the state park.
Meanwhile, Mayor Sherrill Styron expressed, in a manner of speaking,
a confidence that the town would prevail. At Tuesday’s
meeting, he pondered if, before his permit is stopped, Lacy
Henry might clear the decayed pilings off of the waterfront…
thus saving the town the job.
In other action at the Town Commission Tuesday
night, commissioners voted to seek a six-month extension on
a grant to renovate Lupton Park playground. Commissioners put
on hold plans for a light boat and kayak and canoe ramp at the
end of Midyette Street. And they floated the idea of permanently
closing Main Street to vehicular traffic at the Duck Pond where
it has been subject to much flooding in the past year. Public
feedback is welcome, commissioners say.
The Commissioners also approved plans to put a PINE transmitter
for high-speed Internet service on the Oriental water tower.
For more on the high-speed Internet access that has arrived
in Oriental, click here.
