The OBC Needs Our Help Now More Than Ever!
The ten days that the OBC has been given by the Currituck County Commissioners to apply for a conditional use permit for the tower will soon be up.
The lighthouse built in 1875 and opened as a public attraction (according to Currituck County Commissioner Ernie Bowden, the primary tourist attraction in the county) in 1990, two years before the County's Unified Development Ordinance was passed and the tower should be "grandfathered in" as an acceptable "nonconforming use"!
The County wants the OBC to provide rest rooms and 125 parking spaces for visitiors. The lighthouse sits on eight tenths of an acre and does not have space for rest rooms or more parking.
The County says that the lighthouse is "Just another businesss". "With other businesses, they don't invoke these restrictions they know cannot be complied with", says Currituck Commissioner Ernie Bowden.
From Melody Leckie of OBC:
The only thing left it seems to us is for Governor Easley to intervene before one of North Carolina’s most visited lighthouses is closed to the public by Currituck County. Anyone that would call his office and ask for help would definitely make a difference. I called this morning and was told that citizen's services is the number to call ...919-733-4240.
Please call as soon as possible to prevent the County Commissioners from closing the Currituck Beach Lighthouse to the public!
All my best,
Paul Conlin
Secretary,
American Lighthouse Foundation
