Fuel Prices OBX By Rob Morris in The Outer Banks Voice

Numerous factors drive up OBX fuel prices, distributor says

By Rob Morris on September 22, 2015

Lynn Keffer of Crossroads Fuel Service spoke Monday.

Higher maintenance, insurance and real estate costs are among the factors contributing to the disparity in gasoline prices between the Outer Banks and neighboring areas, a regional fuel wholesaler says.

Lynn Keffer, president of Crossroads Fuel Service, was the only one to speak Monday after Dare County commissioners had invited local service station owners to explain why gasoline prices are so much higher here.

Keffer said that he has no influence on prices at the pumps, but as an owner of a family business in operation for 50 years, he said he knows what service station owners on the Outer Banks deal with. His Chesapeake company distributes fuel in Virginia and northeastern North Carolina.

Complaints about high fuel prices are long-standing. Earlier this year, Dare County commissioners asked for an investigation by the state Attorney General’s office. An official was assigned to look into the disparity, but the county has yet to receive a report.

This week, prices were running about $2.19 a gallon in the northern Outer Banks compared to less than $2 in Southeastern Virginia and Elizabeth City.

Keffer agreed to step forward after the board sent letters to Outer Banks station owners earlier this month asking why prices here are higher — often 20 to 40 cents per gallon — than in Currituck County, Elizabeth City and southeastern Virginia.

“One of my customers in Dare County showed me his property insurance bill, and his was for wind only, for last year,” Keffer said. “He is paying nearly 30 percent more for one property with one canopy and two buildings than we are paying for a combined 11 properties, five canopies, 13 buildings and an assortment of above-ground storage tanks.

“Ours is property insurance that includes wind, fire, vandalism, even a little bit of pollution . . .”

Wind and salt air take a toll on equipment, such as pumps, he said, and the lifespan is about 50 percent lower than in other areas. Service calls, he said, are more frequent and expensive.

Outer Banks dealers can expect at least one service call a month for repairs to pumps, he said, while a dealer in Elizabeth City might have four to six a year.

“The trip charge for repair to Avon is $459,” he said. “That’s the trip charge for repair. That compares to what we pay in Elizabeth City to about $75 per trip.”

Property values also contribute to higher prices at the pumps. Keffer said that three convenience stores his company owns inland are valued about 50 percent less than a service station for sale on the Outer Banks.

He said he couldn’t cite figures on the difference in mortgage and rental costs, but “whatever it is, it’s more. And it’s going to affect the cost of your gasoline.”

Higher freight costs amounting to about 5 cents a gallon also should be taken into account, he said. Credit cards are used more frequently during the tourist season, so they can add to operating costs as well, he said.

Dealers in Elizabeth City often sell at or below costs, Keffer said, for competitive reasons, to maintain cash flow and to honor contractual commitments to suppliers to sell a specified amount of gas.

Keffer does business directly with four retailers in Dare County — one for 33 years — and with others as a common carrier, he said.

“They’re not out to get anybody,” he said. “They’re just out to make an honest living.”

None of the commissioners asked questions or commented after Keffer’s presentation.

Colington Road Gets a Facelift

Busy Outer Banks road due for a facelift

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By Jeff Hampton
The Virginian-Pilot
© September 20, 2015

KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C.

A busy Outer Banks road that winds past flood-prone waters in the shadow of the Wright Brothers National Memorial will get resurfaced, widened and lifted in places.

Colington Road runs 4.3 miles from U.S. 158 next to the memorial past Colington Creek and Blount Bay before ending at the tip of the island on Kitty Hawk Bay. The scenic views are great, until the wind whips up and waves splash onto the pavement, or heavy rain pools deep across the center line.

"It can be dangerous," said Jocelyn Midgette, who manages Joe and Kay's Campground with her husband.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation held a public meeting Thursday on the $17.4 million project in Kill Devil Hills. Dozens attended the meeting to peer at large maps and question highway officials. The work includes widening the two-lane route, lifting the pavement in low spots and adding paved paths for cyclists and pedestrians.

The state plans to have more public meetings and acquire the land needed for widening the road in 2017. Construction is planned to begin and likely wrap up in 2018.

The state also plans to straighten a curve in the road near the intersection with Sandpiper Drive.

But a straighter road means more speeding, said resident Phil Kadala.

"That curve is not so bad if it slows people down," he said.

The road passes a mix of mobile homes and high-dollar houses. Popular stops along the way include Billy's Seafood and The Colington Cafe. In places, marsh grasses grow near the pavement. Locals and tourists fish and crab within sight of the zooming cars.

Despite the rural character, more than 12,000 vehicles a day on average travel the narrow route. The state added large rocks known as rip rap to the shoreline years ago, helping keep the water back. Two new bridges were built in the 1990s, and some sections of pavement were raised later. Two years ago, crews rerouted the road to remove a sharp loop around a church.

Still, floodwaters breach the improvements at times. When the lane nearest the water submerges, drivers typically wait their turn to pass. Some take the risk of stalling out.

"I've driven through when I probably shouldn't have, just because I wanted to go home," said Colington Harbor resident Martha Cain.

Jeff Hampton, 252-338-0159, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com

The Outer Banks Voice - Why does El Niño mean a ‘quieter’ hurricane season for us?

The Outer Banks Voice - Why does El Niño mean a ‘quieter’ hurricane season for us?

Article in Va. Pilot ---Outer Banks Mansion Raises Questions

The Virginian-Pilot
© September 6, 2015

COROLLA, N.C.

A massive house looms above the dunes in the northernmost developed part of the Outer Banks. The structure dwarfs the 5,000-square-foot home nearby in a place where big-wheeled buggies rumble over unpaved roads and wild horses graze in yards.

With 24 bedrooms, it is one of four similarly sized structures in the county raising questions about how big a single-family dwelling can be.

"We think the definition is very clear. This house should not be allowed as a single-family dwelling," said Marie Long, owner of the house next door on Ocean Pearl Road.

Long has protested the home's 20,000-square-foot size and planned use for events such as weddings where roughly 50 people can stay overnight. She has taken her fight to the court system.

She argues that the volunteer fire department is 7 miles away and emergency trucks would have to navigate narrow sandy roads to respond. As a single-family home, it is not required to meet commercial standards for sprinklers, marked exits, floor loads or handicapped access.

Weeklong stays with weddings can cost between $20,000 and $30,000 in the peak season. The house is primarily for commercial purposes rather than family gatherings, she said.

But a local board ruled in 2013 that the house falls within the county's development ordinance as a single-family dwelling. After Long appealed, the Superior Court upheld the county's decision. Long is waiting for a decision from the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Her chances don't look good.

The state passed a law earlier this year that prohibits local governments from limiting the number of bedrooms in homes.

"If a large residential structure is not a single-family dwelling, then it would likely have to be considered a hotel," Currituck County planning director Ben Woody said.

The county's development ordinance does not address a building that is a mix between a house and a hotel, he said.

The debate pits old adversaries of personal property rights against government regulations intended to protect the community. Locals in the four-wheel drive area north of Corolla have successfully opposed business districts and major road improvements over the years. Isolation and less control is part of the attraction.

This rental home should be no different than others, said Bernie Mancuso, builder of the large house on Ocean Pearl Road.

"Just because it gets bigger does not mean its rights should change," he said.

Currituck County lists 247 homes of 5,000 or more square feet built since 2005. Most are rentals.

Fears of mansion-like homes going up all over the beach are unfounded, Mancuso said. Few lots can handle the size. The county imposes setbacks and a height limit of 35 feet.

In the more urban Currituck Club subdivision in Corolla, another 24-bedroom home named The Black Stallion is open for rentals at nearly $28,000 a week in peak season. The pool house is more than 2,000 square feet. The Twiddy & Co. Realtors website lists amenities such as a spiral staircase three stories tall and a dining room that seats 50. A life-size statue of a rearing black stallion stands out front.

Most homes in the neighborhood are about 5,000 square feet.

Former real estate agent and neighbor Dave Knoch has protested the home's frequent use for big parties. He has been awakened by gatherings held there. Knoch has filed a request to amend county ordinances to say that any house over 5,000 square feet that hosts more than two events a year must get commercial zoning and building permits.

The county planning board is expected to consider the proposed amendment next month.

"Every weekend there is a church party or wedding party or whatever," Knoch said. "I'm not against large houses. I'm against how they're being used."

Jeff Hampton, 252-338-0159, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com

Bonner Bridge Replacement -- Source (Wikipedia Commons)

Legal Deal Allows Bonner Bridge Replacement

By: Emery P. Dalesio - ASSOCIATED PRESS

Source: Wikipedia Commons. A legal settlement is clearing the way for work to replace the crumbling bridge connecting the Outer Banks as early as next spring, as well as two new bridges on Hatteras Island over precarious areas where the main road is frequently washed out, North Carolina officials said.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) A legal settlement is clearing the way for work to replace the crumbling bridge connecting the Outer Banks as early as next spring, as well as two new bridges on Hatteras Island over precarious areas where the main road is frequently washed out, North Carolina officials said.

The word comes after environmental groups represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center dropped a lawsuit blocking North Carolina from replacing the 52-year-old bridge that was designed to last for 30 years. A legal settlement wrapping up the case was reached in June.

The deal calls for a new span over Oregon Inlet parallel to the existing Bonner Bridge, the only link to the mainland from Hatteras Island. Past estimates have put the price tag for the 2.8-mi. (4.5 km) bridge at about $215 million, but years of delays would raise the price tag. The total extra cost was not yet clear, DOT spokesman Mike Charbonneau said.

The state also will build a half-mile bridge over an unnamed inlet carved through the island by a 2011 hurricane. The bridge for North Carolina Highway 12 over the now-largely filled inlet through the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge is expected to cost about $28 million, Charbonneau said. Work on this bridge could start before the end of the year, state officials said. The DOT is scrapping a $79 million contract to build a longer, permanent bridge, according to terms of the legal settlement.

A third, 2.5-mi. (4 km) long bridge will sweep over the Pamlico Sound to avoid a precarious section of Highway 12 known locally as the “S-curves.” That’s expected to cost between $179 million and $198 million.

It was a year ago that the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejected the state’s plan to replace the Bonner Bridge without rerouting N.C. 12 away from the wildlife refuge.

Environmental opponents argued the state’s replacement plan left out the cost of moving or maintaining about 12 mi. (19 km) of N.C. 12 through the wildlife refuge. Environmentalists said the Bonner Bridge replacement would be useless without additional road and bridge construction.

The environmental groups had wanted a 17-mi. (27 km) route around the wildlife refuge to connect the town of Rodanthe and other communities on Hatteras Island. That bridge would have been the second-longest bridge in the United States and state officials said it would cost more than $1 billion.

Region: Southeast Edition | StoryID: 26117 | Published On: 9/2/2015