MANTEO – Members of the Dare County Board of Commissioners vowed a fight Wednesday during a special meeting called to discuss the county’s interest in purchasing land in Wanchese, where residents remain vehemently opposed to a planned densely built residential development and where work has already begun.
Wanchese residents opposed to the cluster home development say it is incompatible with the village’s residential zoning district rules. The board voted unanimously to again attempt to negotiate purchasing the tract, this time making a more personal plea from the chairman.
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Residents’ and commissioners’ anger erupted during the meeting over the landowner’s previously rising asking price, with one commissioner saying he wouldn’t rule out moves described by the county manager to condemn the property if negotiations remain at an impasse.
Bradford Alexander of Aria Construction Co. and Development of Cresswell, in Washington County, now seeks at least five times what he paid for the land last year.
“Mr. Alexander is now viewing this community response as a very, very good opportunity to extract an enormous amount of money for a piece of property purchased less than a year ago for a million dollars,” Commissioner Bob Ross said.
Commissioner Carson Creef, who lives in Wanchese, said he was “open to condemnation,” and added that if Alexander wants to fight, “he’ll get a fight. He is the one who needlessly raised the price every single time.”
Aria Construction had already started clearing land last week at the 10.5-acre cluster home site where the firm still plans to build as many as 48 homes, down from the 60 individual homes in the site plan when the county first approved it. Except for a thin buffer of remaining trees, the land has been clear cut.
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Craig Parker lives immediately adjacent to the development site in Wanchese. He told the board the property was “really being trashed right now.”
During the meeting, County Manager Bobby Outten explained to commissioners and the roughly 60 others in attendance that Aria had purchased the property in July 2024 for $1 million. Outten recounted how commissioners, responding to Wanchese residents’ outrage over the project, authorized an offer of up to $3 million to buy the property.
“In the fall of 2024 I contacted Mr. Alexander at the board’s request to talk about a purchase, and at that time, he told us he wouldn’t take less than $5 million,” Outten said, adding that the amount was 16 times the assessed tax value. “And so those discussions ended.”
The special meeting was called, Chairman Bob Woodard said, because Commissioner Mike Burrus, who represents Wanchese on the board, indicated there was interest among village residents in creating a tax district to pay the difference between the $3 million the county offer and the $5 million Alexander had demanded.
The tax district would be similar to the county tax districts in place to pay for beach nourishment.
Outten had subsequently approached Alexander to propose that there may be a way to bridge the $2 million dollar gap between the county’s offer and Alexander’s price, but the developer then said $6 million was his firm price.
During the meeting Wednesday, Outten described how such a tax could be implemented and outlined the procedures for condemnation. Under eminent domain laws, the acquired land must be for public use. But, Outten said, if Alexander refused the county’s condemnation offer, a court would decide the fair price.
“Whatever a jury says after we have a trial is what we pay,” Outten said. “If it’s $6 million, we pay $6 million.”
Ross was said he was reluctant to enrich the developer at county expense.
Creef said he would not support the special use tax. He said the tract isn’t worth $6 million, and that he had campaigned on lowering taxes, not raising them.
Wanchese residents, when speaking during the meeting’s public comment period, were adamant that the cluster zoning was a mistake and that the county and therefore, commissioners, had a responsibility to correct it.
Parker, who lives next to the site, said he wants to be rid of the issue once and for all.
“A lot of times your best lesson learned is one that’s going to cost you the most,” he said, adding that he didn’t like the idea of paying off the developer, but, “if that’s what it costs to get rid of him once and forever, that’s what needs to be done.”
“Some mistakes cost more than others,” Mitchell Bateman of Wanchese said. “I don’t think the citizens and the residents of Wanchese should have to form their own special tax district to finance this. It’s not our responsibility to pay for this mistake. It’s yours.”
Bateman’s son, Justin Bateman, also spoke of his frustration.
“I don’t want to put money in that man’s pockets. Nobody in here does, but considering what we could do great with that piece of property is what we really need to focus on,” he said.
Woodard, the board chair, told his fellow commissioners that he was willing to meet with Alexander personally in the hope that, “he’s got a humane side to him that he might reconsider the value.”
Then, the board went into closed session to discuss terms of a potential deal.
In observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and in recognition of the continued struggle for civil rights, Coastal Review will not publish on Monday, Jan. 20.
