Request By Asphalt Plant To Change Conditional Use Permit Hits Roadblock

Member of the Kitty Hawk, NC, town council turned down a request by RPC Contracting for a public hearing to change its conditional use permit to allow additional operating hours at its asphalt plant.

The 5-0 vote followed a more than 15-minute discussion which centered not so much on the request itself but on a contention by the town that the plant is currently operating in violation of three sections of the town code. A May 13 letter to plant owners from the town notes that a silo and elevator at the facility measure 7.25 feet higher than the town's 35-foot maximum allowable limit. The letter warns that the violations could result in the plant's receiving a fine of $100 per day for the first 10 days that it is in violation and a $500 a day fine every day thereafter until it is in compliance.

"There have been violations and, whether they're in compliance now, I simply don't know," Town Attorney Norm Shearin said. "We simply don't have enough information to make that call."

No fines have been imposed, and, at its next meeting, the town planning board is expected to consider a request from the plant that its 1999 Conditional Use Permit be amended to allow it to continue to operate. Town council members could decide in December to hold a public hearing on the matter in January and could render a decision in February.

The request for a longer work day at the plant was apparently triggered by its receipt of a more than $650,000 state contract to repair the section of NC 12 on Hatteras Island washed out by Hurricane Isabel.

"The job is expected to take approximately two weeks, and we hope for your consideration in allowing the asphalt plant to start operation one hour earlier each day, run one hour later each day, and run on Sunday during the repair and rebuilding process," RPC President Robbie Parker wrote in a Oct. 22 letter that was hand-delivered to interim town manager John Whitehurst.

"We hope the town will approve this due to the importance of getting these repairs done for the continuing recovery of Hatteras Island," he continued.