It cost $40,000 -- not the $15,000 originally reported -- to settle a land dispute that resulted from state-mandated repairs to Echo Dam, President Bob Darr announced during the Monday, August 8 Work Session of the Seven Lake Landowners Association [SLLA] Board of Directors.

The Association covered $15,000 of the settlement; the remaining $25,000 was picked up by the SLLA's insurance company.

Darr explained that the $245,000 dam repair -- completed in 2007 -- included installing a blanket covering and rip-rap on the face of the dam; some of that material was placed on a portion of the adjacent lot owned by Northside resident Jean Fulmer.

"There was a failing on a lot of people's part in negotiating a settlement with her," Darr said, adding that it was not his intent to be critical. "It went on and on."

Darr, who was elected to the Board in March, said he became involved as the dispute entered a mediation phase.

"It got to the point where, if what we were going to have to do was take our stuff off of her property, we were looking at a possible cost of $100,000 to the Association," Darr said. "So we decided to settle for the $40,000."

"What was distressing from my point," he added, "was that, with the legal bills she took on, it ended up with her not getting very much, frankly. It would be inappropriate for us to be upset with Mrs. Fulmer."

Darr said that he had heard from some members concerned that the Board wasn't being straightforward in its description of the settlement. He said he had hoped that reporting only the $15,000 actual cost to the Association would avoid planting the seed in anyone's mind that the SLLA has deep pockets and is a target ripe for lawsuits.

Treasurer Conrad Meyer suggested that there is a lesson to be learned from the Fulmer case.

"If we've got an issue in the community," Meyer said, "it behooves us to solve the problem early rather than let it drag on and on and on. The lesson learned is: "How do we solve these kinds of problems more expeditiously in the future?'"

The crape myrtles that currently adorn the entrance to Southern Pines along US 1 will be relocated throughout Moore County, as a result of action taken during the Tuesday, August 2 meeting of the Board of Commissioners.

Property Manager Richard Smith made the request to relocate approximately 140 crape myrtle trees slated to be removed in an NC Department of Transportation [NCDOT] project to install guard rails along US Highway 1 from Morganton Road to McDonald’s Brothers Building Supply Company.

Moving the mature, twelve to sixteen foot trees is expected to cost nearly $20,000. Among the locations that will benefit from the relocation are Hillcrest Park and Moore County Schools’ Bus Garage.

The trees will help beautify the parking lot at Hillcrest, which will host the Dixie Youth Baseball World Series, an event anticipated to attract thousands of visitors to Moore County. With the Series set to begin next week, Commissioner Larry Caddell expressed concern that the work may not be completed in time. He was assured by Smith that work transporting the trees to Hillcrest Park will begin immediately.

Trees will also be relocated to other sites throughout Hillcrest Park, to the Agricultural Center, and to various County properties. Fifty trees will be replanted at the new Public Safety-Detention Center site.

McCrimmon Landscaping and Grading will be relocating the trees; work was expected to begin on Wednesday, August 3.

The Seven Lakes Aeromodelers Club can breathe a sigh of relief, after a decision by Moore County’s Board of Adjustment that allows them to continue flying their radio-controlled model airplanes over a 60-acre pasture near the intersection of NC Highway 73 and Beulah Hill Church Road.

Still, though that battle is won, the war may not be over.

The next engagement is likely to be in Moore County Superior Court. And it may all come down to the meaning of the word “club.”

The Complaint

The Board of Adjustment met on Wednesday, July 27 to consider a request by Samuel A. Blackwell, III, and Elizabeth Blackwell of Raleigh, who own an adjacent ten acre property, to overturn a zoning permit, authorized by Planning Director Joey Raczkowski, that allows the Aeromodelers to fly their planes from a parcel leased from T. Clyde Auman Farms.

The Club leases property just to the west of the Blackwell’s tract, as well as rights to fly over a larger pasture.

The Blackwells acquired their adjacent tract in January 2010, and filed a complaint concerning the Aeromodelers with the Moore County Planning Department in November of last year.

Planners determined that the Aeromodelers needed a zoning permit to fly their planes from the Auman property, but also initially used the complaint as an opportunity to add a new land use — “outdoor recreation” — to the Zoning Ordinance. When that ran into complications at the Planning Board level, Planning staff asked the Aeromodelers to submit an application for a Zoning Permit and a commercial site plan, which Planning Director Joey Raczkowski, ultimately approved.

The Blackwells appealed that approval, arguing that Raczkowksi had wrongly interpreted the zoning ordinance and had failed to stop the Aeromodelers from flying, once it was clear they needed a zoning permit to do so.

Ongoing efforts to improve and expand safe parking areas at Sequoia Point have the Seven Lakes Landowners Association [SLLA] Board of Directors taking a hard look at unregistered boats and trailers that are cluttering the marina storage yard.

“There are some pretty shabby boats and trailers down there," said Director Bruce Keyser, Jr. during the Wednesday, July 27 Open Meeting. "I recommend we contact owners, if possible, and give a set amount of time to register or remove their boats and trailers.”

Only three out of twenty-eight vessels stored at the facility have current registration stickers, and an estimated twenty-five percent of the boat trailers stored at the site have no identifying markings of any kind.

Three years ago, a similar clean-up of the marina area was undertaken; but the effort included only boats and trailers whose owners could be identified.

SLLA President Bob Darr explained that, at that time, several boats without identification stickers were pulled and moved to the Yard Debris Site. Those boats will be included in the overall clearing out and removal project this time around.

During Wednesday's meeting, Keyser also recommended a proposed parking plan for the boat yard that would include a fence and expand the storage area into a level section of property owned by the Association at Primrose Circle.

During public comment, Northsider JoAn Moses thanked the Board for their prompt attention to her recent request to mow and apply weed killer to the boat lot.

The Westside Board of Directors wants additional input from the community before creating a four-way stop at the entrance to West Side Park Community Center, in order to slow traffic through the intersection, which sits atop a hill, making visibility tricky.

Safety & Security Director Jim McCarthy offered a motion during the Tuesday, July 26 Seven Lakes West Landowners Association [SLWLA] Work Session to install a four-way stop at the intersection, which he said would reduce the likelihood of accidents, particularly if a new mail house is located behind the Community Center.

Saying “this is a big, big change,” Infrastructure Director John Goodman refused to vote on the motion until the community had an opportunity to weigh in. Other Board members agreed on the need for more input, leading McCarthy to withdraw his motion.

President Mick Herdrich said landowners can provide comments through the SLWLA website -- but there was plenty of comment during the Work Session.

Westsider Bill Price, speaking during member comments, said he did “not see a necessity” of having a four way stop at the Community Center entrance. “It is not stopping, not looking, and not being careful” that is causing any problems, Price said. Director Goodman agreed, suggesting that drivers should just stop and look both ways when exiting the WSPCC.

Legal Director Jack Stevens said “legislating good behavior and good judgement is awful hard to do -- the more stop signs we put up will not change that.”