Capture the Value of the Northern Beach
/4. ACCESS TO THE OFF-ROAD AREA
The off-road area of COBX was platted 50 years ago with over 2,000 acres of subdivisions planned by developers. But, County management in the past was remiss by not requiring the developers in the off-road area to pave their roads and assure paved road access. As a result investment to build homes there has been weak with rental rates and property values less than a third of Corolla. Corolla also had about 2,000 acres platted for development, but the County learned its lesson and required developers to pave their subdivisions and assure paved road access. Now Corolla contributes $20 M more per year to the County revenues for the same area.
All subdivision roads in the off-road area are dedicated for public use and the County has been authorized by State statute to maintain them, funded by special property tax service districts. But the County has not yet taken full responsibility; although very limited maintenance is performed, funded by Occupancy tax. With subdivision roads well-maintained, including the wide right-of-way north-south road, Ocean Pearl, traffic could be moved entirely off the beach in front of all subdivisions during the summer, greatly increasing the attractiveness of these properties for summer vacation rentals and greatly increasing tax revenues for the whole County.
The vision for the Carova and Swan Beach areas should not be another Corolla. There are many options to be considered to make these areas accessible while creating a unique charm, such as paving the subdivision roads with oyster shells or gravel. But the County should reach out to all 2,000of the property owners for ideas they can support. Only a handful of these are heard from today, and they seem to wish to maintain the status quo: discourage outside investment, maintain low tax payments for themselves, and continue weak economic contribution to the County.
