By Staff
New plan calls for single-family homes
By NIKIE MAYO
News Editor
The high-rise condominium complex once planned for the former Whichard’s Beach property has been scrapped.
The Beaufort County Planning Board approved a new preliminary plat for the project, known as The Rembrey, during a meeting Tuesday night. The project, which once called for two 13-story buildings with 300 residences, will now include only single-family units.
The land, a 173-acre peninsula between the Pamlico River and Chocowinity Bay, was in the Whichard family for nearly 60 years before it was sold to a South Carolina developer for $9.5 million in May 2006. Its conversion from a dance hall and campground to a proposed development with 13-story buildings became a hot-button issue for the county and a catalyst for consideration of land-use controls.
The Rembrey, once owned by brothers William Henry Whichard Jr. and Warren G. Whichard, is outside the City of Washington’s jurisdiction. But city leaders had long hoped to use the city’s ability to provide water and sewer services as a carrot to entice Marrick Home Builders &Developers to scale back plans. Until Tuesday night, they’d had no luck.
Howard Nicholls, a representative of The East Group, was at the meeting Tuesday night to represent project developers. Nicholls acknowledged the developers wished to make changes to the project, but gave no reasoning behind their decision to modify the project.
Planning Board member Starlon Credle made the motion to accept the new plat, which was unanimously approved.
The contract in question is the one under which the city would provide water and sewer services to the project.