By By GREG KATSKI
Community Editor
BELHAVEN — The town government and Platte River Insurance Co. have entered into an agreement concerning the completion of the Battalina Creek subdivision.
The move is the result of action by the Town Council at its meeting Monday.
Mayor Adam O’Neal signed the agreement, finalizing the deal with the insurance company.
The agreement, in part, reads: “Platte and Town agree to cooperate fully with one another to the end that the Project may be completed as efficiently and economically as reasonably possible under the circumstances.”
Improvements to the subdivision were supposed to be completed by Battalina Creek, LLC, including a preliminary plat, erosion-and-sedimentation-control plan, plans and profiles of Battalina Lane, Canal Drive and Marsh View Lane and sanitary-sewer details.
The subdivision has sat untouched for months, angering property owners within the development, property owners expecting to have amenities such as sewer lines and paved roads.
The insurance company, as surety for Battalina Creek, LLC, executed a subdivision bond in favor of the town in the sum of $801,489 to complete the improvements. The improvements will be completed by B.E. Singleton &Sons and James L. Cayton Utilities, Inc., according to the takeover agreement.
The agreement also states that Platte River Insurance Co. is not liable for any work in excess of the amount of the bond.
Town Manager Guinn Leverett said that Town Attorney Bud Cockrell reviewed and gave his approval of the takeover agreement before it was submitted to the council.
In other business, the council adopted a resolution asking for funding from the state to alleviate flooding on Main Street in downtown Belhaven.
The resolution asks state Sen. Marc Basnight (D-Dare) and state Rep. Arthur Williams (D-Beaufort) for assistance in receiving “financial support” from the state.
O’Neal said he put in a call to Basnight’s office, who “seems to have taken an interest in the project.”
The council tabled a list of requests from the Belhaven Alumni Association until the council’s next meeting April 26.
The list of requests, which pertain to the association’s 48th-annual reunion slated for May 8, includes blockading Pantego Street from Haslin Street to King Street and blockading Railroad Street from Pantego Street to the paved driveway directly behind the town’s multi-purpose building.
The council has yet to adopt a revised town-wide policy regarding street closings for private or public functions. The need to adopt a new policy first came up at the town council’s Feb. 8 meeting, when the Bishop family made a request to close Water Street from Magnolia to Riverview from 4 to 6 p.m. May 16.
“I don’t want to cause a negative reflection of the event. I just want us to be equal with street closings across the board,” Councilman Mac Pigott said Monday night.
Councilman Steve Carawan and O’Neal said they agreed with Pigott’s sentiments.
The council nixed a proposed plan by the Belhaven Recreation Advisory Committee to expand Northside Park to include tennis courts, racquetball courts and shuffleboard courts in the area surrounding the Belhaven Civic Center.
O’Neal said the proposed site is too valuable to the town and might be used to house an EMS building in the future. He suggested to Sonya Shamseldin, committee chairwoman, that she look into putting a tennis court at the town’s beachfront park.
Leverett announced that the beachfront park is open from 10 a.m. until dark daily. Currently, there are no lifeguards on duty there. Therefore, parents must accompany their children in the water, he said.