By Staff
Dry-stack boat storage, townhouses are planned for former Park Boat site
By MIKE VOSS
Contributing Editor
Washington’s City Council unanimously approved the preliminary subdivision plat and site plan for Harbourside Townehomes.
The approval came during the council’s meeting Monday.
Harbourside Townehomes is a proposed multi-family residential project planned for part of the former Park Boat Co. site off U.S. Highway 17 between Washington and Chocowinity. The project calls for the construction of 22 townhouses, which will front on a private drive to be maintained by a homeowners association. The project is adjacent to Paradise Creek, which provides boat access to the Tar River. The project includes a stormwater bio-retention pond.
On Aug. 13, the council changed the zoning classification of approximately 1.5 acres from B-2 (general business) to O&I (office and institutional). The request for a change in zoning classification was made by Terry Smithwick and Rudy Smithwick, managing members of Harbourside Development Group, LLC, which is acquiring the 1.5 acres from Smithwick Enterprises.
Plans also call for a dry stack boat storage facility to be built on another piece of the former Park Boat Co. site, which encompasses about 4.67 acres. Smithwick Enterprises (and/or its affiliates) will retain the remaining 3.17 acres of the site for the dry stack boat storage facility, according to a letter the Smithwicks sent to the city last year.
On Monday, Terry Smithwick told the council Harbourside Development Group is “well under way on our plans and permitting process.”
In other business, the council authorized Mayor Judy Meier Jennette to sign an agreement to provide sewer service to Tranters Creek RV Park, subject to a final review by the city’s attorney. The park’s owner, Chris Furlough, asked the city to provide the service. He plans to expand the park. The sewer service would be provided to the expansion area. The park’s existing RV lots are serviced by septic tanks.
Although the park is in Pitt County, its proximity to Washington allows it to be better served by the city. Allen Lewis, Washington’s public service director, told the council that the RV park, once the expansion project is completed, with use about 2 percent of the capacity at the city’s wastewater-treatment plant.
The park would pay existing impact fees, tap fees and standard “outside” rates related to providing the service, according to a city document. The project developer is responsible for all costs associated with obtaining permits for the project, engineering work on the project and construction of the project.
Providing sewer service to the park would generate revenue for the city.
Pitt County’s health and planning departments consider the extension of sewer service to the park and surrounding areas as a positive step, according to the memorandum. Providing sewer service to the park would help protect Tranters Creek and the Pamlico-Tar River, the memorandum notes.