Three years ago this month, in an article in the Island Free Press, Eric Kaplan announced his plans for the Hatteras Island Ocean Center.
It was a grand plan that included not only an ocean pier and pier house but also such things as an event venue, a restaurant, shops, a playground, parking, a beach access with bathhouse, and education components, including classes and exhibits.
He envisioned that locals and visitors would come together at the Ocean Center for fishing, swimming, kiteboarding, windsurfing, kayaking, paddleboarding, bird watching, live music, and learning about the marine environment, island history, wildlife, and commercial fishing.
And he also believed that the economy of southern Hatteras Island, which has struggled since Hurricane Isabel in 2003, badly needed a shot in the arm. What Hatteras village needed, he said, was a nine-month economy instead of a three-month economy.
At this point, it should be noted that Kaplan also said he was not launching the Ocean Center project to make money — at least not for himself. He envisioned Hatteras business owners profiting from whatever retail or rental opportunities that became available.
He created a non-profit, 501(c) 3 with its own board to run the center. He bought two pieces of property — one on the oceanside and one on the soundside of Highway 12 in Hatteras village. Later, he bought another property with retail buildings on it on the soundside of the road, and then received a donation of some land next to the marsh.
The Ocean Center, he said, has financed the land purchase and other operations thus far mostly with loans from Kaplan and his wife, Harriet, and with some small grants.
Kaplan was a successful businessman in Charlottesville, Va., who sold his technology company and now has the money to back the ocean center and the time to spend creating it. He splits his time between his home in Charlottesville, where he and his wife established a school for gifted students, and a house they built in Frisco several years ago.
His commitment to philanthropy, he says, springs from the way he was raised, which included placing a high value on the importance of giving back to the community.
The reaction of Hatteras islanders to Kaplan’s announcement about the Ocean Center ranged from skepticism to suspicion to outright amusement.
But Kaplan made no apologies. He just plunged ahead.
He’s been variously described as a visionary, a dreamer, a schemer, and even a crackpot.
However, in just three years, he has managed to put the Hatteras Island Ocean Center on the map and enticed visitors who are just passing through Hatteras — probably on the way to the Ocracoke ferry — to visit his ecology center and park in the village.
He has gained the backing of Dare County and the National Park Service for the project — though the support came with no funding. An offshoot of the Ocean Center, a project to more accurately predict turtle nest hatching, has received attention in local, regional, and national media.
He is arguably no closer to the centerpiece of his project — the fishing pier.
But now he has some new ideas.
He has spent three years of working hard as the head of a small non-profit to raise the kind of money he will need to build all phases of the Ocean Center. State and local governments don’t have much money for — or maybe much interest in — such projects.
In fact, just last year, North Carolina’s General Assembly talked about selling the state-owned Jennette’s Fishing Pier in Nags Head — a state-of-the-art pier intended for public access and economic development on the Outer Banks.
That last development got Kaplan to really thinking about financial and political realities, and he eventually decided that the plan had a better shot at becoming a reality if it could be taken over by another entity — one with more access to funding, especially public funding.
So he turned his attention to the Hatteras Village Community Center Tax District.
The Hatteras Village Community Center Tax District was created in 1981 by the North Carolina General Assembly after approval by the majority of voters in the Hatteras precinct. This bill authorizes the Dare County Board of Commissioners to levy and collect an ad valorem tax, not to exceed 15 cents on each $100 of valuation of taxable property in the area. The current tax is 8.21 cents per $100.
According to the legislation, the tax district is authorized to establish, operate and maintain a community center for the use and benefit of all residents of the district.
The governing body of the district is a board of five trustees appointed by the Board of County Commissioners for three-year terms.
The current trustees are Richie Midgett, Ernie Foster, Ricki Shepherd, Geraldine Farrow, and Rom Whitaker.
According to Midgett, the tax district has focused on two areas to benefit village residents — land acquisition and economic development.
Midgett also addressed the tax district’s relationship to the Hatteras Village Civic Association.
According to law, the trustees must approve all expenditures by the tax district, but Midgett says that they have a “management agreement” with the civic association.
Others have suggested that it works this way: The trustees meet once a year and approve expenditures and the civic association does all the work.
Either way, it is apparent that the two work closely together and that the tax trustees do not want to take action without the support of the civic association — and the community, for that matter.
The current civic association board members are Dennis Robinson, Jane Oden, Bill Ballance, Dan Oden, Kate Sutherland, Jon Kelmer, K.P. Scott, April Webster, Tracy Shisler, and Karla Jarvis.
Between the two entities, they own the village’s community building, Civic Center, and a piece of property on Eagle Pass Road that serves as a park and includes a boardwalk through the marsh. The village has envisioned improving that property when it is paid off next year.
So Eric Kaplan made a presentation in late summer to the tax trustees and then to the civic association and pitched his idea for the future of the property he bought in 2012 — the 1.5 acre parcel on the oceanfront where the General Mitchell Motel was located before Hurricane Isabel and two other parcels across the highway that he intended for use as parking and infrastructure, such as a septic system.
He calls the proposal the “Project Sea Gull” and suggests it as a project to revitalize the village.
Phase I, he proposes, could be an oceanfront park with eventual facilities to include such things as parking, dune walkover, a bathhouse, and picnic area. Phase II could include a building with an ocean view for hosting events and conferences. And, finally, Phase 3, if it is ever undertaken, could include an ocean pier.
He has said he would be willing to continue to work on the proposal with the village — or would bow out if that is what is preferred.
Kaplan’s asking price for the property is $1.2 million. He paid just over $1 million for the parcels and has spent money on preliminary studies on parking, permitting, and other items. The property is currently valued at $754,000 and has just been appraised at $1,016,000.
In a special joint meeting on Sept. 25, the trustees and the HVCA board members discussed the proposal and aired their concerns.
From the minutes of that meeting, no one suggested that the oceanfront property would not be an asset to the village.
It is also clear from the financial reports of both the tax district and the civic association that it is affordable.
But affordable and feasible are not always the same. At the meeting, several board members suggested that the high asking price was “not feasible without significant sacrifice.” The purchase, they said, would constrain future projects or make them untenable.
Midgett said he thinks the benefit to the community would outweigh the cost.
In interviews for this blog, other trustees expressed concern about the cost of the property.
“We’re still kicking the tires right now,” Rom Whitaker said. “We’re trying to find out if it’s viable and if it’s what the community wants.”
“How could it not be an asset?” asks Ricki Shepherd.
However, she added that if there are no other sources of funding, she didn’t feel the village could or should do it on its own. “I am very conservative when it comes to the village’s money,” she said.
Ernie Foster also doesn’t think the purchase is feasible “unless the village can get some outside financial support.”
“We can’t finance it entirely on our own,” he said.
However, Foster and others are hopeful that grants would be available to help swing the purchase.
Foster is a member of the Dare County Tourism Board, and he thinks there is a good chance that the village could find support there. Midgett has explored a grant from the state’s Park and Recreation Trust Fund, and he is optimistic about that.
Midgett thinks that getting $500,000 in grants is doable.
However, grant applications take time — and time might not be on the side of the village.
Kaplan has not said publicly how long he is willing to wait, but Midgett says Kaplan has indicated to the trustees that if they pursue a bank loan, he might be willing to help finance the down payment, which the tax district cannot afford on its own.
Also, it is clear that the trustees will not proceed without the support of the civic association and the community, which would involve a community meeting and/or a survey.
Word of the negotiations is already on the street in the village.
And, despite the fact that the property would be an asset to the village, there is no way of getting around the fact that some will oppose it because they don’t want to bale out Eric Kaplan.
They apparently feel, for various reasons, that he made a mistake getting into the project in the first place and don’t think the village should help him out.
At the September meeting, the tax trustees and the civic association board members who were present voted separately “to pursue(investigate) buying the property in order to come up with amount of purchase price and financing options.”
The motion was made for the tax district by Whitaker, seconded by Foster, and passed 4-1 with Shepherd casting the “no” vote.
The motion for the civic association was made by Kelmer, seconded by Dan Oden, and passed 5-3 with Robinson, Scott, and Webster casting the dissenting votes.
The Dare County Board of Commissioners has voted to support the village if it decides to pursue the purchase and apply for grants.
“I’ll do all I can to help them,” said Commissioner Allen Burrus of Hatteras village.
Burrus thinks the ocean access would not only be a community asset but also could prove invaluable in the future if bird or turtle nesting close the current public access to the village’s beaches.
As it stands now, Kaplan’s proposal to buy the property is still on the table.
It will be a difficult decision that ultimately will be made by the five trustees.
And the decision should be made on what is best for Hatteras village without regard to Eric Kaplan or his Ocean Center.
The idea that Kaplan needs to be bailed out is preposterous.
He can clearly find a buyer for the prime property, especially the oceanfront parcel, if he wants to stop pursing the idea of the pier and pier house.
The part of his dream that has already become a reality is successful on its own.
The Ecology Center and Ecology Park have proved themselves this summer.
The Hatteras Island Ocean Center is the No. 6 attraction out of 24 on Trip Advisor. People like the exhibits, the talks on such things as ecology, history, and commercial fishing, the trails for exploring the marsh by water or on land, the kayak tours, and the crabbing demonstrations.
Kaplan has hired two young people to staff the center and plans to create programming for schools and scouts this winter.
He has been successful at getting some grants for all this, including three totaling $105,000 from the Nora Roberts Foundation.
A $2,000 grant from IBM went to the development of the Turtle Sense program with the National Park Service, which has been so successful that it may lead to fewer days of beach closures for hatching sea turtle nests.
Kaplan shows no signs of throwing in the towel, and he shouldn’t.
No matter what the tax trustees decide, Hatteras village is better off for his investment of time and money.
And if the tax district decides to buy the property and can get grants for the purchase and development of an oceanfront attraction that would be enjoyed by the community and would be a destination for visitors, so much the better.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Hatteras Village Tax District financial information:
Click here to see an audit of the Tax District
Click here to see the 2012 tax return for the Hatteras Village Civic Association.
Island Free Press articles from the Archives on the Hatteras Island Ocean Center:
Blog from Dec. 6, 2011: http://islandfreepress.org/PivotBlog/?e=173
Articles about the Ocean Center’s Turtle Sense project:
National Public Radio: http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2014/11/04/sea-turtles-sensors
More about the Hatteras Island Ocean Center:
