But diners at RV's restaurant in 

 Nags Head may argue otherwise. 

 Nourishing the body on seafood and 

 the soul on a panoramic view of the 

 Roanoke Sound, window-side visitors 

 are communing with nature. A side- 

 show of otters scrapping over food 

 plays in the brackish water below the 

 windows. 



This natural beauty is what people 

 come for, O'Bleness says. 



The scenery in Dare County is 

 shielded from runaway growth and 

 development because 79 percent of the 



Surf fishing at Cape Hatter as, among the 

 12 most famous beaches in the nation. 



land is locked up in federal and state 

 reserves, he says. The remaining 

 undeveloped property is subject to 

 height and density restrictions. 



Even so, Dare has grown faster 

 than any other county in the state over 

 the past decade. And with 150,000 

 visitors per week during peak season, 

 O'Bleness estimates the county can 

 handle up to 200,000. 



In Atlantic Beach, most available 

 land has already been built on, says 

 Town Commissioner Tom Doe. But 

 tourism-conscious property owners 

 will probably be redeveloping parts of 

 the town, he says, pointing to a brick 

 retail store that recently replaced a 

 group of trailers. 



"I really don't see a whole lot of 



change," he says. 



On Ocracoke Island — home to 

 700 people, wild ponies and the legend 

 of Blackbeard — limited land and 

 growing outside interest in the village 

 are creating a different quandary for 

 residents. There, villagers are coping 

 with soaring property taxes. 



It's a trend experienced in many 

 coastal communities, where specula- 

 tion has hiked the value of land, but 

 especially on the Outer Banks. And on 

 reclusive Ocracoke Island, property 

 taxes have leapt in recent years by 300 

 percent on average and up to 1 ,000 

 percent in some cases. 



As a result, there's been a 

 "Martha's Vineyardization" of 

 Ocracoke, says Alton Ballance, an 

 island native and Hyde County 

 commissioner. Some families are 

 faced with the prospect of pooling 

 resources to keep land in their name, 

 he says. 



And slow to change, Ocracokers 

 cast a wary eye toward the growth that 

 is exploding on North Carolina's more 

 accessible beaches. Even the tourists to 

 this picturesque island are not immune. 



"Over the past few years, more and 

 more of our regular tourists have been 

 lamenting the changes that have taken 

 place," Ballance writes in his 1989 

 book Ocracokers. "Most are express- 

 ing serious concern that the island is 

 becoming too much like the rest of the 

 North Carolina coast." 



Dollard, too, has seen this "drop 

 the gate" attitude in Dare County's 

 Outer Banks. 



But Ken Stilley wants no part of 

 that movement, even as tourism- 

 related growth is driving him from his 

 home just outside Duck. 



Stilley is preparing to move 

 because Highway 12, or Duck Road, 

 buzzes with a steady flow of traffic 

 just beyond his front yard. Conse- 

 quently, his property value has fallen 

 in recent years, he says. 



His neighbors apparently have the 

 same idea. All along Duck Road, "for 

 sale" signs are staked out in yards. 



Stilley says the sale was difficult in 

 tough economic times, but he finally 

 sold the four-bedroom home to a 

 Maryland resident after dropping his 

 asking price several times. 



The tide of traffic will probably 

 continue until a proposed bridge is 

 built tying Corolla to the mainland, he 

 says. Until then, Highway 12 is the 

 only way to drive the northernmost 

 reaches of the Outer Banks. 



Experts agree 

 that on-land demands are 

 damaging water quality 



in some of our 

 favorite vacation sites. 

 As a consequence, 

 locals and tourists are 

 noticing some fish 

 catches decrease, 

 a scarcity of certain 

 seafood due to 

 contamination and fewer 

 migratory birds. 



Currently, the Outer Banks in Dare 

 County have only two bridges from the 

 mainland. One, leading to Nags Head, 

 is about to be expanded from two to 

 four lanes in front of McCaskill's 

 tackle shop. The other leads into Kitty 

 Hawk. 



Stilley says he will move to a 

 quieter spot in Kill Devil Hills. 



"Everybody feels the same way. 

 They come in and they like it," he 

 says. "It doesn't bother me. I'm not 

 much of an environmentalist. Some 

 development is good. I believe in 

 controlled development." 



The Outer Banks and coastal 

 communities are unlike other towns in 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 5 



