NPS approves amendment to Cape Lookout Plan

he National Park Service gave final approval in July to the amendment to the management plan at Cape Lookout National Seashore that calls for the replacement of the existing cabins at the Great Island camp.
The cabins will be replaced in phases, but don't expect to see any work until 2004, said Karren Brown, the park's superintendent. It will take the federal government at least that long to do the necessary environmental studies, approve a new concession contract, and allow companies to bid on the contract.
The Park Service has to first decide if  it will require the new concessionaire to build the new camp or do the work itself, Brown said.
The agency chose the amendment alternative that the DIFF Club supported. Along with replacing the cabins, the plan also maintains ferry service from Davis.

Two alternative conditions that the club opposed were not approved. The Park Service decided not to replace 10 cabins with rustic camping shelters or to limit the number of vehicles in the long-term parking lot during the primary sea turtle and piping plover nesting seasons.

Lease owners sue
Six people whose leases on property near the lighthouse have expired filed lawsuits in July in an attempt to keep their leases.
A federal judge in Greenville, N.C., issued a temporary restraining order preventing the Park Service from evicting the lease holders for 30 days in order to gibe them time to get a permit that would allow them to keep the property for another two years.
The lease holders, who owned land on the island, signed agreements soon after

the formation of  the Cape Lookout National Seashore in the late 1960s that allowed them to use the property for 25 years for a rent of $1 a year.
They now argue that they weren't offered lifetime leases as the law at the time required. Some say they were pressured into signing the agreements and all fear that the Park Service will demolish
the buildings when they're gone.
The disputed properties include what was once known as the Coca Cola House because it was owned by the local soft-drink franchiser.
Karren Brown, the park superintendent, said the Park Service has no intention of tearing down the houses. It couldn't if it wanted to because all are included in an historic district that lease owner convinced the federal government to create last year.
If it controls the buildings, the agency intends to offer 25-year leases to the highest bidder, who would have to  restore the building's historical integrity. The Park Service offers a similar program on Portsmouth Island.

ORV study still in limbo
The off-road vehicle study for Cape Lookout National Seashore still hasn't been approved by the National Park Service, Karren Brown, the park superintendent said.
The DIFF Club Board of Directors voted at its last meeting to ask Brown to form an advisory board made up of  people who use the park, environmental groups and federal agencies.

The old cabins will be replaced by more modern structures.