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After being denied a preliminary plat/special use permit in 2020, the developers of the proposed New Bridge Creek Estates subdivision on Caratoke Highway north of Beechwood Shores Drive returned to Currituck commissioners June 5 with a new and improved housing development plan.

In August 2020, commissioners denied the original request because it was determined that the subdivision would negatively impact surrounding properties.

For the application to be reconsidered, a material change to the application must be presented.

The purpose of the vote was not to approve or deny the subdivision – but rather to determine whether the applicant was submitting a substantive change.

New Bridge Creek, LLC proposed several changes to the 37-lot Moyock subdivision, including a 50’ vegetative buffer to adjacent properties, almost six additional acres of open space for a total of 18 acres, an increased building elevation, a movement of additional building sites out of the flood plain and away from wetlands, and a more desirable neighborhood pattern like curvilinear streets and looped roadways rather than streets on a grid or dead end. Additional community parking was suggested, as well as significant water and open space access, development oriented along creeks and vistas, a community gathering area, and convenient mail area.

The new plan reduced lot size from about 0.92 acres to about two-thirds or three-quarters of an acre.

Though the decision before the board was not to determine whether the subdivision would injure neighboring properties but only to determine if a substantive change had been made to the application, commissioner Selina Jarvis brought up the original concern and reason for the rejection in 2020: “Part of the issue before is the people that bought this area in and around it were, I guess, led to believe that these were 10-acre lots, and there’s traffic that will be generated by it.

“I know in the original report, the traffic information estimated 370 trips a day. I don’t know if it’s the same type of thing but if I lived on that dirt road end they’re coming off of, that’s a lot of trips by my house each day. That’s one of the concerns that I have – I think it’s belief that you’re buying into an area of 10-acre lots and suddenly it’s chopped up into something smaller. I think it does injure the value of what you thought you bought,” Jarvis said.

Commissioners did determine that the change was substantive, and voted to allow a resubmission of the request. Jarvis voted no.

Next, commissioners held a public hearing to approve a text amendment that would remove Currituck Station zoning and all its subdistricts from the UDO, then moved on to board appointments.

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