N.C. Cultural Resources Secretary Libba Evans and her husband purchased a lot last year in an exclusive new Manteo waterfront development after a commission in her department eliminated stringent tree-cutting regulations on the land where the lot is situated.

That action benefited the developer. The project manager, however, said he was unaware of the regulation. The developer subsequently gave Evans a two-story historic home and relocated it to her lot.

Evans failed to list the potential conflict of interest on her most recent statement of economic interest because, she said, she was not aware it existed.

The lot purchased by Evans and her husband, James T. Lambie, is in Marshes Light, a 14-acre residential and commercial waterfront project being developed by Kitty Hawk Land Company. It is a mix of individual home-sites, townhouses, condominiums, and retail and office spaces.

Evans has been the head of the Cultural Resources Department since 2001, when Gov. Mike Easley appointed her to the position. In addition to her state government duties she remains involved in multiple real estate businesses.

Sequence of events

The General Assembly established the Roanoke Island Commission to protect, preserve, develop, and interpret the historical and cultural assets of Roanoke Island, including the Roanoke Island Festival Park and the Roanoke Voyages Corridor. The commission is composed of 24 members.

The commission is to “Advise the Secretary of the Department of Cultural Resources on matters pertinent to historical and cultural events on Roanoke Island.”

When the Roanoke Voyages Corridor was established in 1981 it included only U.S. 64-264. The 64-264 Bypass and N.C. 400 were later added. N.C. 400 is a loop road off U.S. 64-264 that passes through the Manteo waterfront.

Corridor regulations include a prohibition against clear-cutting within 50 feet of the highway right-of-way. Landowners must obtain a Certificate of Appropriateness from the commission before cutting any trees or shrubs in the 50-foot zone.

In 2004 representatives of the Hulcam Farms Dairy Devlopment, later known as the Salty Dawg Project, and then Marshes Light, began working with Manteo officials. One of the city’s early concerns was the preservation of the Hulcam house, situated on the property and perhaps the oldest home in Manteo. City officials stipulated that the house must be preserved in some manner for the development to proceed.

In January 2005 Marshes Light LLC bought the Salty Dawg land.

Later that year local businessman Malcolm Fearing raised issues with city officials about the density the city had approved for the Marshes Light project. He also notified Roanoke Island Commission officials that there was construction activity within the N.C. 400 corridor that had not been approved by the commission as was required by law.

In September 2005 corridor administrator Dave Schindel wrote Fearing: “During the three years I have been the Administrator for the Roanoke Voyages Corridor it has not been the practice to regulate NC 400 in any way, and I have never had a request or application to do so.”

On Jan. 11, 2006, the Roanoke Island Commission relinquished its jurisdiction over N.C. 400 by issuing new regulations that omitted the highway from the corridor designation. Evans’ lot and five others in Marshes Light front N.C. 400, also known as Fernando Street.

Evans was negotiating with Marshes Light to buy the lot before the commission’s action.

In January 2006 Marshes Light project manager Mickey Hayes sent a letter to Mayor John Wilson about the project. It included the following statement: “Hulcom Dairy Farm House — State Cultural Resources Secretary Libba Evans and her husband have reconfirmed that they are desirous of purchasing Marshes Light lot 6 so that the Farm House can be moved by the developers if structurally feasible and in a reasonably economical manner to that lot for their ownership and restoration and this satisfies the Development Agreement’s conditions for use of the Hulcom Dairy Farm House on the Marshes Light Site.”

The two-story Hulcom house is believed to be the oldest house in Manteo. It was in poor condition, but town officials insisted that it be preserved before they would allow the Marshes Light development to proceed. Wilson put Evans and her husband in touch with Marshes Light representatives. Evans and Marshes Light subsequently struck a deal.

In February, commission Chairman Thomas E. Brooks wrote Fearing stating, “any attempt to apply all the Commission regulations to the NC 400 corridor would be inappropriate. Therefore the committee has taken the actions it determined to be appropriate with regard to the matter.”

In July the General Assembly ratified a Technical Corrections Bill removing N.C. 400 from Roanoke Voyages corridor.

On Sept. 19 Marshes Light LLC sold a 7,500-square-foot lot to Evans and her husband for $300,000. The same day the company sold the adjoining lot to another couple for $350,000. A new home now occupies that lot.

Evans’ lot, part of her house, and five other lots are partially situated in what was the 50-foot regulated strip. A review of aerial photographs indicates significant tree cutting was done to accommodate the six building lots.

On May 13, 2007, the State Ethics Commission received Evans’ Statement of Economic Interest.

Under the real estate section Evans lists the Fernando Street property in Manteo.

Item 19 on the form asks the official, “Please provide any other information necessary to fully disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest you may have had during the preceding year or currently have. This includes actual or potential conflicts of interest related to past personal or business relationships. If you are uncertain as to whether additional information should be disclosed, please contact the Commission for guidance.” Evans wrote “none” in the space for her answer.

“I know nothing about undesignating the lots,” Evans said. “No one in my office brought it to my attention.”

“I have restored three houses before, and that house had no value,” she said. She said she had her choice of lots to move the house to and that she had spent a considerable amount of money restoring the house. She would not say how much she had spent.

The restoration is nearly complete, but Dare County property tax appraisers have not yet put a value on it.

Both Evans and Staci Meyer, chief deputy secretary of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, said they were unaware of the legislative action on N.C. 400. After researching the issue, Meyer was unable to determine who requested it.

Among the current Roanoke Island Commission members are Meyer and Judith Easley, the governor’s sister-in-law, who works for Evans at the N.C. Cultural Resources Department as a coordinator of board and commission appointments.

Meyer said neither she nor Judith Easley were aware of the commission’s action on N.C. 400.

The project manager, Mickey Hayes, said, “I never asked for a political favor.”

He said that he complied with all the tree-cutting regulations imposed by Manteo but that he was unaware of any regulations from the commission that affected the development.

Commission member Angel E. Khoury of Manteo is a member of the committee that oversees the corridor. She said N.C. 400 should have been removed long ago from the regulations because the commission was not enforcing the restrictions on that section.

Wilson agreed with Khoury’s account and said he never discussed the commission’s oversight with the developer. Wilson is the commission’s historian, and he owns an inn across the street from the Marshes Light project.

Don Carrington is executive editor of Carolina Journal.