CURRITUCK — Currituck County will join neighboring Camden County's legal fight to keep the U.S. Navy from picking a local site for a pilot training field.

The Board of Commissioners on Monday night did not commit to a dollar figure, but instructed the county manager and county attorney to sit down with Camden officials to work out a resolution of support.

"I think it's really the most significant thing that has ever come before this county, really," Commissioner Gene Gregory said Monday night. "I don't think this county has ever faced anything that would be as devastating to it as if this (Navy airfield) would locate here."

The Navy has embarked upon a 30-month study of the suitability of five sites for an outlying landing field that would be used by Navy pilots to train for takeoffs and landings on carriers.

The Hale's Lake site in Camden, as well as a location in Gates County, has made the Navy's shortlist of sites. Three other sites in Virginia are also being evaluated.

Camden commissioners have already agreed to hire five lawyers from Poyner & Spruill — one of the state's oldest and largest law firms — to fight the OLF proposal.

Poyner & Spruill has offered to discount its rate by 15 percent, but Camden's legal costs are still expected to be high. Officials say the fees of the five individual lawyers who will be working the case range from $190 an hour to $315 an hour.

Camden Manager Randell Woodruff recently told commissioners it is difficult to say what the overall legal bill will be, and commissioners have not capped what the county is willing to pay for the fight.

Even though the Hale's Lake site is in Camden, the expected flight pattern would take jets over Moyock neighborhoods in Currituck. Commissioner Janet Taylor, whose district includes the Moyock area, believes paying attorneys' fees is a wise investment if it stops the Navy from picking Hale's Lake for the OLF.

"We're asking the citizens to gather support in this effort, and I think the board needs to do whatever they can," she said.

Taylor noted that a town hall meeting on the OLF issue has been scheduled for 7 p.m. on March 18 at Moyock Middle School.

Commissioner Ernie Bowden said commissioners have made it clear they are strongly opposed to the OLF.

"I certainly feel we need to support Camden County, and Gates County as well," Bowden said. "In doing so, we would hopefully be protecting the interest of our citizens."

Camden has already asked Gates County to split the legal bill, and has drawn up an agreement for its board of commissioners to consider.

Gates officials haven't made a formal commitment to Camden's legal fight, but Camden officials believe their neighbor is close to signing on.

At the last two commission meetings, Currituck residents have urged commissioners to assist Camden with the legal fight.

On Monday night, Moyock resident John Barnes, who lives on Tulls Creek Road, made the case again. He said he knows first hand what would happen if an OLF came to the area, since he experienced jet noise when he formerly lived next to Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, Va.

He said a coat of residue from jet fuel and exhaust would linger on the water of his daughter's pool and car windshield.

"They say it's supposed to evaporate in the air, it's not true," he said.

Barnes said he appreciates the sounds of crickets and birds in his Currituck backyard. "I'm not against our military. I'm all for it," he said. "But we were here first. And it's a peaceful place here. I'm willing to drive an hour to work, an hour back, every day, just so I can live in a place where there is peace."

In other action on Monday night, the commission:

Unanimously approved a resolution of support for the Mid-Currituck Bridge project, which is proposed to link mainland Currituck to the Outer Banks. Officials have slated the opening of the two-lane, seven-mile bridge in 2013.

Approved an agreement that will bring rental cars to the Currituck airport that will be available to any Currituck resident. Under the agreement, a county employee at the airport will complete the paperwork for people renting Enterprise rental cars.