A tract of land that sparked a controversy regarding Jarvisburg's Land Use Plan designation transferred ownership last week. According to county records, Shirley D. Webber and her family sold the property for $12,288,800.

Infratrust Asset Pool, LLP, of the German based company Berlin Atlantic Capital, closed on the 242-acre property six weeks after the Currituck Board of Commissioners agreed to Webber's request for a Planned Unit Development Overlay Zone.

The property, located at 7160 Caratoke Highway, is one of the largest tracts in Jarvisburg and is considered a prime piece of property; it extends from U.S. Highway 158 back to the Albemarle Sound.

Webber's land agent, Eddie Valdivieso of Quible and Associates, originally submitted a conceptual site plan to the commissioners in June expressing the developer's interest in building a mixture of residential and non-residential structures, including a hotel, on the property.

Currently, the property is designated Limited Service in the 2006 LUP, which allows a maximum of 1.5 housing units per acre. Under the current designation, the property could accommodate approximately 336 residential units and a 450 room hotel.

Valdivieso told the commissioners that the subdivision will be quality built homes and the developers are considering a smaller hotel, similar to the Sanderling Inn in Dare County.

During the same time period, a group of Jarvisburg landowners were petitioning the commissioners to change Jarvisburg's designation from Limited Service to Full Service. It had been changed from Rural to Limited Service in 2006.

Under a Full Service designation, properties such as the Webber tract, could qualify for 3 to 4 residential units per acre and more intense commercial development.

A Town Hall meeting was held June 5 in Lower Currituck to give residents the opportunity to vote on the issue. Of the 91 people who voted; 46 were opposed to changing the plan and 45 supported it. The majority voting against it indicated they lived in Lower Currituck.

Planning Director Ben Woody said Monday that the county commissioners have not directed him to proceed with the process of changing the plan's designation.

Jarvisburg used to be one of the county's largest farming communities and much of the land still remains vacant. However, a new plan seems to be emerging for the area, as more than a dozen parcels of land have been rezoned from Agricultural to Residential and General Business during the last 18 months.