THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 6, 1994 TAG: 9407060395
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBBIE MESSINA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 41 lines
The price of the city's proposed boardwalk and seawall project has jumped $12 million to $92 million, but that's good news, the City Council learned Tuesday.
The cost increase is to pay for a more effective storm drain system than what was originally proposed in the hurricane protection plan devised by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
It's good news because the corps has agreed to pay 65 percent of the costly storm drain system, whereas the city thought it might have to bear the entire amount.
The corps had said it could not help with the cost; therefore it was not included in the plan. The corps' first draft of the plan included a gravity-based storm drain system, now in use at the beach. It uses gravity to pull the storm runoff through the system. But that system is not effective during periods of sustained heavy rain, said Carl Thoren, beach management engineer for the city. So the city lobbied for a pumping system, Thoren said, ``to keep flooding at a minimal level during storm events.''
The city's share of the $12 million storm drain system would be $4.2 million. That would bring the city's obligation to $32.2 million for the entire project. The federal government would pick up the rest of the tab.
The hurricane protection and beach erosion control plan calls for a 13.5-foot-high seawall that would, in effect, become a new boardwalk. The boardwalk would be built on top of the existing one and would be 9 feet wider and a little higher than the existing one. The plan also calls for tripling the size of the existing beach.
While the city has appropriated close to $500,000 in planning money and has included the project in the Capital Improvement Program, the council has not financially committed to the project. That vote won't be taken for two years, when the final design is completed. by CNB