THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 22, 1994 TAG: 9409220465
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
For Charles Gorski, the question is not if a child will be hit by a vehicle in his Berkshire Meadows neighborhood, but when.
Gorski went to the City Council on Wednesday night to protest a plan to make his street, Ashford Drive, the main road to a new 220-home project that would be one of the last phases of a large-scale development.
He presented the council with a 78-signature petition asking that the project by Providence Development Corp. and its parent company, Boyd Inc., be halted.
Gorski said he intended to hold each council member personally responsible should a child be hit by a vehicle on Ashford Drive.
But Clay Temple, vice president of Boyd Inc., says Gorski and other angry residents are victims of a major misunderstanding.
Gorski's street, Temple said, has been planned and approved as a main thoroughfare for years. But for some reason, he said, the previous owners of the site never told residents. And residents never asked.
Leon Johnson, acting city manager, said he would investigate Gorski's complaint.
``We feel like we were deceived by the city because they're not even following the original plan,'' Gorski said before Wednesday's City Council meeting. ``We feel like Boyd Corp. is exploiting our neighborhood just to save money.''
Temple disagreed, stressing that the plans have been on the books for years.
``I'm dealing with angry residents who want to blame someone for something,'' Temple said in a telephone interview. ``Each time they have not been told the basic truth. What they're finding out is that . . . these things should have occurred years ago. I feel sorry for them in a way because quite a few of them were led down the wrong path.''
The site for the 220-home development, located behind the YMCA on Route 10, was originally owned by the Arnette Development Corp., of Virginia Beach. It was to be part of a planned urban development - a ``city within a city'' incorporating single-family homes, townhouses and commercial areas. Ocean Lakes and Green Run in Virginia Beach and Greenbrier in Chesapeake are examples of this kind of development.
Such developments require residents to form civic organizations to help maintain parks and enforce zoning restrictions.
But Arnette went bankrupt, and the property sat dormant. The land was later purchased by Providence. ``We've just purchased the property, and we're trying to work with them,'' Temple said. ``And they're wanting us to do all sorts of things that should have been done by Arnette or the city. It's become a real mess, to be honest with you.''
Because the civic organizations have not been formed, Temple said, the parks have not been built. And because the parks haven't been built, children have no place to play but back yards and the street.
Gorski, who moved into Berkshire Meadows on July 1, said he came to the neighborhood to ``get away from congestion'' and to live in a ``nicer, quiet neighborhood for kids.''
``When I drive down that street, I feel guilty doing the residential speed of 25 mph because of the kids,'' he said. ``It's just not a major thoroughfare.''
Gorski said there is nothing written in the deed to indicate that a homeowners association is required in the neighborhood.
``They're looking for a scapegoat to take care of it,'' he said. ``They don't want it. It's a greed thing. We feel like the city is just favoring Boyd over the people they represent.'' by CNB