THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 9, 1995 TAG: 9502090432
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN JOLLY DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CAPE CHARLES LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
If two heads are better than one, 60 heads should definitely be able to get something done. Especially when they're focusing on a single goal: to build an industrial park in Cape Charles.
The President's Council on Sustainable Development chose the port of Cape Charles as one of four sites nationally to prove that business and ecology can compliment each other. On Tuesday, about 60 people from almost as many agencies gathered to lay the foundations of the industrial park's design.
``There is a false dichotomy between the environment and economics,'' said Lea Swanson, chairwoman of the president's Eco-Industrial Park Team, at Tuesday's meeting. ``We want community development, and we want community development that lasts. We hope to prove that with the eco-parks.''
Project ``Partners'' brought a wide range of expertise and power to the table. There were people from the President's Council on Sustainable Development, The National Association of Counties, the AFL-CIO, and representatives of the U.S. departments of Energy, Commerce and Agriculture, the Coast Guard and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The state sent officials representing the Secretary of Commerce and Trade Opportunities, the Department of Economic Development and the University of Virginia.
The others were architects, lawyers, businessmen, officials of Brown & Root Inc., The Nature Conservancy and Virginia Coast Institute, and a raft of local leaders. Brown & Root, a Texas company, plans a recreation-retirement community at Cape Charles.
Participants sat at a huge circle of tables in the social hall at Trinity United Methodist Church in Cape Charles. One after another, they described what they hoped to achieve though the eco-park, what barriers they saw to its success, and what resources they could dedicate to the project.
Northampton County dedicated a $4.6 million bond issue to the industrial park. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has already pledged $800,000, and could grant another $310,000 over the next two years.
One group offered to help find foundation funding, another offered access to existing state resources. There were promises to help with historical preservation, landscape and architectural design, and marketing.
Other than the lack of existing infrastructure and disparity in educational opportunities, the barriers to success seemed comparatively puny. Locals warned their visitors that Northampton and Cape Charles have been feuding for years, and have a history of keeping out strangers. They may have trouble co-operating.
But at Tuesday's meeting, there was no evidence of dispute, and lots of hope.
``You have just placed yourself at the front of the new industrial revolution,'' said William McDonough, dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia. ``And the whole world is watching.'' by CNB