THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 24, 1995 TAG: 9503220160
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 09 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
Leaders of civic leagues surrounding Great Neck and First Colonial roads are criticizing plans to build a new Linkhorn Park Elementary School in their area.
The groups say the school, which is slated for construction on about 15 acres on First Colonial near Virginia Beach General Hospital, will generate more traffic on the already clogged road. Traffic may be especially bad during rush hours and when emergency vehicles are trying to get back and forth from the hospital while school buses are using the road.
Also, school officials' plan to have buses enter and exit the school grounds via a driveway on Wildwood Drive, which intersects with First Colonial, will disturb the neighborhood there, they say.
``We're quite concerned,'' said G. William Buono, chairman of the Great Neck Association of Civic Leagues.
``We know the school has to go someplace,'' Buono said. ``If there was some way to get the traffic in and out without causing a whole bunch of problems .
The school, which now is on Laskin Road between First Colonial and Birdneck roads, is being relocated to a new building because it is in Oceana Naval Air Station's crash zone. City and school officials believe that moving it out of the danger zone, where it has been for years, will improve the base's chances during federal-level discussions this year about which military installments to shut down.
School Board member Robert W. Hall, who heads the committee that selects sites for new buildings, said it was tough to find suitable land near the existing school. Large parcels of undeveloped, reasonably priced land are difficult to come by in that section of the city.
The School Board looked at another site on Laskin Road, behind a car dealership in the Hilltop area. But that land was rejected in part because traffic there is arguably more congested than on First Colonial, Hall said.
The 15 acres on First Colonial has not been without problems, however. The owners of the land did not want to sell, at least not for what the School Board was offering. The board increased its offers, but one property owner still is holding out. Margaret E. Johnson, a widow who has owned her six acres for more than 40 years, will not accept the $1 million the board is willing to pay her.
The board's attorneys have filed a petition in Circuit Court asking permission to take Johnson's land under the city's right of eminent domain. No hearing has been set.
Oliver M. Whipple, president of the Southall Quarter Civic League, said he believes the School Board should have asked for public input before making the decision to buy the land.
``It just seems like a pretty sad state of affairs for those homes over there,'' Whipple said. ``There's nothing worse than a bunch of school buses roaring down residential streets.'' by CNB