THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 10, 1995 TAG: 9506100314
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
The City Council has scheduled a special meeting for 5 p.m. today to discuss the Lake Gaston dispute.
Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf would not elaborate on her reasons for calling the meeting other than to say that there is an ``alternate opportunity'' that the council needs to consider.
Virginia Beach and Norfolk have been battling for the past six weeks over the proposed Lake Gaston pipeline settlement, which would require Norfolk to agree never to sell its surplus water to the Peninsula or the Eastern Shore.
Both cities agree that Norfolk should be compensated financially for making that agreement, as North Carolina insisted, but they have been unable to arrive at a compromise price.
Negotiations fell apart more than a week ago, and the two sides have had no direct contact since, Beach City Manager James K. Spore said Friday.
Virginia Beach officials have been concentrating on trying to smooth the settlement's path with the General Assembly which must act on the agreement by June 27.
A legislative panel said this week that it plans to renegotiate the settlement to make it more palatable to the communities in south central Virginia.
Southside officials have long fought the pipeline, fearing it would benefit Virginia Beach at their communities' expense.
It was unclear late Friday whether the Virginia Beach council's new opportunity related to the General Assembly, negotiations with Norfolk or a change in the settlement with North Carolina.
Norfolk City Manager James B. Oliver Jr. said he traded phone messages with Spore Friday but that the two never made contact.
He said he was not told about the special meeting and does not know what the ``alternate opportunity'' might be.
Virginia Beach council member Louis R. Jones, who has led the water negotiating team, said there are ``new matters that have come up.'' He would not give any details.
Oberndorf said the council would be briefed during a closed session in the council chambers at the municipal center.
Council member John A. Baum, also a member of the council's Water Task Force, said he was surprised that a meeting had been called.
``Rumors are running all over the place,'' Baum said. ``I assume that Norfolk has made some overtures, but I don't know what they are.
``Right now, (North Carolina) seems easier to get along with than Norfolk or possibly the General Assembly, so I'm all mixed up,'' Baum said.
KEYWORDS: WATER SUPPLY PLAN TIDEWATER LAKE GASTON VIRGINIA BEACH CITY
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