THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 13, 1995 TAG: 9510120102
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Elizabeth Thiel
LENGTH: Long : 129 lines
City Council members have proposed a long list of laws they wish state legislators would pass during the 1996 General Assembly session.
The list includes everything from money for Tidewater Community College's Chesapeake campus to permission for council to postpone residential development on property already zoned for that use until adequate schools, roads and sewers could be constructed.
Council is scheduled to debate what should be kept or stricken from the list until Oct. 24, when a final list is to be approved and handed to the lawmakers who represent Chesapeake.
By far the most contentious items on the list are proposals for laws that would allow council to control Chesapeake's burgeoning residential growth.
State legislators traditionally have opposed any laws that limit development. Council this summer also refused to take a strong stand in favor of controlling residential growth until there are adequate public facilities to support it, even though such a provision has been included on past council legislative agendas.
Councilman Alan P. Krasnoff said Tuesday night that council should avoid sending legislators a laundry list of growth-control measures, because he said they'll never get passed. Instead, he said, council should back one good measure and then rally citizens behind it.
Residents who spoke to council members Tuesday night congratulated them for tackling the growth issue, but agreed that it would take grass-roots support to get something done in Richmond.
Meanwhile other residents complained that requiring training for concealed weapons permits infringed upon their rights.
``I support training at arms,'' said George A. Foster Jr. ``But I see this legislative request as another effort by the city to throw up roadblocks to honest, law-abiding citizens who want to carry firearms.''
Foster said he supported instead an ``unbiased'' program for teaching school children about firearm safety, such as one offered by the National Rifle Association. Money given to schools
Council agreed Tuesday night to allocate $18.9 million in federal, state and local money for the school system. The money is in addition to this year's school budget.
Some residents told council members they were confused about why the money was needed.
City officials said a large chunk of money routinely is granted to the school system this time of year for annual expenses such as textbooks, food services and special programs for kids who need extra help in school. The money comes from grants offered primarily by the state and federal governments.
Still, some council members said they wanted more information in the future about the effectiveness of the programs the money is paying for.
``Ultimately it's the citizens' money,'' said councilman John M. de Triquet. ``We're all paying for it, whether it's a state or federal grant.'' Water basins protected
Council gave the thumbs up Tuesday night to an agreement with Virginia Beach to protect three water basins that are important to both cities - Back Bay, the North Landing River and the Northwest River.
The agreement calls for the cities to educate the public about the watersheds, and to share information with each other about them.
Vice Mayor Robert T. Nance Jr. said that considering the danger to Chesapeake's Northwest River water supply if the ocean somehow breached Virginia Beach's Sandbridge area, the agreement is wise.
``That is very beneficial to us, if we actually have Virginia Beach working with us,'' he said. Water claims to be paid
Problems with salty drinking water continue to haunt city officials.
Council Tuesday night agreed to pay a little more than $1,500 to residents of the Western Branch area for damage to their private wells.
The damage, officials said, was caused when the city ran its wells in that area to get good-quality water, sucking up all the available groundwater and creating problems for residents' wells. Razing old housing
City officials had thought it would take 10 years to finish a project to raze old housing in the Campostella Square area of the city and redevelop the land.
But council gave the thumbs up Tuesday night to an agreement with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development for a $6.8 million loan to get the project done in two to three years instead.
The money will pay to demolish about 241 housing units in the old Foundation Park section, and relocate the 56 families that still live there. Some improvements also will be made, such as installing better roads.
Eventually new housing will be constructed, including single-family units. Cedar Road discussed
City officials and residents agree that the section of Cedar Road between Dominion Boulevard and Shipyard Road, connecting Great Bridge and Deep Creek, must be improved. Voters in 1994 approved a referendum in favor of the project.
The only question is: How should it be done?
Initially, city officials had proposed widening the existing roadway, said Public Works Director John A. O'Connor. But many residents of homes alongside the road protested that, saying it would cut too much into their property, O'Connor said.
So city officials went back to the drawing board and came up with a new plan - a bypass that would shoot commuters to and from Dominion Boulevard.
O'Connor said the proposed route for the bypass would not disrupt any homes or businesses. And, he said, it would be cheaper than widening the existing roadway, about $10.5 million instead of $12 million.
But Charles A. Brockett, a Cedar Road resident, said the bypass would not solve the problems that led to the referendum in the first place. Cedar Road would remain narrow, curvy, congested and flanked by deep ditches.
``It's badly in need of improvement,'' he said.
Council members asked about using the $1.5 million in savings from building a bypass to make improvements to Cedar Road. O'Connor said it could be done.
Council then asked O'Connor to confer again with Brockett and other residents, and come back next month with more information. Sewer line to be built
The Hillwell Road area will get a much-needed sewer line.
City Council agreed Tuesday night to release nearly $1.8 million in funds, raised during a 1988 bond issue held to pay for sewer service for areas of the city that desperately needed it, to build the line.
City officials said the sewer line is not expected to open the door to a deluge of new development. That area has a limit on the number of homes and businesses that can hook up to sewer lines, which should restrain growth, officials said.
KEYWORDS: CHESAPEAKE CITY COUNCIL by CNB