THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 6, 1996 TAG: 9601050384
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY KATHLEEN BUTLER, SPECIAL TO REAL ESTATE WEEKLY
LENGTH: Long : 103 lines
When Barbara and Joseph Scott bought a waterfront home just off Norfolk's Lafayette River, the channel behind their house was too shallow for all but the smallest boat to navigate. At low tide, it was little more than a giant mud puddle.
Now, after a two-year neighborhood dredging effort organized by the Scotts, the channel is finally deep enough for residents to launch their boats.
The project wasn't easy. Residents had to wade through piles of paperwork, get approval from more than a dozen federal and local agencies and finally pool $54,000 to pay to have the 1,100-foot channel dredged.
``It was an enormous effort,'' Barbara Scott says.
The Scotts live on North Blake Road, which makes a ``V'' with South Blake Road. The channel, which runs between the two roads, was dredged about 25 years ago, but had filled in over time. Although it remained scenic, the Scotts say they wanted more than just beauty.
``The most appealing thing to us about this home was the water,'' Barbara Scott says. ``Not just the visual beauty of the water, but we wanted to be able to sail.''
So in January 1994, just a few months after the Scotts moved in, they talked with two neighbors and agreed they would all dredge the channel behind their three adjacent houses. They drafted a letter explaining the dredging project and carried it door to door throughout the neighborhood to see if any other residents wanted to join their effort.
``And it just got off the ground form there,'' Joseph Scott says.
The fist step was to get a permit. So the Scotts set up informational meetings and invited the dredging contractor and all their neighbors. About 15 of the neighborhood's 27 households were represented, Barbara Scott says.
Neighbor Wesley Page, who moved to the neighborhood shortly after the Scotts in 1994, says he was thrilled with the idea. When he bought his home he had also dreamed of one day being able to launch a boat from his backyard.
After the initial meetings, the Scotts and their neighbors collected about $2,000 from interested residents to cover the cost of the permit.
The residents filed an application with the Army Corps of Engineers. The permit had to be approved by about 17 local, state, and federal agencies before it was finally approved early last spring - nearly a year after the Scotts held their first informational meeting.
``That was a milestone, when we got the permit,'' Page says.
But obtaining a permit was not the only hurdle the residents had to jump. Residents worried about being protected legally if there was an accident during the dredging. And they needed protection for the $54,000 they hoped to collect to pay for the project, which amounted to about $2,000 per household.
``There was a major hesitancy period,'' Page says. ``Because we were asking people to part with 2,000 of their hard-earned dollars.''
So the residents of North and South Blake roads incorporated their neighborhood and placed the money in an escrow account. The money was to be held for 30 days and, if not enough money was collected, it would all be refunded, Joseph Scott says.
``I think incorporating was the smartest thing we did,'' Scott says. ``We had to convince people that we were a legitimate organization.''
Page agrees.
``We really did have to approach it like a business,'' says Page, who kept residents abreast of project developments through sometimes weekly newsletters.
At first, the neighborhood was not able to collect enough money to pay. In fact, the fund was so short that Scott says he feared the cost would rise above $3,000 per household. And he says he know he couldn't ask his neighbors for that.
So the neighborhood board decided to sell shares at $100 each. Some residents bought only a few shares, others bought as many as 30, Joseph Scott says.
In the end, only a few households chose not to contribute to the project, Scott says. Even some of the neighborhood's older residents, who knew they would not make use of the dredge channel, donated money, he says.
Overall, Barbara Scott says, the project was an enormous - but worthwhile - task. ``It was really a full-time job,'' she says.
Finally, last spring, the dredging began.
But a few weeks later the project was thwarted not by lack of funding, but by nature. Residents were told their dredging might disturb the breeding of the yellow-crested night heron. So the project was put on hold until August.
The contractor was about to begin again, when hurricane Felix threatened. Finally in September, the dredging resumed. Two years after the project began, only about 100 feet remain to be dredged.
Page and the Scotts say they hope to have a ribbon-cutting ceremony complete with a neighborhood picnic - and residents navigating their boats through the channel - early this spring.
Recently Page and Joseph Scott admired the work from Scott's backyard. ``At high tide now you can bring in anything that draws less than 5 1/2 feet,'' Page says.
``What would that be like,'' Joseph Scott asks.
Page chuckles. ``Bigger than I can afford, '' he says. ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]
SAFE PASSAGE
JIM WALKER
The Virginian-Pilot
Staff photo by JIM WALKER
The Lafayette River dredging project cost $54,000. The residents
pooled their resources to deepen the channel.
by CNB