THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 17, 1996 TAG: 9607170336
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL CLANCY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 51 lines
The city's winning streak in getting federal help to protect the Oceanfront and Sandbridge continued Tuesday as another key congressional panel approved more than $6 million for wider, higher, more storm-resistant beaches.
After quick approval last week in the House, a Senate appropriations subcommittee put its stamp of approval on beach protection and sand replenishment projects for the two areas as well as projects in other states by the Army Corps of Engineers.
With Senate approval likely, the key question is whether President Clinton will sign a bill he opposes, at least in part. He proposed cutting federal funding for local flood, erosion, wetlands and dredging projects carried out by the corps.
At stake on the Oceanfront is a four-year project to build a new seawall, widen the existing boardwalk, double the width of the beach, raise the dunes at the North End and pump stormwater for thousands of Beach residents.
The construction cost is $102 million, but the project envisions 50 years of replenishing eroding sand. The pricetag has been nearly $1 million annually.
City engineers already are letting bids for the first phase: construction of the seawall and boardwalk from Rudee Inlet to 8th Street, beginning in October.
Washington pays 65 percent of such projects, and critics have portrayed them as pork-barrel spending. Beach officials counter that the investment will ensure against even greater bills from disaster relief if a major storm hits the existing 70-year-old seawall.
Under Clinton's plan, the corps would not tackle any new nonmilitary construction jobs unless a project was deemed nationally significant and provided a benefit that was twice its cost.
In addition, the president wants to eventually slash the share of federal money going to those projects to 25 percent.
Virginia Beach has spent about $80 million sprucing up the Oceanfront in the expectation that the federal money would be there to keep the beach from washing away.
Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., who lobbied for the money, said the funding is welcome news and ``an important boost that will help protect the economic vitality of Virginia Beach.''
Last week, the House approved a corps spending bill that includes $8 million for the Rudee Inlet-to-8th Street phase, $487,000 for trucking sand next spring, $608,000 to dredge Rudee Inlet and $283,000 to plan for sand replenishment at Sandbridge.
The funding must now be approved by the full Senate Appropriations Committee and the Senate.
KEYWORDS: SAND REPLENISHMENT by CNB