THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 5, 1996 TAG: 9608050037
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KATRICE FRANKLIN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 110 lines
Martha George and David Walkup never envisioned themselves as community leaders.
They were just ordinary citizens - she a homemaker, he a hospital account specialist - in different cities and with families, hobbies and homes they loved. Attending City Council meetings and urging others to protest against local government wasn't their style.
But after word came early last year that a racetrack and industrial park were planned near them, George - of Suffolk - and Walkup - of Chesapeake - found themselves with new titles: co-chairpersons of Citizens Against the Racetrack.
The group, with about 200 people from both cities, was ready to fight City Hall. The proposed racetrack and industrial park are near Chesapeake Square Mall, an area where lines between Chesapeake and Suffolk blur.
It's also an area served by winding, rural roads that lead to any number of neighborhoods that residents believe would be diminished by the track and park.
The battle still rages. A Suffolk court upheld the city's rezoning, and CAR is waiting for the state Supreme Court to rule on its appeal.
No work has been done on the site, and George and Walkup are more determined than ever to see that the racetrack is never built.
``We plan on using all of our options,'' George said last week. ``We'll continue to fight.''
With the leadership roles cast on them last year, the two suddenly were spending close to 35 hours a week attending community meetings, soliciting money for legal action and going to City Council meetings.
``I never really went to many civic meetings or to City Council meetings either,'' Walkup, 36, said. ``But with this, I had to get involved.''
Walkup, George and others were upset with the Suffolk City Council's vote to rezone 685 acres of land at Shoulders Hill Road and Nansemond Parkway for the automobile race track and industrial park.
A suit filed in February alleges that the track would pollute their neighborhoods with noise and traffic. It argues that the development would not benefit the cities and that the rezoning for commercial and recreational use was incompatible with the area.
Residents also questioned the council's interpretation of the track as recreational.
The state Supreme Court will consider the matter sometime in early fall.
George and Walkup coordinate residents of their respective cities. They both live a little more than a mile away from the racetrack and industrial park site.
So far, the group has raised $20,000 for its lawsuit against the city. The two have held some meetings in their homes and paid for different tasks, such as photocopying newsletters to spread information around. The group also has contracted for sound studies to prove how far noise from the racetrack could be heard.
The two had no idea that the track they'd heard about in the news was so close to their homes.
Walkup, who moved to Jolliff Woods with his job three years ago from Midlothian, was unaware that Portsmouth Boulevard - one of the main routes used to enter his subdivision - was also the same roadway as Nansemond Parkway in Suffolk.
``This guy across the street had an article that had the proposed locations,'' Walkup said, sitting in his kitchen late last week and sipping coffee and looking out the window at the woods across the street from his home. ``So one day, we took the dogs and walked through the woods to the site. It was real close.''
George, whose family came to Bennetts Harbor - a subdivision near Bennetts Pasture Road - with her husband's job eight years ago from Galveston, Texas, had heard that they were building a racetrack, but assumed that it was one for horses. That didn't upset her.
But ``this woman in church sent a letter that told us that it was an automobile racetrack and asked us to contact our councilman,'' George, 45, said. ``We moved to Suffolk because we didn't want to be in the city. We expected more residential development and some commercial, but we never expected something to be built there so disruptive.''
What upsets the two most is the way the Suffolk City Council ignores citizens' wishes, they say. ``As a resident of Suffolk that is paying taxes, this whole ordeal has upset me,'' George said. ``They (council members) seem closer with the developers than the citizens and voters.
``Public input doesn't matter. They make up their minds and take action on that. It's not a government of the people, by the people and for the people.''
City officials disagree, and say they look at the overall benefit of development and potential adverse impact on surrounding areas and base their decisions on what's best for the city.
``There were residents who spoke both in favor and in opposition,'' said councilman and former Mayor S. Chris Jones. ``Of course, they were not successful in persuading the council to vote the way they wanted us to vote, but that happens on almost any issue. We tried to address the concerns they raised by putting a time restriction on the racetrack.''
Since enough money for the lawsuit has been raised, George and Walkup don't spend nearly as much time leading the group. They're just waiting for their case to be heard.
But the two said they do pay more attention to what's going on in local government.
They also said if the state Supreme Court rules against them, they will continue their fight in other ways.
``We will take steps to protect our quality of life,'' Walkup said. ``If it takes police directing through traffic, then we'll look into it. We won't give up.'' ILLUSTRATION: ACTIVIST: MARTHA GEORGE
``We expected more residential development and some commercial, but
we never expected something to be built there so disruptive.''
ACTIVIST: DAVID WALKUP
``I never really went to many civic meetings or to City Council
meetings either. But with this, I had to get involved.''
JOHN H. SHEALLY II
The Virginian-Pilot
Martha George of Suffolk and David Walkup of Chesapeake are
co-chairpersons of Citizens Against the Racetrack. by CNB