THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 11, 1996 TAG: 9609110474
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 80 lines
Talk about civic action. Residents along Lake James, fearing pollution and lower property values, have gone undercover to try to block a proposed Pep Boys auto center from being built near their lake.
They have staked out existing Pep Boys repair shops in Virginia Beach and Norfolk, scraped samples of oily wastes from parking lots and analyzed their toxicity, and photographed used oil washing down a storm drain.
One homeowner-turned-detective, Donna Summerour, says she was chased by Pep Boys workers after they noticed her snapping photos of their practices. She fled in her car.
``I drove by the next day and they were out cleaning up as fast as they could,'' said Summerour.
Summerour and the Lake James Homes Association will present their evidence today to the city Planning Commission. They will argue that despite pledges from Pep Boys for an environmentally friendly workplace, precedent shows otherwise, and that the company's zoning application for a 12-bay auto center should be rejected.
``Without question, we see a lot of practices by Pep Boys that are going to result in pollutants in our lake,'' said Lawrence Stampe, president of the 274-member homeowners association. ``This could have devastating consequences for us.''
R.J. Nutter, a Virginia Beach attorney representing Pep Boys, said his client already has made numerous concessions to appease homeowners, including a reconfigured building to curb repair noises from bothering neighbors.
He also noted that Pep Boys wanted to continue negotiating with residents for their blessing, but that they slammed the door, saying nothing but moving the proposed center would suffice.
``This is a great application, and an extraordinary amount of work has gone into this to make it acceptable to the community,'' Nutter said.
Earlier, Pep Boys had offered to install a filtering system to control pollutants - a system that residents complained would not work in a heavy rain storm. Whether that option is still on the table is uncertain; a city planner studying the final proposal could not be reached.
Residents believe that Pep Boys will hurt their lake with petroleum contaminants that the community banned years ago. Motor boats and jet-skis are not allowed on Lake James for fear of oil pollution, Stampe said. Swimming, canoeing and fishing are the sports of choice.
But the lake also is public property in a sense, which raises legal questions about private property rights and who controls what enters the lake.
Virginia Beach uses Lake James as a giant catch basin for millions of gallons of dirty water that wash off streets and parking lots along the hectic Indian River Road corridor. A wide-mouthed city pipe empties into the lake a stone's throw from the proposed Pep Boys site.
This private-public conflict - is Lake James a community asset or a city stormwater hole? - will be tested before the Planning Commission and ultimately the City Council, which has the final vote on the proposed Pep Boys center.
A zoning application that would allow Pep Boys to build an automotive shop where Atlantic Garden Center once stood has been pending for months. It has been delayed at least three times, giving both sides time to negotiate.
When it became clear that a compromise was not forthcoming, several residents began collecting data at two other Pep Boys outlets, on North Military Highway in Norfolk and on Lynnhaven Parkway in Virginia Beach.
In photos taken by Summerour while sitting in her car, crews can be seen working on cars outdoors, away from designated repair zones. Antifreeze and oil can be seen washing into parking lots, toward storm drains.
In one picture, taken after-hours at the North Military Highway store, used oil can be seen flowing into a public drain. The drain is located just below a company sign that encourages customers to recycle their old oil byproducts.
Summerour contacted Norfolk city officials afterward and said an environmental response team was dispatched and a cleanup ordered. These events could not be confirmed by a city official, despite repeated phone calls.
But Don Lent, a Norfolk staffer in the stormwater management section, said he has talked in the past to a store supervisor about oily conditions, as have other city environmental officials, and that the company has replied quickly to the problems. ILLUSTRATION: Color map\The Virginian-Pilot
Area Shown: Proposed site of Pep Boys
KEYWORDS: PEP BOYS LAKE JAMES POLLUTION by CNB