THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 26, 1997 TAG: 9701240205
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 149 lines
THEY'RE NOT TONYS, Emmys or Oscars, but everybody who has one can stand a little taller knowing there is one hanging on their office or den wall.
They are Planning Commission design awards, simple wooden plaques bearing inscriptions announcing that the winner or winners ``have gone the extra mile'' to create residential, commercial, rural or public projects during the preceding year.
The ``extra mile,'' former Planning Commission Daniel J. Arris explained, means going well beyond the requirements of the city code to produce a dwelling or business complex, a farm operation or public project, making them stand out above the rest.
Design awards have been handed out by the Planning Commission each year since 1991 and are the result of yearlong observations by planning commissioners who make monthly rounds of Virginia Beach developments and projects that are either new or in the making. What planners see in their travels often are the bad and the ugly - rarely the good and the exceptional.
The following 1996 design award winners are deemed exceptional:
Outstanding Residential Development - Hidden Pointe subdivision in Little Neck, off Harris Road. The 2-year-old project features 17 homes, ranging from $400,000 on up, with 17 lots yet to be developed. The subdivision is on a finger of land protruding into Dix Creek, a tributary of the Western Branch of the Lynnhaven River. Developer Alan Resh, head of the Alan Resh Group, has other housing projects in Chesapeake, Suffolk, Hampton, Williamsburg and in Florida. Hidden Pointe was cited by planners for its minimum impact on the waterfront, preservation of trees and landscaping. Resh says he is proudest of his ``dry stacked stone'' gate that marks the entrance to the project.
Outstanding Rural Residential Development - The farm home of Walter J. Moore III and his wife on a 29-acre site on Fitztown Road in southern Virginia Beach. It features a new house, restoration of an old barn and considerable landscaping work. Moore, a banker who was born into a Virginia Beach dairying family, bought the tract in 1992 and moved his family into the new home in April 1993. ``It was a farm with a barn that looked like it was falling down, but the timbers inside were good,'' he said. Planners were especially taken with the landscaping treatment between house and barn ``with its quaint footbridge, picnic area and plantings that surround a circular drive.''
Outstanding Commercial Development - The new HQ-Harris Teeter Plaza on what was formerly Princess Anne Plaza Shopping Center on Virginia Beach Boulevard at Plaza Trail. The complex is part of a $30 million development by ESG Enterprises. It includes a giant Home Quarters Warehouse outlet, a Harris Teeter supermarket, a state ABC store and a number of small retail outlets. ``This development is a fine example of changing with the times and replacing the old with the new,'' wrote planners.
Exceptional Commercial Development - The Newtown and Baker Road Exxon station on the northwest corner of the intersection of Newtown and Baker roads. Owner Bob Reckling is a second generation service station operator. His father, also a Bob, has operated Thalia Exxon on Virginia Beach Boulevard since 1962. Planners cited these reasons for giving Reckling the award: ``Along with extensive plantings of annual flowers for color, the owners have incorporated a water garden with a small water fall as well.'' Reckling has owned the station since 1981.
Quality Commercial Development - Brewers East Restaurant on North Landing Road, adjacent to the Municipal Center. The developers are Dr. Robert G. Brewer, a Virginia Beach surgeon, and his wife, Donna. The two built the spacious, log-cabin-style eatery with the idea of letting their children and stepchildren run it. The Brewers own the farm next door, which provides produce for the 2-year-old restaurant. ``One of the interesting and appealing features is a BMP (Best Management Practices) pond that was constructed in front of the restaurant,'' wrote planners. ``It has a beautiful water spray in the center and is surrounded by native species of water and marsh plants.''
Outstanding Public-Private Development - The GTE Virginia Beach Amphitheater, a 20,000-seat entertainment center at the west end of Dam Neck Road, off Princess Anne Road. It opened in May 1996 through the combined efforts of the city and Cellar Door Entertainment, which has booked acts such as the highly popular Jimmy Buffett. The $17.1 million outdoor theater ``was an overwhelming success in many ways,'' said planners, who cited landscaping and design as exemplary.
Outstanding Public Project - The Atlantic Avenue Improvement Project at 40th Street. This was a section of the Atlantic Avenue streetscape project that has been going on since 1986. The total cost is $40 million. The project included the wholesale improvement of Atlantic Avenue from Rudee Inlet to 42nd Street. ``The project includes road, sidewalk and bikeway improvements along Atlantic Avenue as well as landscaping with flowers and ornamental grasses,'' planners wrote. ``Additionally a minipark with paving stones, benches and landscaping was created in the area (of 40th Street and Atlantic Avenue) for pedestrian use.'' They ``truly represent an outstanding design of a new gateway vista to his area,'' they added.
Outstanding Agricultural Operation - Back Bay Farms, an up-scale Pungo horse farm, owned by investment counselor Eugene Hansen. Hansen bought the 72-acre property primarily for investment, then built a house, barn and pastures two years ago. Improvements include a regulation polo field. The barn has 20 stalls that house 12 polo ponies and include human living quarters between the two stable wings. The accommodations are complete with showers, bedrooms, kitchen and fireplaces. Hansen, a University of Virginian graduate, borrowed Jeffersonian and Palladian architectural techniques to make his barn unique. They include a series of brick arches around the exterior of the barn that provide overhanging shade for the stalls in hot weather. The main structure of his house is octagonal in keeping with the Jeffersonian style, as well as extensive landscaping. He has planted 150 trees and lined his main driveways with more than 20,000 daffodils, tulips and day lilies. ``The design, construction and landscaping of Back Bay Farms is truly spectacular and grand,'' said planners.
Outstanding Environmental Project - Columbus Station Condominiums, at the end of Constitution Drive, off Columbus Street. The 252-unit development has been enhanced by an imaginative and extensive landscaping effort, which the condo association accomplished on a budget of $15,000. The result is an open-space area that is friendly to both environment and tenants. ``Accomplishments include establishment of a wildlife habitat consisting of numerous native trees and shrubs, the stabilization of eroding banks along Thalia Creek with flowering shrubs and ground covers, the creation of two pocket parks . . . with sitting areas and landscaping, the establishment of a perennial wildflower area along Thalia Creek and the enhancement of adjoining Constitution Drive with evergreen trees and shrubs,'' planners noted.
Exceptional Environmental Project - The Elizabeth River Nature and Canoe Trail in the Carolanne Farm area, in the densely populated Kempsville Borough. This project was partially financed by a grant from the Virginia Coastal Resources Management Program and was brought to fruition by a combination of volunteers and workers for the Landscape Division of the city's Department of General Services. Said planners: ``The use of volunteers helped bring the project in well under budget and allowed production of a brochure. The Planning Commission would like to recognize the efforts on this project because it promotes ``regionalism.'' Norfolk and Chesapeake have expressed interest in participating in extending a canoe-link to the Eastern Branch of the Elizabeth River, Planning Commission Chairman Robert H. Vakos noted. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos on cover by CHARLIE MEADS
Horses graze in a pasture at Back Bay Farms in Pungo.
The Brewers East restaurant won the Quality Commercial Development
design award.
Staff photos by CHARLIE MEADS
Homes in Hidden Pointe, above, start at $400,000. The subdivision,
built on land protruding into Dix Creek, was deemed the Outstanding
Residential Development.
Planners cited landscaping and design as exemplary and gave the
Outstanding Public-Private Development award to the GTE Virginia
Beach Amphitheater, left.
Hidden Pointe developer Alan Resh says he is proudest of the ``dry
stacked stone'' gate that marks the entrance to the project.
A pond enhances the landscape design of the GTE Virginia Beach
Amphitheater at the west end of Dam Neck Road, off Princess Anne
Road.
A minipark is part of the Atlantic Avenue Improvement Project at
40th Street, which was named the Outstanding Public Project.