THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 7, 1997 TAG: 9702070603
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 85 lines
President Clinton's spending priorities could cost the Virginia Beach Oceanfront more than $100 million.
The president promised that his proposed 1998 budget, which he sent to Congress on Thursday, would erase federal deficits by 2002 and for 20 years beyond.
But among the cuts needed to make his math work are several projects that city officials say are crucial to the safety and economic vitality of their city's shoreline.
The $1.69 trillion spending plan does not include funding for the bulk of the Hurricane Protection and Beach Erosion Control Project, a $102 million plan meant to protect and significantly widen the resort strip's beaches and boardwalk. Without additional money, no improvements will be made between 8th and 42nd streets or north of 58th Street, leaving the existing boardwalk and dunes as the only defense against storm surges.
The proposed budget also does not include money for a long-term solution to Sandbridge's beach erosion problems, for the annual truck haul of sand to repair erosion along the resort strip or for the dredging of Rudee Inlet.
Chesapeake's plans to improve access over the Intracoastal Waterway fared much better. The president's budget includes $21 million to replace locks and the bridge at Great Bridge and $100,000 to study replacing the Deep Creek Bridge over the Dismal Swamp Canal. The budget also would provide $1 million to dredge the Hampton Roads harbor and $250,000 to study the Nansemond River watershed in Suffolk and Isle of Wight County.
The president's spending plan is basically a suggestion to the Congress, which will refine the figures during the spring and summer, adding projects it likes and deleting those it doesn't.
Local officials said Thursday that they are pleased with the funding for Chesapeake and hopeful that they will be able to restore money for the Beach's top priorities.
Virginia Rep. Norman Sisisky, D-4th District, said he was not expecting the president to include money for the Great Bridge locks and bridge.
``I've been trying to speed up the process but this is better than anyone expected,'' he said in a prepared statement.
Beach City Manager James K. Spore said he was disappointed but not surprised that his city's projects were left out. He said he's confident that local congressmen and Virginia's senators can slip funding into the final budget - at least for the hurricane protection plan and the Rudee Inlet dredging.
``There's a coalition of coastal states which just absolutely disagrees with the president on these cuts,'' Spore said. ``These are vitally important lifesaving projects which need to be funded and ought to be a priority.''
There are 2,000 businesses and homes, 21,000 full- and part-time jobs and $35 million in local, state and federal taxes generated at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront.
Construction is already well under way on the first phase of the hurricane protection project, between Rudee Inlet and 8th Street.
Work on the second phase, from 42nd to 58th streets, is set to begin this spring. Funding on that phase will be $3 million short without a new infusion of federal money, Robert R. Matthias, assistant to the city manager, said Thursday.
Without another $25 million in federal money this year, the project will fall behind the schedule set by the Army Corps of Engineers, Matthias said. The work is set to be finished by the turn of the century.
Virginia Beach has received about $250,000 every year for a decade to keep Rudee Inlet navigable. Matthias said it's in the national interest - in addition to the local one - to keep the inlet usable, because the Navy SEALs have a unit that depends on it.
Matthias said he is not sure the Congress will be able to restore funding for the city's annual truck haul and sand for Sandbridge.
The city had counted on the federal government to pick up 65 percent of the cost of replacing the sand that erodes every year from the resort strip. The federal government has participated in beach nourishment since 1962.
Sandbridge residents are hoping for about $100 million in federal funds over the next 50 years to help protect their homes and their investment in the sliver of land between Back Bay and the Atlantic.
``The problem is it becomes sort of a cumulative thing,'' Matthias said. ``We're short $25 million for the hurricane protection plan, almost a million for the truck haul, a quarter of a million for Rudee, plus needing the money for Sandbridge. Pretty soon, you're talking real money.''
``When you add all this up, it's going to be a very formidable problem'' for the Virginia delegation to resolve, he said.
MEMO: The Associated Press and staff writer Mac Daniel contributed to
this report.
KEYWORDS: FEDERAL BUDGET SANDBRIDGE VIRGINIA BEACH