DATE: Thursday, July 10, 1997               TAG: 9707100500

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JOHN MURPHY, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   80 lines

CITIES HOPE TO SETTLE LOCAL GASTON LAWSUIT DRAWN-OUT CONFLICT MAY EXTEND BEACH WATER RESTRITIONS.

A local rift that threatens to delay the Lake Gaston project and prolong five years of water restrictions for Virginia Beach residents might be settled quickly and out of court.

The cities of Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Chesapeake on Wednesday asked that a private mediator be appointed to help resolve their lawsuit against the city of Suffolk.

The suit, filed in March, challenges conditions Suffolk placed on zoning permits Norfolk needs to expand a pumping station to treat Lake Gaston water before it's transported to Virginia Beach.

The case is scheduled to go to trial in Suffolk Circuit Court on Oct. 27.

If the cities' request to enter private mediation is granted, the parties could begin working toward a settlement much sooner.

Beach residents have been prohibited from watering their lawns and washing their cars with city water for the past five years. The restrictions could be lifted once Lake Gaston water begins flowing through the pipeline, which would bring up to 60 million gallons of water a day to Hampton Roads. The 76-mile pipeline is scheduled to begin operating by December.

A quick settlement of the suit is important, said M. Scott Hart, attorney for Virginia Beach.

Without the pump stationexpansion, there would be another water crunch in a few years, city officials said, which could lead to another round of restrictions.

Norfolk's existing pumping station could handle the water needs of Virginia Beach and Chesapeake through the summer of 1999, according to Beach officials.

Then the new pump station expansion, which would take 27 months to build, would be required, they said.

``We don't need all the water right away. Norfolk has enough capacity to treat enough water for now,'' Hart said, ``But two or three years out there could be problems, especially if there is a drought.''

Rainfall is below normal already this year, and some forecasters are predicting a shortage through the summer that could eventually affect local water supplies.

The mediation process, if initiated, would require the parties to sit down with a mediator and begin working out their differences. In the motion mailed to the court Wednesday, the cities asked that Portsmouth's William B. Spong Jr., a trained mediator who served in the U.S. Senate from 1967 to 1973, be appointed to direct the process. The cities, however, said they would be open to another mediator.

Though the court must initiate the process, none of the parties can be compelled to participate.

``It's all voluntary,'' said Hart. ``You don't have to settle. The idea is to sit down and talk with the other side.''

Suffolk City Manager Myles E. Standish on Wednesday said he could not comment on whether the city would agree to participate in a mediation process.

But Stephen E. Baril, a Richmond attorney representing Suffolk, said he would consider the mediation seriously.

``We lawyers are in the business of resolving disputes. We will be interested in considering what they are proposing,'' he said.

As a condition for granting permits for the pumping station expansion, Suffolk placed restrictions on the use and sale of surplus water from four deep wells Norfolk owns in Suffolk.

The lawsuit asked the courts to remove those conditions, which Norfolk contends are unnecessary and too restrictive.

Suffolk has said it needs the conditions to ensure that Norfolk does not overuse groundwater needed by Suffolk residents.

The suit also demands that Suffolk repay Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake for damages caused by the permit delay. Norfolk claims that every month it must delay construction of the new pumping station costs the city between $30,000 and $55,000.

Virginia Beach also tried mediation in its long battle with North Carolina, and the enemies hammered out a settlement in 1995 that would have ended the years of court challenges. That deal, however, collapsed amid political wrangling among Norfolk and Virginia Beach, the General Assembly and Gov. George F. Allen.

The Beach eventually won its permits, but North Carolina is still fighting the project. North Carolina filed a request last month asking that a federal appeals court reconsider its decision upholding those permits. That case is still pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. KEYWORDS: LAKE GASTON LAWSUIT

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