DATE: Thursday, July 17, 1997               TAG: 9707170482

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   54 lines

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT LIKELY TO FLOW ALONG CHESAPEAKE'S BANKS

The tugboat Harriet Moran carried an odd cargo along the southern branch of the Elizabeth River Wednesday: City Council members touring a remote area expected to blossom in the next several years.

Much of Chesapeake's waterfront property is preparing for development - mostly industrial sites with a smattering of residential locations along a portion of the river that averages about 40-feet-deep.

About 30 percent of the waterfront property remains either in its raw state or between uses.

In all, Chesapeake is said to have twice the useable waterfront property of any other city in the region, according to Donald Z. Goldberg, Chesapeake's economic development director.

And as the city's inner core fills, city officials likely will turn to economic development on the waterfront to help pay for growth.

There is prime land for development here, including some beautifully untouched land near the Interstate 64 bridge that Goldberg said would be prime property for a golf course or residential area - if and when the city builds a road to the remote site.

For industrial uses, there's a cornucopia of sites, including a large section of the Elizabeth River Terminals, a sprawling property along the river.

Goldberg said ERT is seeking a buyer for a 51 percent share in the entire site, one of the largest along Chesapeake's portion of the river.

The council learned about an array of waterfront opportunities:

St. Julian's Creek, the former Navy munitions storage site, has the potential to become a 500-acre industrial park. The Farmer's Export site has 96.6 acres available. The former Smith-Douglas site, once a fertilizer plant, has 51 acres available. The former Columbia Yacht property on the south side of the Gilmerton Bridge, has 34 acres available, including a 112,000-square-foot building in need of repair.

``It takes time to grow these types of projects,'' said Goldberg. ``It takes time to work these deals, and, therefore, companies must really have staying power.''

One obstacle to some of the industrial riverfront development is a sharp s-turn at the Gilmerton Bridge which gives large cargo ships a tough time.

Still, it's a good time to begin pitching the city's waterfront assets. Goldberg said that waterfront property had been dropping in value but is now going up as more international companies seek waterfront uses for export and import. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MORT FRYMAN/The Virginian-Pilot

Chesapeake's economic development department organized a boat tour

along the southern branch of the Elizabeth River for members of the

City Council to show the city's potential for waterfront

development.

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