DATE: Thursday, October 9, 1997             TAG: 9710090512

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   79 lines

CHURCHLAND CITIZENS, DEVELOPER SQUABBLE OVER TREE-LINED LOT

A peaceful, tree-shaded vacant corner lot at the busy intersection of High Street and Cedar Lane has become a hot topic in Churchland.

Developer Raeford Eure says his proposed office building at that intersection would be good for the city because it would increase the tax base.

But some residents of neighborhoods in the area say the city would not get enough out of the building to justify destroying the open space, which was given to the city in 1981.

About 150 residents attended a recent gathering to oppose the rezoning of the 1.7 acres. A 20,000-square-foot office building with 88 parking spaces would destroy the character of the area, set a bad precedent and increase traffic hazards, they said.

City Council will vote on Eure's rezoning request Tuesday night. The request was approved by the Planning Commission despite the zoning staff's opinion that the land should ``remain as it is,'' vacant except for the tall pine trees that serve as ``a very attractive buffer to adjacent residential property.''

``We did Virginia Beach, we did Chesapeake, and we picked Portsmouth because they couldn't develop around us,'' said Chris Funk, one of the opponents. ``We searched and searched and found Churchland. It's a relief to come home to this neighborhood.''

Eric Torgerson said it was the corner shaded with tall trees that attracted him and his family to the area behind Coleman Nursery when they decided to flee congestion in the Greenbrier area of Chesapeake, where he works.

Eure said he was on a committee 14 years ago to determine the best use of the land, which is across Cedar Lane from Coleman Nursery.

``At that time, we determined it would be an office building,'' Eure said. ``We used to have a traffic problem there, but I don't have one there now.''

He passes the intersection in the early morning when he drives from his home in Virginia Beach to his office in Churchland, he said.

City Traffic Engineer Red McDaniel said the opening several years ago of the Western Freeway, a major roadway that runs east and west across Churchland, may have slowed the growth of traffic in the area. Still, he said, about 30,000 vehicles or more travel daily on High Street through the intersection. Another 10,500 vehicles travel daily on Cedar Lane.

And when the YMCA next to Coleman's opened several years ago, traffic at the intersection increased.

There are two churches almost directly across High Street and four other churches in the immediate neighborhood of the area. But the land diagonally across the intersection from the city-owned property is privately owned and zoned residential.

``We think that rezoning for Mr. Eure would set a precedent that could be the destruction of this as a residential area,'' Torgerson said. ``How could they refuse people across the street or next door if they wanted rezoning for commercial uses?''

The vacant land, now valued at about $51,000 and zoned for residential use, was given to the city in 1981 by Joseph J. Garner Jr., who, it is said, never found a profitable use for the land before his death. The property was in the city's name until recently, when it was transferred to the Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

``It probably should not have been transferred. It happened when the city detached a strip of the land for the widening of Cedar Lane,'' Deputy City Manager Tim Little said. ``There was a resolution from a previous City Council to make the transfer to PRHA, so it just happened.''

The original deed to the city from Garner stated that the land was being given to the city ``to be used for public purposes.''

``It wasn't written that it could not be used for commercial purposes, but that is my understanding of Mr. Garner's intent,'' Little said.

Little said there have been ``two or three attempts'' over the years to build on the corner, ``but they never went anywhere.''

Eure is an owner of Hoggard-Eure Associates, an engineering and survey firm now located on Churchland Boulevard. He said he would use about 6,000 square feet of the proposed office building for his business and would seek professional tenants such as doctors and lawyers for the remaining 14,000 square feet.

``I don't know why he doesn't put it somewhere that screams for more development, like downtown or midtown,'' Torgerson said. ``The building would be very out of place for a residential neighborhood.'' ILLUSTRATION: MAP

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