DATE: Tuesday, November 18, 1997            TAG: 9711180271

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY KATRICE FRANKLIN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   57 lines

SEWER PLANS GRANT COUNCILMAN'S WISH AND LAY GROUNDWORK FOR DEVELOPMENT

Throughout his 17 1/2 years on the council, Curtis R. Milteer has preached the power of pipes.

``We need to extend a sewer line to the airport,'' he has often said. ``This city could benefit from sewerage on Carolina Road.''

His airport sermons, which originated from his platform the first time he ran for the Whaleyville council seat, often resulted in laughs and sighs from fellow council members.

Folks in the audience, including city officials, were also prone to chuckle.

``Every opportunity where I thought it would blend in, like in utility discussions, I kept it on the forefront,'' he has said.

Now, after nearly two decades, Milteer is going to have to find another city cause.

The council has finally approved extending city sewerage to the Suffolk Municipal Airport. And in the process, the adjacent Suffolk Industrial Park will receive it, too.

The council approved taking water lines to the airport two years ago. City officials say now they'll work with the Hampton Roads Sanitation District to extend water and sewer service down Carolina Road at the same time.

Milteer said he's pushed for infrastructure down the rural corridor to attract industrial development. Sewer lines, he said, make once-undesirable land fit for homes and businesses.

Most of the land down Carolina Road is zoned for business and industrial development. And at a time when the city is wrestling with ways to catch up with growth, attracting commercial development is the key, Milteer said.

New businesses add to the city's tax base and bring in new jobs. City officials say they'd like to increase economic development dollars in Suffolk's southern end.

Steve Herbert, assistant city manager for development, said the sewer line is important, because the city is now making a long-term investment into the older, southern portion of Suffolk.

The northern section of the city is booming. A large residential and commercial planned development off of College Drive and I-664 has brought more than 700 homes, a new elementary school and a privately owned industrial park. The city is also negotiating with the state to purchase land near Tidewater Community College for a high-tech park.

``This reaffirms the conviction that we need to get balanced development across the entire city,'' Herbert said.

Al Moor, Suffolk's public utilities director, said the new water and sewerage main will extend from the intersection of Pitchkettle and Constance Road through downtown to Carolina Road and then Airport Road.

The water main is a $3 million utility project. The city has to pay interest to HRSD only for extending sewerage. Moor said the interest should cost about $300,000 a year and will drop when new industrial users hook up.

The project will start next year and be complete by the end of 2000.

Milteer said he's happy that he will finally get his wish.

``We are approaching the twilight toward the end of the tunnel,'' he said. ``This is a major step in the right direction.''

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