ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 2, 1996 TAG: 9603040031
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LAWRENCEVILLE
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Brunswick County may require a special zoning permit before the city of Virginia Beach can build the Lake Gaston pipeline through the county.
The county zoning panel heard arguments on the issue at a hearing Wednesday, and will decide the issue next Wednesday.
The city's plans call for building a facility in the county to withdraw water from Lake Gaston and for laying about 19 miles of pipe.
County supervisors approved the project in 1989, then adopted a zoning ordinance requiring the permit. The county staff is in favor of requiring the permit.
Virginia Beach officials argued Wednesday that the county already has approved the project and that the city has diligently proceeded with the pipeline. In letters to the county, Virginia Beach attorneys say the city has spent more than $3 million on the project in Brunswick alone.
If the county requires the special permit, Virginia Beach will be forced to present its case at still more public hearings.
Virginia Beach's public utilities director, Clarence O. Warnstaff, said Thursday that the city believes it should not have to get the permit ``because under state law, we have vested rights based on the prior approvals granted by the county.''
But county Zoning Administrator Tim Wilson said supervisors did not have the authority in 1989 to exempt the city from a future ordinance.
Brunswick's staff points to a sentence from the county's 1989 contract with Virginia Beach that says the county would not unreasonably withhold permission to build the project under the provisions of any local zoning law.
``Basically, I read this statement as a recognition by both the county and the city ... that permissions would have to be sought under the provisions of any zoning ordinance,'' Wilson said.
Brunswick Board of Zoning Appeals Chairman Vincent Powell said he believed the clause was one of the strongest points in the county's favor.
Virginia Beach's Warnstaff declined to comment on the clause, saying there could be ``potential litigation between us and Brunswick County.''
One of Virginia Beach's attorneys, William M. Macali, said ``no contract provision is going to take the place of state law.''
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