DATE: Friday, April 25, 1997                TAG: 9704240136

SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON   PAGE: 22   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY GREGORY GOLDFARB, CORRESPONDENT 

                                            LENGTH:   98 lines

AFTER 10 YEARS, GROVELAND PARK WILL GET ITS NEIGHBORHOOD PARK

After waiting for a decade, Grove-land Park residents are finally getting their own neighborhood park, but it will only be an acre in size and will cost the city almost $250,000.

``It was the last spot in our area that could be a neighborhood gathering area because all of the other spots we had tried to get the city to buy were gone,'' said John A. Moore, president of the 228-family Grove-land Park Civic League. ``We've been trying for 10 years to get them to buy something.''

When Grove-land Park, a subdivision in the city's Kings Grant and Little Neck area, was built decades ago, the original subdivision development did not include a park site. Now, however, the city has a park standard that states that there shall be four acres of open park space for each 1,000 residents. That means that Grove-land Park and its neighbors, Belle Haven and Eastern Park, with a total population of 4,847 people, should be entitled to about a five-acre park. Instead, they will probably get about one-fifth of that.

``Over the last 10 years, the civic league has considered six different choices ranging in size from about an acre to 3.5 acres,'' said Moore. ``I was upset that the city didn't jump on that three-acre parcel. They said they tried to get it, but it was bought out from under us from some Chesapeake-based developers who built eight houses there.''

The asking price for those three acres back in 1995, Moore said, was $400,000 and the site was about a quarter-mile from the new park, which has yet to be named. Also yet to be worked out is exactly what amenities will accentuate the park.

The civic league has been waiting since last August for the city to purchase the land, Moore said. Members were hoping that construction on the new park would begin this spring and they don't know why there have been delays.

``We wanted to get the deal done,'' said Moore. ``Then we'll worry about the details of what we'll do with the land.''

The land on which the park will be built is devoid of trees, overgrown with weeds and shaped like a slice of pie. It is in the Lynnhaven Borough, about a eighth-mile off of Virginia Beach Boulevard on the heavily trafficked North Lynnhaven Road between Long Hill Road and Belle Haven Drive. It is bordered by North Lynnhaven Road and the Grove-land Park and Belle Haven communities. A sidewalk leading from the entrance to Grove-land Park to the park is already in place.

The parks size precludes any on-site parking, leaving room for picnic tables, a shelter and possibly playground equipment. J. Barry Frankenfield, parks and recreation planner for the Department of Parks and Recreation, said the assessed value of the parcel of land is $85,140 and the appraised value is $170,000. The land's owner, Harmony House Realty, was asking $195,000; the final purchase price was $176,000. Development costs include $30,000 for additional sidewalks, fencing, landscaping and picnic facilities.

If a playground is installed, that's another $30,000. That would bring the total cost to $240,000 to $250,000, Frankenfield said, and bring to 183 the total number of neighborhood parks, excluding school playgrounds, in the city.

There are also another nine districts and eight community parks in the city and a 43-acre district park is slated to open in spring 1998 on Kempsville Road next to Tallwood Elementary.

As to Grove-land Park's park, it's uncertain at this point whether it will take the shape of a basic park, or whether it'll get all the extras.

``We'll have to work with the community on that,'' Frankenfield said. ``Any park that we develop is a combination of public needs and desires and funds available.''

To 15-year Grove-land Park residents Jim Buckner and his wife and two children, whose kitchen window overlooks what will be the new park, the enjoyment the park will bring the local community and the preservation of one of the community's last open spaces, makes the price tag worth the expense.

``Overall, I feel pretty good about it,'' said Buckner, who along with his wife Sandy, both work for a local hospital. ``I'd certainly rather see a park there than some sort of commercial development. I also think it's good for the neighborhood. I don't know of anyone that's opposed to it. Without it, I think there is a danger, because the children tend to play in the street and there are a lot of children in this subdivision.''

In addition to people, the new park may also bring trouble with it, Buckner said.

``A concern of myself and a couple of the neighbors is that the park might turn into hangout for teenagers, and that there might be alcohol and drug problems. But I don't know of anyone who is opposed to the park.''

Even though Buckner's 10-year-old daughter, Amy, and her brother, Brian, 13, are not opposed to the park, Amy knows it will bring with it at least one new thing.

``It's always been so quiet here,'' she said. ``Now it's going to be loud. But I like the idea. ``It'll be a different place to play instead of just in the yard.''

Jim Lawson, a city real estate agent with the Public Works Department, said that it should only be a matter of weeks before the land purchase is completed and the project can move ahead. Construction would begin soon after that.

``The only loose end is an environmental assessment that has to be made to make sure that the property is clean and does not have any environmental issues,'' Lawson said. ``It takes about three weeks and we're just waiting for that to come in.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by L. TODD SPENCER

Ten-year-old Amy Buckner, front, hopes to enjoy the new neighborhood

park, along with, from left, Groveland Park Civic League president

John A. Moore, Sandy Buckner, Mark Buckner and 13-year-old Brian

Buckner.

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