Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 23, 1995 TAG: 9504250023
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Medium
As long as W. Walker Ware IV complies with a restoration order, even if wetlands vegetation does not take root by November 1997, U.S. Magistrate James E. Bradberry said he will consider the matter closed.
``I will not fight Mother Nature. If it doesn't take, it doesn't take,'' Bradberry said Friday, referring to the vegetation.
``Neither you nor the county nor I can make that area a wetlands if it's not going to grow,'' the judge told James City County Assistant Attorney Leo P. Rogers.
Ware originally had until November 1996 to restore the land, but Bradberry extended the time to give him two ``full growing seasons'' for the wetlands vegetation to develop.
However, if Bradberry finds in November 1997 that wetlands vegetation failed to grow on the property because Ware hampered the process in some way, Ware could be fined more than $18.5 million.
Ware has been involved in a legal battle with the county since summer 1992, when he dumped 60 truckloads of asphalt, concrete and soil on the property, located in a subdivision. Ware has said he dumped the material to stabilize the shore so the site could be turned into a boat storage area.
The county sued Ware in December 1993 when he continued to dump materials on the land after being notified by county and state officials that he was doing so illegally.
After a four-day trial in November, Bradberry ordered Ware to remove the material and restore the federally protected wetlands vegetation.
A plan then was drafted to help the county enforce the restoration and to let Ware know exactly what he had to do. Attorneys for both sides have spent several months ironing out details.
Ware told the judge Friday he did not like the plan, but after long discussion with his attorney, he agreed to it. Ware said he is being robbed of his land. He contends the property is not wetlands because old county maps show it as being dry land.
``I'm not happy with the judge's ruling, because he did not base it on scientific facts, he based it on theory,'' Ware said. ``I feel I'm being cheated by the government. They're trying to take my land.''
The plan requires Ware to reseed the 40,000 square feet of wetlands and limit mowing the grass during the summer growing season. He must also restore the slope of the land - from a wetlands boundary to where the land meets the water - to a level no higher than 2.65 feet above sea level.
by CNB