ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, January 20, 1997 TAG: 9701200068
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS
SOURCE: Associated Press
ZONING LAWS WERE TIGHTENED to curb projects like the one Fannie Richardson invested so much in. City Council had to weigh neighborhood goals against her dream.
Fannie Richardson bought a dream in 1995.
The dream cost $20,000. It was a huge old house in the East End of Newport News - boarded up, water-damaged, falling down and filthy. But it offered an ideal opportunity for what Richardson had always wanted: to open a group home for the elderly.
Trouble was, Richardson's dream was on a head-on collision course with a local effort to stop the decline of the East End's dense neighborhoods by tightening the city's zoning laws.
Her story forced city leaders last week to choose between the heart-rending pleas of an individual property owner and a community's effort to clean itself up.
They voted with their hearts and Richardson was given approval to go ahead.
``I agree that we shouldn't have all of these homes in the East End,'' Councilwoman Mamye BaCote said of group homes. BaCote represents the south ward, including Richardson's neighborhood.
``There should be a balance. But I thought that the woman's livelihood had been invested in there. It was important that we make sure that she got what she had asked for. She went through the steps,'' BaCote said.
Richardson went to City Hall before buying her home to make sure nothing would stand in the way of her plans. She said she was told she could proceed.
And she said she was never notified in August 1995, seven months after she bought the house, when the City Council enacted an ordinance rezoning more than 4,000 homes in southeastern Newport News to keep homeowners from establishing multi-family housing in buildings meant for a single family.
City planners dispute some of her claims. But without special permission from the council, Richardson's plans would be dashed. She said she had already invested $200,000 renovating her home.
``Right now my credit is a little tarnished, so if this wouldn't have been approved, I would have been in trouble,'' she said later.
She also might have been out of work. Richardson is a contract specialist at Norfolk Naval Base, with a high security clearance. Without council approval, she likely would have been forced to file for bankruptcy, losing her security clearance as a result, she said.
The council's decision did not sit well with some leaders of southeastern Newport News, including Vice Mayor Chuck Allen, who voted against Richardson's request.
Allen and others say the 1995 rezoning was an essential step to the East End's revival.
``So often, they still keep on letting these things into the southeast section,'' said Wilbur Ashe, chairman of a volunteer task force that studies planning issues in the East End.
``There are 13 legally registered facilities like these in Newport News,'' said Ashe. ``Seven of them are in the southeast community. We are tired of them. We are tired of people investing in them. We want people to stop imposing on our community what we do not want.''
City planners contend that apartments, duplexes and boarding houses in single-family neighborhoods encourage absentee landlords to give less attention to the upkeep of their property - and invite less savory residents into the community
Richardson promises that her home will be different. She will live there, keep the place up and selectively screen the elderly people she boards.
``Some group homes are a negative in the community,'' she said. ``But I can say that this one is not. I've put a lot of money into this house. It's probably the best-looking house in the community. And people are not going to be sorry it's here.''
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