THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 29, 1994 TAG: 9406290418
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940629 LENGTH: VIRGINIA BEACH
With little discussion, the council approved the comprehensive plan 10-0 (Nancy Parker was absent). But the council did more than accept the overall concept; it kick- started the amphitheater and golf course projects. The council:
{REST} Approved spending $500,000 to start acquiring 110 acres near the Municipal Center, an area known as Princess Anne Commons, for a 15,000-to-20,000-seat amphitheater.
Agreed to buy eight additional acres at $130,000 for the proposed West Neck Creek Golf Course, also near the Municipal Center; then granted a 30-year lease to Brassie Golf Corp. of Southport, N.C., to operate the 185-acre, state-of-the-art public course.
The golf course negotiations prompted criticism from Councilmen John D. Moss and Robert K. Dean. Moss said he had ``philosophical'' differences with the public/private cooperation in developing the course, arguing that it is unfair to private developers who go it alone. Dean predicted the deal would push land costs up.
``In the future you'll never see another private golf course developed in the city of Virginia Beach.''
The resort plan, a 49-page document known as the ``Oceanfront Resort Concept Plan,'' also calls for the creation of more public parking - both garages and lots - and linking them to a resortwide trolley network that would ferry visitors to almost any spot along the Oceanfront.
The vision for the resort is one big piece of an imaginative blueprint to chart the city's direction beyond the year 2000.
Two other plans, which would help preserve the city's natural greenery, were on the council's agenda Tuesday.
The City Council endorsed a plan to limit home construction in the city's southern area. It delayed approval of a recreation package that would link the city's parks and recreation areas with ribbons of ``greenways.''
The practical application of these plans will happen later. But together, the projects represent some dreams for what the city can become.
``They are saying important things about how they want the community to evolve. It's part of community-building strategy,'' said City Manager James K. Spore. ``The sum total is a lot more than they are individually.''
The concept for the resort plan was compiled by the city's Planning Department, but is really the brainchild of the Resort Area Advisory Commission, a citizens panel appointed by the council 10 years ago to oversee resort improvements and activities.
The council already has approved a $93 million Tourism Investment Growth Fund, fed from special taxes and fees, to pay for a half-dozen of the items proposed in the Oceanfront Resort Area Concept Plan.
Included are the amphitheater, the golf courses, and the completion of the streetscape projects that dress up public areas through such things as repaving, landscaping and burying wires underground.
Some items on the wish list are nearing completion. The Atlantic Avenue Streetscape, now in its sixth year, should be finished in 1996.
And city officials are in the process of negotiating with the low bidder on the $40 million-plus expansion of the Virginia Marine Science Museum. Construction is expected to start late this year or early 1995.
Still other proposals, such as the marketing of the Dome site, Rudee Loop and Pavilion areas as future entertainment, flagship hotel and mega-convention sites are still in the visionary stage.
The comprehensive plan is designed to consolidate what already is on the drawing board.
``By combining them so that they interact most favorably with one another,'' the study's authors wrote in its preface, ``we can best apply their collective energy to the fulfillment of our goals. This is the purpose of the plan.''
by CNB