THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 24, 1994 TAG: 9407240030
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
Long ignored as its eastern neighbors prospered, Suffolk seems finally to be attracting the attention of Hampton Roads developers.
Chesapeake is still considered the fastest-growing city in the state, and Virginia Beach continues to issue thousands of building permits a year.
But Suffolk, where developers can work without severe water or zoning restrictions and where an interstate that opened in 1992 has reduced commuting time, is experiencing an unprecedented boom in building-permit applications.
``We're breaking all records,'' said Wayne Whitehurst, a Suffolk building official.
Permits for single-family homes jumped a record 71 percent here last year, rising from 239 in 1992 to 408 last year. No other city in South Hampton Roads came close to such a percentage increase.
Virginia Beach, where new hookups to city water have been frozen for two years, saw a 20 percent increase in building permits between 1992 and 1993, according to the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission.
Chesapeake, which doesn't restrict water access, actually issued 33 fewer building permits last year compared to 1992, according to Chesapeake building inspection officials.
``I don't know that Virginia Beach and Chesapeake are being abandoned,'' said Tuck Bowie, president of the Tidewater Builders Association. ``Rather, Suffolk is growing at their expense.'' Some in Suffolk predict thatbetween 500 and 700 building permits could be issued in the city by the end of the year. At least 20 subdivisions are being built in Suffolk.
During the first six months of this year, buyers closed on 186 new homes in Suffolk, said Bill Dore of Residential DataBank, a real estate research firm owned by Rose & Krueth Realty Corp. in Virginia Beach.
Buyers closed on 172 new single-family homes in all of 1993.
One example of Suffolk's growth is Burbage Lakes, a development that sold more than 120 homes since it opened last September. By the end of this year, as many as 155 homes are expected to be sold there, making it one of the most successful new subdivisions in Hampton Roads, according to officials from the Tidewater Builders Association.
Brent Nielson, Chesapeake's city planner, said that in the past 18 months, his city has approved only three residential land rezonings. Builders on all three properties voluntarily contributed about $6,000 per single-family home to offset capital costs to the Chesapeake School District.
The reluctance of the city to approve developments without voluntary payments by builders has severely slowed projects in Chesapeake, Nielson said.
``I think there will be a decrease, but we don't know how much,'' Nielson said. ``Development has eaten into the inventory, and builders tell us that there are fewer numbers of developable lots available now.''
Chesapeake had 7,000 acres of vacant, residentially zoned property left when it was surveyed 18 months ago.
Scott Batchelor, division president of Centex Homes, which helped build Burbage Lake, said he's seen builders leaving Virginia Beach and Chesapeake for Suffolk. Centex has developments in all three cities.
There are so many restrictions and hurdles in Virginia Beach that it becomes difficult to pull off a project there, he said.
``It's harder and harder to find anything that really works in Virginia Beach,'' Batchelor said.
Bob Widener of the Widener Corp., a building firm in Virginia Beach, said he has also seen a shift to Suffolk.
``The water situation really has just about put an absolute halt on development of any type in the city of Virginia Beach,'' he said. ``It's just not available. And Chesapeake has pretty much got a moratorium on rezonings. So unless you can find pre-zoned land, it's just about impossible to build anything in Chesapeake.
``The numbers are just becoming too hard to work with,'' Widener added. ``And Suffolk is a lot more accessible than it has been in the past.''
Portsmouth and Norfolk, two cities with stable water supplies, are not options for many developers because they lack the space necessary for big projects. Suffolk has plenty of land and an ample supply of water.
Access through Interstate 664 and Suffolk's rural atmosphere are two factors pulling people west. But Suffolk must still overcome its reputation as a city where people use privies and where sewer lines are sorely lacking.
Suffolk is also a long commute for many potential buyers who work elsewhere in Hampton Roads. Its downtown is 22 miles away from Battlefield Boulevard in Chesapeake, 19 miles from downtown Norfolk and about 40 miles from Virginia Beach's Oceanfront.
William E. Harrell, director of Suffolk's Department of Public Utilities, said the city is meeting existing water demands and expects to keep pace with growth well into the next decade.
On Wednesday, the city announced the state had given it preliminary permission to bring three new underground wells on line. Two will be located in the north and one in the south.
They would double the city's existing 4-million-gallon-a-day water supply.
But Suffolk officials, confident that development has finally arrived, said they would continue pursuing other water sources.
Growth happens to an entire region, said Robert Scott, Virginia Beach's director of planning.
And as once booming areas lose their momentum, Scott said, ``Suffolk is a likely spot for some of that pressure to be felt.'' by CNB