THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 13, 1994 TAG: 9410110094
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
The widening of Church Street is back on schedule - the revised schedule.
The $11.7 million project will improve Church Street from Goff Street north to Granby Street, making the corridor a new landscaped commuter gateway into downtown.
A southern portion of Church Street already has been completed.
A few years ago, Norfolk officials had expected construction in the northern section to start in 1995. Now, city officials anticipate work to begin in December 1997 and to be completed two years later.
Problems included incomplete state funding and the discovery of possible contaminated soil sites.
However, the Virginia Department of Transportation now includes Church Street on its six-year funding program for major projects.
Also, since March an environmental consultant has been assessing possible soil contamination. A report should be completed by February, said John Keifer, Norfolk's public works director.
So far, the consultant has found 14 toxic sites in the project's right-of-way. The contamination is mostly from underground gas and oil tank leaks, Keifer said.
More study is needed to determine if the sites need to be cleaned or left undisturbed, or if the road work could be realigned, Keifer said.
At a meeting of the Mayor's Committee on Church Street-Huntersville Development last week, City Councilman Mason C. Andrews asked, ``Are we delaying beyond the delays?''
``No sir,'' Keifer replied. ``We're still on the most recent schedule. I think once we get all the environmental information in in a few months . . . we'll have a better idea of what the ramifications are.''
The new schedule also calls for a June 1995 public hearing on Church Street improvements, followed by tentative environmental clean-up in July and right-of-way acquisition beginning in October. Land purchase probably will take about two years to complete.
City Councilman Joseph N. Green Jr., chairman of the Church Street-Huntersville committee, asked Keifer who would be responsible for cleaning contaminated sites.
``Well, that's where it gets a little tricky,'' Keifer said, noting that the state rarely agrees to take on the job. ``The responsibility for cleaning up any contaminated sites rests with the property owners.
``The state is reluctant to take on liability of having to clean up one of those sites. That's where there's going to have to be some negotiations.''
He cautioned ``that type of thing has stopped some of the projects in the past.'' by CNB