THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 3, 1994 TAG: 9411030414
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
The School Board has postponed a decision on whether to petition Circuit Court to award the city a tract of land owned by an 80-year-old widow.
The board wants the six-acre parcel, along with an adjoining nine-acre tract, as a site for a replacement school for Linkhorn Park Elementary, which is in Oceana Naval Air Station's crash zone.
The board has offered Margaret E. Johnson, who has owned the six-acre tract for 44 years, $260,000. The board offered $800,000 - almost twice as much per acre - to the owners of the nine-acre tract, brothers John Ray Potter, Dean S. Potter and Gordon B. Potter.
City Real Estate Agent James C. Lawson said the offers were based on an independent appraisal by a Virginia Beach firm, K.P. Copeland & Associates.
The firm determined that Johnson's property was less valuable than the Potters' because a drainage ditch is on Johnson's land, Lawson said. The ditch makes three acres of the tract unusable for building, according to the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act, which limits drainage in coastal areas, he said.
``Anyone buying that property would have to deal with the fact that they'd really be getting only three acres of usable land,'' Lawson said.
The appraisal firm, however, also based its estimate on the land's current residential zoning, less valuable than property zoned for office space.
If the owners sought rezoning for the property, on a section of First Colonial Road flanked by office and shopping complexes, the value could increase.
Lawson said, however, that rezoning is unlikely given the city's water restrictions, which would make it difficult for developers to get approval for office or commercial space.
In any case, Johnson and the Potter brothers said their tracts are worth much more than the city's offers.
The board filed Oct. 7 in Circuit Court to take the Potters' property. The board is scheduled to meet Nov. 15, although there is no word on when a decision will be made about filing for Johnson's property.
In petitioning the court, the School Board is exercising its right of eminent domain, or its right to seize for fair market value any property deemed necessary for the public good.
Linkhorn Park Elementary is one of two schools in Oceana's crash zone. Seatack Elementary is the other. School and city officials decided to relocate the schools so they wouldn't count against Oceana when the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission decides next year which bases to recommend be shut down.
Johnson, however, said she will fight the move to take her property. Johnson appeared before the board briefly Tuesday night to express her opposition.
``They didn't say a word,'' she said. ``The offer is so ridiculous, I couldn't even think about moving.''
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOL BOARD LINKHORN PARK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL by CNB