THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 6, 1994 TAG: 9411040284
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Kaleidoscope
SOURCE: BY JAMES R. DARDEN
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
As chairman of the Virginia Beach School Board, I would like to review the sequence of events that has led to the current effort to acquire property for the relocation of Linkhorn Park Elementary School.
In June 1993, Virginia Beach Mayor Mey-era Oberndorf responded to a concern raised by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRACC) about the location of Linkhorn Park and Seatack elementary schools within the accident-potential zone of Oceana Naval Air Station. The mayor addressed the relocation of these schools at a hearing held by the commission in Norfolk, promising to relocate them as part of the effort to keep Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach.
Recognizing the importance of Oceana to the community, the School Board followed the mayor's direction and included the relocation of the two schools in the Capital Improvement Program. City Council adopted its CIP with site acquisition scheduled in 1994-95. The School Board also appointed Adm. D. Linn Felt to serve on Rep. Owen Pickett's committee to save Oceana.
The School Board Site Selection Committee is comprised of School Board members Adm. D. Linn Felt and Robert Hall; City Council members John A. Baum and Louisa M. Strayhorn; and Planning Commission members Tom Betz and Barbara Ferguson. The charge of the committee was to evaluate and make recommendations to the School Board regarding the acquisition of school sites.
The committee spent about a year looking for relocation sites for both these schools and eventually narrowed the Linkhorn Park list to three sites, one of which was the Potter-Johnson properties. The other two potential sites were rejected because they were further from the present school site. There are no other vacant parcels large enough to accommodate an elementary school in close proximity to Linkhorn Park yet outside of the accident-potential zone.
In the July School Board meeting, the School Board Site Selection Committee recommended that the School Board acquire the Potter-Johnson properties. At its Aug. 2 meeting, the School Board authorized acquisition of the property, preferably through negotiation, but through condemnation if negotiations failed.
The offers made to property owners were based on independent appraisals secured by the city's real-estate office. Repeated efforts have been made to negotiate reasonable settlements with the property holders. Due to concern about the appraisals, the School Board has authorized procurement of additional independent appraisals on the Potter-Johnson properties. The board is committed to doing its part to keep Oceana Naval Air Station active and to fair treatment of the property holders.
In making these important decisions, the School Board will continue to consider its options carefully, weighing the desires of property owners, the needs of taxpayers and the importance of Oceana to the city, while we continue to hold as our top priority the education of youngsters. MEMO: Mr. Darden is chairman of the Virginia Beach School Board.
by CNB