THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 10, 1994 TAG: 9411080082
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: IN THE NEIGHBORHOODS
SOURCE: MIKE KNEPLER
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
The City Council still intends to create a task force on Norfolk's public housing, but it probably will not happen until early December.
When it does, look for Councilman Herb Collins to be the chairman, Mayor Paul Fraim says.
Collins has been on a crash course to learn about public housing since September when he suggested that all alternatives be considered, including demolishing some apartments and scattering replacement homes through Norfolk.
He became a lightning rod for debate over the future of public housing. He triggered a controversy when his comments were taken as condemnation of the tenants. Collins later said he did not mean to blame tenants for their social problems but only raise awareness to begin seeking answers.
As task force chairman, Collins will have his chance to find solutions. He already is contemplating a broad-based, 50-member panel that would include public housing tenants as well as civic leaders.
Meanwhile, Fraim envisions the task force's work being broken into several committees. He's discussing ideas with some councilmen and several high-level staff at City Hall and the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority.
``We're close to finishing a mission statement for the task force,'' Fraim said. ``Once everyone signs off on that, then we'll flesh out the task force.''
Blazing bunkers. It may be hard to imagine. But a couple of old city trash heaps may be transformed into golf courses.
City Hall has an $11,000 contract with consultant Tom Clark to study golf potential at Campostella and Lamberts Point landfills.
Possibilities include creating nine-hole golf courses, driving ranges or combinations of recreational uses.
Such plans would be major transformations. The 48-acre Campostella site is infamous for smoky garbage fires, and Lamberts Point has had a malodorous history. The landfills have been closed to fresh dumping for several years.
Finding new uses isn't simple. For example, Norfolk is reshaping Campostella's old garbage hills and covering the rubbish so grass will grow - an effort costing $3.5 million. The site is believed to contain many environmental contaminants dumped there for decades.
The fill and grass cover will make it safe for light recreation, such as golf, says Assistant City Manager Shurl Montgomery.
But to play it safe, Montgomery advised, ``don't take a big divot.''
High-rise parking lot. At least that's what Development Director Bob Smithwick calls the spreading grayish mound at Monticello Avenue and Princess Anne Road.
Actually it's a future parking lot for downtown commuters, including those who will lose their spaces when construction starts on the 17-acre MacArthur Center shopping mall. The city probably will run a shuttle to downtown.
Just as with the Campostella landfill, Norfolk had to devise a creative solution for a tract containing toxic waste. Last century, a predecessor of Virginia Power used the site for a coal gasification plant, said Peter Oberle, city engineer.
The project is costing $960,000.
Instead of more expensive removal of possible contaminants, Norfolk topped the site with soil, fly ash and gravel, said Shurl Montgomery, assistant city manager. The height was necessary, he said, for installation of lamp poles and other structures without disturbing underground contaminants.
When the lot opens next spring, the highest parking space will be 17 feet above the lowest point on Monticello Avenue, Oberle said.
The commuter who gets that space deserves the title ``King of the Hill.'' by CNB