THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 23, 1994 TAG: 9411230504
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN JOLLY DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
Crab dredgers want it. Aquafarmers don't. Nearly everybody in Northampton County has an opinion on the 494-slip marina that Houston engineering firm Brown & Root Inc., hopes to build on tiny Kings Creek in Cape Charles.
Controversy over the proposed marina - planned to be one of the largest on the Chesapeake Bay - has sputtered and flared for more than two years. On Tuesday, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission heard bits of testimony on the project. A full hearing was delayed until Dec. 20, after which the VMRC will rule on the marina permit.
Tuesday's hearing was brief. Brown & Root's lawyers presented nine supporters of the project who will not be able to attend the December hearing. Ginger Hale, immediate past president of the Cape Charles/Northampton Chamber of Commerce, summed up the feeling of many people in town.
``We see it as the salvation of Cape Charles,'' she said.
Michael Kensler with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation was the only speaker against the marina Tuesday. He said Brown & Root's plans do not meet the VMRC's own guidelines for locating marinas and that the Cape Charles harbor would be a better site.
The foundation opposes Brown & Root's dredging permit, Kensler said, because it will ``significantly impact the natural fishery resources.'' He said the marina could seriously threaten nearby Cherrystone Aquafarms, one of the nation's most successful clam hatcheries.
``We think Cherrystone Aquafarms is a classic case, a wonderful example of a way to promote economic development and at the same time enhance natural water quality and the natural resources of the area,'' Kensler said. ``Too many times, the property rights of those with, for example, oyster leases have suffered at the hands of property rights on the land.''
VMRC files give a more detailed look at the people and organizations who have voiced an opinion on the marina permit. Half the individuals who have written letters supporting the project are watermen from Accomack County who move their boats to the existing Kings Creek marina during the winter crab-dredging season.
Another 20.5 percent of the letters supporting a permit for Brown & Root come from Northampton watermen. The existing channel has silted up, they say, and it desperately needs to be dredged if work boats are to continue to use the marina.
But not everyone who makes a living from the water supports the marina permit. About 86 percent of those individuals opposing the permit are clam farmers using high-tech methods to raise seafood. They depend on Cherrystone Aquafarms for jobs, seed clams and marketing.
VMRC files contain questions about the advisability of the Brown & Root project. The Virginia Institute of Marine Science expressed concerns that sediment in Kings Creek could contain chlorinated pesticides, copper and mercury that could be mixed with the creek's water during dredging.
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation expressed objections to the increased boat traffic that they fear will erode Northampton County's unprotected shorelines. The Foundation's letter stressed that chemicals, oils, grease, paints and litter in the creek would harm water quality.
Richard Roe, regional director of NOAA, wrote about summer flounder habitat. He said the project may result in ``substantial and unacceptable impacts to aquatic resources of national importance.'' The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council also questioned the marina's potential impact on summer flounder habitats.
Another document said that Brown & Root had claimed ownership of the state-controlled bottom of Kings Creek. The company based its claims, said the briefing paper, on a ``purported king's grant.'' No documentation of the company's claim had been supplied to the state Attorney General by May 18, 1994, the date of the document.
The VMRC won't only be looking at environmental issues when making the permit decision. The economic benefits of Brown & Root's project must also be considered. And that's the hook on which marina supporters hang their hats.
If built as proposed, Brown & Root says the development would create 5,893 jobs by 2019, and generate $300 million in retail sales. Experts predict $186 million in taxes to flow into Cape Charles and Northampton County over 20 years.
For Lawrence Dize, who spoke before the VMRC Tuesday, that's very good news.
``This could be the end of our downhill climb,'' he said to the commission. ``I think Brown & Root will do everything in the world for us.''
KEYWORDS: BROWN & ROOT MARINA
VIRGINIA MARINE RESOURCES COMMISSION
by CNB