THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 21, 1994 TAG: 9412210289
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANCIE LATOUR, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Short : 47 lines
More than a year's worth of delays and last-minute bargaining ended Tuesday as the City Council approved the rezoning of 25 acres in the Camelot section.
By a 7-2 vote, the council OK'd construction of 78 homes in the neighborhood. Some Camelot civic leaders said the vote marked the beginning of a long healing process for a community that split when it was seeking recreation space from the developer and the city.
``What we really need to do now is get the community back together, round everybody up and help the city with the recreation we did get,'' said Larry Spruill, president of Camelot Civic League. ``We must come back and make ourselves one.''
In the past year, the civic league has made demands ranging from 11 to 25 acres for recreation space for its children, saying they have had no place to play since the 1,200-home development was first built in 1969. They also had demanded lighted tennis courts and a swimming pool.
What Camelot will get under this rezoning is a 4.6-acre park from the developer, W.W. Reasor. Councilmen John W. Butt and John M. de Triquet voted against the rezoning.
Mayor William E. Ward called on the council and on Camelot residents to put the issue behind them and work toward making the park a resource for its children.
``I know that the community is divided over this issue,'' Ward said, ``and the more this issue is allowed to fester, like a raisin in the sun, the more it is going to divide the community further.''
The split among residents was undeniable at a civic league meeting Monday night, when members voted 38-37 to protest Reasor's 4.6-acre offer before the City Council and to fight a council approval in court if necessary.
Spruill, who spoke for that one-vote majority before the council Tuesday, sat unmoving, his head bowed, after the vote.
``I just feel hurt,'' Spruill said. ``All this time and energy, all this fighting . . . ''
While Spruill said he was ready to accept the 4.6 acres and help with the park's design, other civic league members gathered outside to develop plans to seek a court injunction that would put off the rezoning. by CNB