THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 8, 1995 TAG: 9501060209
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY FRANCIE LATOUR AND KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITERS
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
CAMELOT RESIDENTS think their recent loss at the hands of City Council proves the adage that you can't fight city hall.
But at least two other local examples suggest that victory, though not easy, is possible.
In the late 1980s, citizens changed the course of development in Chesapeake by reversing two City Council decisions that would have added more houses to their neighborhoods. Residents of Bells Mill fought for two years to get a nearby developer back to the negotiating table and residents of Elbow Road used a citywide referendum to force a developer to give up his expansion plans.
Civic leaders in Camelot are not optimistic that they can get the same results. Residents had tried to get the City Council to force the developer, W.W. Reasor, to provide them with recreation facilities. They tried to hold up the developer's rezoning until he agreed to provide adequate recreation space.
Council brokered a compromise whereby the developer agreed to donate 4.6 acres to be used as parkland. Many residents are not happy with that deal, but most feel they have no choice but to accept it.
``We fought hard and long, and we got the maximum we could get out of it,'' Spruill said. ``The people who keep on fighting and fighting, they are going to lose. They have no one backing them up in the community.''
Lamont Simmons, a member of the city's planning commission and a Bells Mill civic leader, credited his successful fight to internal organization and community support.
``In order to accomplish anything, the community has to be of one mind,'' Simmons said. ``In our case, we weren't against growth, we were frustrated and fearful of the impact on our drainage, schools and traffic, which were all already overloaded.''
After two years of petitioning, negotiating and time in court, the developer, William J. Hearring, agreed to reduce the density of the 120-acre subdivision.
The other victory was even clearer.
Virginia Beach developer R.G. Moore wanted to build a 1,019-unit subdivision along Elbow Road at the Centerville Turnpike, but six residents had a different idea. They collected 17,000 signatures in opposition to Elbow Lake Estates and forced a referendum on the project.
Voters rejected the development by a 26:1 margin and a year later the state Supreme Court upheld their decision, thereby killing the project.
Camelot residents hadn't heard of the Bells Mill and Elbow Lake Estates' triumphs and probably won't take a similar route, said civic league president Larry Spruill.
``A referendum?'' Spruill said. ``No one has even come to me with that idea.'' by CNB