THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 27, 1995 TAG: 9501250168
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY SUSAN W. SMITH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 165 lines
LIKE TOWERING SOLDIERS, the trees have stood guard for years over one of the last remaining natural areas in Chesapeake's civic center. Now they have been banded in white like prisoners of war.
The tract on Albemarle Drive where the trees grow beside smaller plants - like coastal sweetbells, horse sugar, azaleas and rhododendron - is scheduled to be covered in asphalt to make a parking lot for visitors and employees of the new City Jail.
The Municipal Center Master Plan, dated February 1986, designates the woods behind the Great Bridge Community Center and the Great Bridge Primary School as the site of approximately 600 additional parking spaces.
Not everyone thinks that's a good idea. Chesapeake's nature lovers have been writing letters, calling city councilmen and making speeches at City Council meetings on behalf of the trees.
``It's one of the last wooded parks in Great Bridge,'' lamented Betty Campen, who lives not far from the site. ``There's a fitness trail, and people of all ages go there to jog, exercise and just wander around to relax a little. It should concern us that we have destroyed so much. Forty years ago, we had the most beautiful woods to walk in and now there is only a little strip left.''
Thomas H. Westbrook, assistant director of public works, said city officials understand the concerns of citizens who want to protect the woods, but the parking is needed.
Westbrook said there are now approximately 1,800 parking spaces in the municipal complex. Part of the long-range plan is to provide about 1,800 more spaces for parking.
Dr. Dean Bohon, a local optometrist, started using the jogging and workout trail at the site in 1977. Now he uses the area for nature walks.
``I'm not against more parking, and I know that we need it,'' said Bohon. ``But it's a shame to take this area. There is such a large variety of flora in this little bit of woods and some very interesting wildlife.''
He pointed out a sourwood tree that blooms with bell-shaped, cream-colored flowers and bitter leaves, yellow poplars or tulip trees and the thorny devil's walking stick.
Overhead a red-tailed hawked circled, as three gray squirrels practiced their acrobatics. Grackles, large black birds, scolded the intrusion.
A crisp scent filled the nostrils as Bohon crushed several leaves from a red bay tree.
Blueberry and strawberry bushes grow along the curve of the trail. The silvery leaves of the Virginia magnolia and the red-leafed horse sugar add spots of color to the now brown woods.
``Just as the name says,'' said Bohon. ``Horses like to nibble on the sweet leaves of horse sugar.''
``Swamp chestnut oak, shagbark hickory, white oak, black gum, loblolly pine, short-needle pine and American beech grow here. But it's definitely an oak and beech forest. And you have to be quick to get the fruit of the pawpaws here,'' said Bohon. ``The squirrels, raccoons and opossums feast on it.''
He pointed into the treetops.
``I've seen the black-throated blue warbler, and over there was a yellow-crown night heron's nest. And resting under a tree, I saw a melanoid red fox. He was black with a white, powder puff tail.'' Bohon said he and the fox eyed each other for a moment, and then the fox bolted, its tail held high.
``He forgot me,'' said Bohon, ``but I've never forgotten him.''
Bohon said the little woods has a different look for each season. In the very early spring, the shadbush blooms in green, yellow or purple flowers, followed by the delicate dogwoods. Yellow field pansies, pink lady slippers, chickweed and buttercups sprinkle the ground with color.
Bohon pointed out wax myrtle trees scattered through the woods. He said the plants would be bulldozed and the city would probably purchase new wax myrtles from a local landscaping firm to plant in neat rows along the perimeter. He shrugged at the thought.
``I feel like I'm saying goodbye to an old friend.'' Bohon said.
John King, the city's environmental inspector, agreed that it would be nice to save some of the trees on the property.
``The landscaping ordinance suggests - but does not require - retaining the trees as long as new landscaping is properly installed,'' he said. ``The preliminary plans, as far as landscaping, have been approved.''
The area of approximately 1.7 acres borders Albemarle Drive and is bounded on the south by a drainage ditch. It has been surveyed and is scheduled soon to become the site of 185 new parking spaces.
Westbrook said city employees and visitors need more parking on the west side of the municipal center, but the first to benefit from the additional spaces will be contractors and tradesmen involved in building the new jail.
Westbrook said the parking lot already has been designed and the contractor has been awarded the bid. But the plans are being reviewed with an eye toward minimizing the destruction of the trees and other natural growth. The first stages of construction could begin by the end of this month.
``The plans are being reviewed by a civil engineer and a landscape architect,'' said Westbrook. ``Trees that are 10 inches or larger in diameter and unusual specimen trees have been banded in white,'' explained Westbrook. ``If it's possible, the architect will redraw the area, creating parking around natural groves and green islands around those trees selected to try to save.''
With the landscaping revisions, the number of parking places will be reduced to about 150. Current plans call for a buffer of shrubs and trees to be planted along the perimeter of the parking area, but the revised plans could change that.
King said the landscaping ordinance calls for a planter island to be installed for every nine parking places. The required tree canopy coverage can be retained or replaced with new plantings.
The Public Works Department also called on the assistance of Robert M. Pilch, director of the city's Agriculture Department. Pilch and members of a local Master Gardeners club have already transplanted some wild orchids and small shrubs from the site to a safer place.
``Some of the things growing there are not on the endangered list,'' said Pilch. ``But some of the plants, like the cranefly orchid and adder's tongue fern, are very difficult to find and grow mostly in undisturbed areas, like Northwest River Park.''
According to City Manager James W. Rein, the City Council has listened to the concerns of nature lovers and is sensitive to the issue of preserving the woods. But Rein said that the parking lot is necessary.
``We are trying to harmonize with nature,'' said Rein. ``The easy and less expensive way would be to knock down all the trees, put in the parking and then landscape. But we are going to try to retain as much as possible and make the area as attractive as possible and still provide parking.''
A design consultant firm also is studying the five acres located behind the school and community center. That wooded area is earmarked for an additional 450 parking places.
It has not been determined if an existing baseball field in the area will remain or become part of the parking lot, but the jogging trail will definitely be claimed for cars.
Rein said optimistically it would be about 2 1/2 years before construction would begin in that area.
An alternate architectural plan, which would save the woods and take up less land space, called for a parking garage to be built on the corner of Albemarle and Holt drives, where the Sheriff's office is located. The demolition of the building and its replacement with a parking garage would cost about $10 million more than budgeted. This plan is no longer being considered.
``It cost about four or five times more per parking space for garage parking,'' Westbrook said. ``The cost of a land space cost about $2,000, while a parking garage space cost between $8,000 and $10,000. Most citizens say, don't spend the money, and then they say save the trees.''
A parking garage may someday be built on Albemarle Drive, across from the Juvenile Court building. If a garage were constructed, it would replace some of the parking that is in that area.
Westbrook said city officials hope to have a master plan for the municipal center approved by the City Council in March. Based on the engineers' projections, 1,800 more parking spaces will be needed by the year 2010. ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
[Color Photo]
PARKS VS PARKING
Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
Kim Jarman, left, and Betty Campen take an afternoon stroll through
the 1.7-acre wooded tract off Albemarle Drive. It is scheduled to
become the site of 185 new parking spaces.
Staff photos by STEVE EARLEY
Dr. Dean Bohon, a local optometrist, started using the jogging and
workout trail at the site in 1977. Now he uses the area for nature
walks.
Revised city plans call for some larger and more unusual trees to be
banded and preserved in the new parking lot - where possible.
STAFF Map
by CNB