THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 25, 1995 TAG: 9502250220
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 107 lines
An old sewage pump station near Oceana Naval Air Station could cost the city nearly $2 million, if a North Carolina corporation wins an unusual legal claim that the pump station sits illegally on the corporation's land.
Land salvager Edwin B. Lindsley Jr. gave the land - about two acres on Streamline Drive South in West Oceana Gardens - to the corporation last year as a gift.
The corporation, Pasquotank Action Council Inc., of Elizabeth City, claims that the 24-year-old pump station is on land that was intended to be a public park, and which the action council now owns.
The land was dedicated to the city as a park in 1950. The city built the pump station there around 1970. The rest of the wooded site remains untouched.
In the past two years, the original developers sold the site to Lindsley, and he, in turn, gave it to the Pasquotank Action Council.
The action council filed its lawsuit against the city of Virginia Beach last week in Norfolk's federal court, accusing the city of taking private property without compensation.
The lawsuit demands $1.7 million in back rent for the pump station - $71,595 a year for 24 years - plus $250,000 in punitive damages.
Little is known about the Pasquotank Action Council, its connection to Lindsley or its business in Virginia Beach.
Last year, Lindsley also deeded to the action council two beach properties on the Chesapeake Bay, near Seashore State Park, and land off Morris Avenue in Kempsville.
The council's registered agent is Raymond R. Rivers Sr., president of the Elizabeth City chapter of the NAACP and husband of Elizabeth City Councilwoman Myrtle Rivers.
This week, Rivers declined to talk about the council, except to say it is ``a nonprofit youth-oriented corporation.'' He referred all questions to his attorney, James A. Winstead of Chesapeake, but Winstead also declined to comment.
On Friday, Lindsley said he is not connected to the Pasquotank Action Council and has never met Rivers.
Deputy City Attorney Gary Fentress also declined to discuss the lawsuit or the pump station.
The matter began in 1950, when a company called Oceana Village Inc. mapped out a new neighborhood off Potters Road, just north of Oceana Naval Air Station. It became West Oceana Gardens.
On the map, the company reserved a site of about two acres for a park. By filing the map in the courthouse of Princess Anne County - predecessor to modern Virginia Beach - the company, in effect, dedicated the park to the county.
The company went out of business in 1956, and the city built the pump station on the site around 1970.
Controversy erupted in 1993 when two former officers of Oceana Village Inc. - lawyers Frederick T. Stant Jr. and Alan S. Mirman - revoked the dedication of the park site, saying the city never used the land as a park.
A few weeks later, James E. Moore Jr., an associate of Lindsley, sued the city, saying he had a contract to buy the park site. He asked the court to recognize the withdrawal of the park dedication and award lawful title to the defunct Oceana Village Inc.
Moore withdrew the lawsuit three months later.
About the same time, Lindsley started negotiating with the city over the site. Lindsley says his title examiner offered to let the city keep the pump station site four or five times, but the city refused.
Lindsley said his offer was not in exchange for city permission to build on the rest of the park site. ``It was a straight-out gift,'' Lindsley said.
In the past 14 months, the land has changed hands three times.
First, in December 1993, Stant, as trustee for the original development company, sold the park site to the Ivan Corp., a company owned by Moore, for $14,500, according to deeds.
A week later, Moore sold it to Lindsley for the same price, deeds show.
Finally, in July 1994, Lindsley gave the site to the Pasquotank Action Council.
Now, in its lawsuit, the action council claims that ``the property was never accepted (by the city) by use as a park, and was specifically rejected as such by the city placing `No Trespassing' signs on the property, not allowing the property to be used by the public as a park.''
The signs are still on the property today.
The lawsuit also claims that the city ``took'' the property for the pump station without just compensation, in violation of the Fifth Amendment.
The city has three weeks from the day it receives the lawsuit to file a reply. MEMO: CHANGING HANDS
1949: Oceana Village Inc. chartered.
1950: Park site dedicated to city.
About 1970: City builds pump station on park site.
Feb. 1, 1993: Two former officers of Oceana Village revoke dedication
of park site.
Feb. 25, 1993: James Moore Jr., who wants to buy the site, sues city
to clear title.
May 17, 1993: Moore withdraws lawsuit.
Dec. 14, 1993: A former officer of Oceana Village sells park site to
Ivan Corp. for $14,500.
Dec. 21, 1993: Ivan Corp. sells site to Ed Lindsley for $14,500.
July 5, 1994: Lindsley gives site to Pasquotank Action Council Inc.
Feb. 16, 1995: Pasquotank sues city, demands $1.7 million in back
rent and $250,000 in punitive damages.
ILLUSTRATION: Map
by CNB