THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 3, 1995 TAG: 9503030371
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
NORFOLK - A much-heralded redevelopment project in East Ocean View will have to be done in phases because the city lacks the money to pay for it at one time.
The Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority is deciding now where to concentrate its efforts. It has also suspended its buying efforts in the 90-acre tract east of Shore Drive that was redesigned by an award-winning team of architects last fall.
``In an ideal world, we'd have enough money to clear the entire area before beginning with construction,'' said R. Patrick Gomez, the agency's community development director. ``But we realize that's not possible today. In years gone by, that's what we would have done. That's what we did in other places.''
The proposed community would be reminiscent of a village, with tree-lined streets and fashionable houses with front porches.
The decision to build in phases is important, Gomez said, because the agency must decide how and where to concentrate the new houses so that buyers won't be turned off by nearby blight.
Gomez said the agency is consulting with development and marketing experts.
``If you ask different people how far (new houses) have to be from the blight,'' Gomez said, ``different people have different ideas. All of them are well-founded.
``And then we also have to balance that off with the availability of money.''
In suspending the purchasing, the agency also cites its drawn-out legal battle over the condemnation of a 102-unit apartment complex in the project area.
The authority had valued the apartments at $1.3 million, but a condemnation panel awarded $2.66 million to owner Richard M. Kelly. The Circuit Court has not yet resolved the dispute.
``We're waiting to see the resolution of this case to see how much we have left for the purchase of other property,'' Gomez said.
The authority has only a $9 million bank loan to start the project, which has been estimated to cost up to $35 million. Nearly $5 million has been spent or obligated, mostly to buy 37 properties, Gomez said.
``I can't say we wouldn't go after any additional property because we certainly have some money remaining, but we're reviewing what our options are right now,'' he said.
The agency may resume making offers ``in 30 to 60 days,'' he said.
Depending on how it decides to phase the project, the agency may need to seek more bank loans or ask the City Council for help through Norfolk's capital improvement budget.
Mayor Paul D. Fraim said he would not rule out any financing proposal.
``The city has committed to the project, and we'll find a way to make it happen,'' he said.
Property owners in the redevelopment tract also are in limbo.
For some, the delay plays on their nerves.
``It makes it longer and longer for you to wait to find out what's going to happen to you,'' said Barbara Caffee, a longtime homeowner in the redevelopment tract. She also is president of the East Ocean View-Little Creek Improvement Association, a civic league.
Caffee said she feels whipsawed between two emotions - anxiety over when the agency will try to take her property and hope that continued delays give her more time to try changing the redevelopment project.
``The pressure and the stress is a terrible thing,'' she said.
She disagrees with the redevelopment proposal of tearing down nearly every building in the project. She has vowed to fight for her home ``just like a mother lion fighting for her cubs.'' And during a public-planning process known as a charrette last December, she asked the architects to spare it.
``It seems to me that everybody could win,'' Caffee said, ``if they work with the ones who want to stay here.''
But Caffee does not blame her travails on Kelly or the condemnation panel that awarded him $2.66 million.
The Kelly case has become one of the longest condemnation litigations in recent Norfolk redevelopment history, said a 25-year employee, Robert Draper, the agency's director of housing and renewal services.
Circuit Judge John E. Clarkson has given lawyers until March 27 to submit their final written arguments. He also plans to review transcripts of his courtroom interviews with the five residents who made up the condemnation panel.
Clarkson said that he is not sure whether the panelists understood all his instructions and that he may have erred in allowing certain testimony. ILLUSTRATION: Map
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