THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 13, 1995 TAG: 9504110146
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: Scott McCaskey
LENGTH: Long : 237 lines
NEAR THE BUSTLE of the Navy's Little Creek Amphibious Base is a body of water that has been calm for years.
Winding beneath the Shore Drive Bridge into tranquil wetlands, Pretty Lake has remained an uncrowded, uncontested resource for East Ocean View, Camellia Gardens and the other communities it touches.
But waves of discord may be on the horizon.
Over the last several summers, the lake has become increasingly congested with recreational activity. Wildlife has had to cope with encroaching development. Along the shoreline, blight stands side-by-side with new upscale housing. A proposal for a new bridge could intensify the situation.
Potential amid problems has some citizens concerned.
``Let's not be like Virginia Beach,'' said Jim Janata, president of the East Ocean View Civic League. ``Let's solve our troubles before they happen.''
Concerns focus around three key areas:
Recreational use and the possibility of a new bridge.
The lake's environmental health.
Visual disparities around the lake.
Much of the debate centers around the waters in front of the East Ocean View Recreation Center. Just west of the bridge, the facility offers a popular summer refuge for neighborhood youths and overlooks a prime spot for jet skiing, power boating and water skiing. Commercial crabbers also frequent the site.
Problems have arisen among the competing factions. Jet skiers buzz swimmers. Boaters negotiate canoes and crab pots. Some residents are calling for a no-wake zone, a posted area where watercraft speed would be limited to six knots an hour or less.
``There ought to be some constraints around the rec center so that the kids swimming and canoeing don't have to dodge the jet skiers and water skiers,'' Janata said, who favors a no-wake zone.
Virginia Roger, president of the Bayview, East Ocean View, Tarrallton Support group, a recreation league for youths from those neighborhoods, is also an advocate of a no-wake zone.
``Some boaters and jet skiers were wreaking havoc last summer,'' Roger said. ``They were frightening some of the younger kids, and I don't want to see that happening this year.''
But Janata and Roger were drowned out at a ad hoc meeting of the Mayor's Ocean View Committee on Jan. 31. Civic leaders and residents from Camellia Gardens, Camellia Acres, Tarrallton and other nearby neighborhoods voted down the proposal, 13-2.
``We don't need a no-wake zone,'' said Gary John, a resident of Camellia Gardens, an upscale community that borders the lake across from East Ocean View. ``We've been skiing and boating here for years, and now a handful of canoeists and swimmers want to jeopardize that.''
Julius Stevens, who also lives in Camellia Gardens, sold his boat several years ago but said he feels a no-wake zone is prohibitive.
``If you can't ski and run your boat, what's the advantage of living on the water?'' Stevens said.
City Councilman W. Randy Wright, who chairs the Mayor's Ocean View Committee, said he is in favor of what the community as a whole wants.
``I must listen to my constituents, and the people spoke loud and clear at the meeting,'' Wright said.
Commercial crabbing could be the next debate for lake residents. In mid-March, Gov. Allen signed a bill to make Pretty Lake a crab sanctuary - off-limits to commercial crabbers. The legislation was proposed by State Del. Howard E. Copeland, whose district includes parts of Ocean View.
``The idea is to enhance the recreational use of Pretty Lake,'' Copeland said.
Some residents favor the idea, noting that crab pots and their lines pose problems for boat navigation and often get tangled in propellers.
Others feel the designation is unnecessary.
``That's something else we don't need,'' a man who wished to remain anonymous said of Pretty Lake becoming a crab sanctuary. ``There's no problems with the crabbers.''
The fate of the lake as a crab sanctuary lies with city, Copeland said.
``City Council can sit on it or pass an ordinance,'' Copeland said.
Wright agreed.
``It's a local option,'' he said.
The sanctuary issue will be looked at in upcoming months, Wright said.
But there's a plan for the lake's future that could not only change its recreational nature but also could significantly alter life around the lake.
Although still in the discussion stage, the city is considering replacing the aging Shore Drive Bridge. The new structure would have an approximate 20-foot clearance at mean high water, 14 feet higher than the current bridge. This would provide access for as much as 80 percent of the recreational watercraft around the area, said Dennis Richardson, Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority's director of design and construction.
The proposed bridge, which could be started on in 1998, would allow more boat traffic into the lake as well as access for larger crafts. Providing access for bigger and more expensive boats would enhance the appeal of surrounding lake-front property and could attract upscale residential development, Richardson said.
``Waterfront land is valuable,'' one resident noted. ``It's even more valuable if you can drive your yacht up to it.''
Douglas Derring, chairman of the Ocean View Coordinating Committee - a coalition of civic, business, social and religious groups - said that a new bridge would bring changes.
``The lake is not being overused now, but if they raise the bridge, both sides (of the lake) are going to become gold mines waiting to happen,'' Derring said. ``No-wake zones could be needed.''
While a new bridge would give access to bigger boats, the waters still could be restricted.
``There's already access,'' said Edwin L. Rosenberg, manager of the city's Environmental Services Bureau. ``The limiting factor is depth. You can't have any more development without dredging.''
Even though a new bridge is under consideration, the city has no plans for dredging the lake in the near future.
``We're going to take it one step at a time,'' Richardson said.
With the possibility of increased recreational activity and residential development come environmental concerns. Pretty Lake is a valuable ecological asset to Norfolk, said Rosenberg. Although not technically a lake - it is actually an estuary stemming from the Chesapeake Bay - the body of water contains 127 acres of marshland - the largest expanse of marsh in the city.
``A large portion is saltmarsh cordgrass, the most valuable grass in a wetland,'' Rosenberg noted.
Matt Steinmacher, a Bayview resident who lives near the marshes, is concerned about the lake and its inhabitants' future. He supports no-wake zones.
``Some boaters have no consideration,'' Steinmacher said. ``They're running wide open and jeopardizing the wildlife and eroding the little islands and grasses they breed in.''
Steinmacher said that the lake is home to egrets, ducks, geese, opossums, raccoons, fish and crabs.
Rosenberg said that there are no problems with the lake's wildlife that he knows of, but he confirms that there has been some erosion of the marsh islands. He said he doesn't know whether the erosion is from natural or manmade causes, but he noted that the bureau's Wetlands Board supports the concept of establishing no-wake zones to protect all of the city's wetlands.
Rosenberg added that raising the bridge won't automatically have a major negative effect on the lake's ecology.
``People won't be able to get up to where the marshes are without extensive dredging,'' he explained.
The lake's deepest area, approximately 16 feet, is immediately west of the Shore Drive Bridge, said Steve Snyder, head of the structural and waterfront facilities bureau of the Department of Public Works. The site was dredged for sand-replenishment along the Bay more than a decade ago.
The dredged area extends several hundred yards to the west. Most of the marshland lies farther west.
From a water-quality perspective, Pretty Lake rates a little better than average, according to Keith Francis, a Norfolk scuba diver. Francis went on a volunteer cleanup of the lake with the U.S. Conservation Divers in 1992. Despite a water visibility of 6 inches and heaps of trash - including a grocery cart in which he got stuck - things could have been worse, Francis said.
``In places in the Lafayette and Elizabeth Rivers there is zero visibility and enough debris to fill a fleet of dump trunks,'' he said. ``Given the right weather and run-off conditions, Pretty Lake can sometimes be pretty.''
Marcia Snyder, an environmental health supervisor for the Norfolk Health Department, said that some waterways have had to be closed to swimming due to high bacteria content but that Pretty Lake was not one of them.
John Alman, supervisor with the city's Division of Shellfish Sanitation, said that the site has been ``condemned for years for shellfishing'' but is OK for crabbing and fishing.
Pretty Lake may have the potential of being beautiful, but not all that meets the eye is pretty. In the backdrop of flying waterfowl and soft sunsets are the striking disparities of noise, decay and pollution.
The lake is in ear and eye-shot of Shore Drive and the amphibious base. The lake is also subject to the roar of aircraft from Norfolk International Airport.
``It can be so quiet and in a moment get so loud,'' one East Ocean View resident said.
High decibel levels are not the only irritants, however. Disparate vistas are alarming to many residents. Fine homes share lake views with dilapidated shacks and abandoned buildings.
On the East Ocean View side, new developments such as Pretty Lake Estates are flanked by rundown single-family homes and rental units in poor repair.
``This cheap junk shouldn't be here with the nice homes,'' Janata said. ``People look at this view, and then look at some of this awful stuff and say, `Somebody's crazy.' ''
Across the lake from East Ocean View, a trailer court sits close to Camellia Gardens, a neighborhood of $100,000-plus homes.
Julius Stevens, whose house is not far from the court, said the trailers are a nuisance.
``I would like to see that trailer park done away with and some nice homes come in,'' Stevens said. ``There are a lot of kids dumping stuff into the water and a lot of hollering and cussing.''
The bubbles of controversy are interrelated at Pretty Lake. Disputes over recreational uses and no-wake zones may hinge on whether a new bridge is constructed. The potential for new upscale development and economic growth may rely on the bridge being built in conjunction with dredging. Any increased threat of environmental damage also may hang on the prospect of a new bridge and dredging. Improving the look of neighborhoods around the lake may be in the hands of the city.
Though voted down in January, no-wake zones - along with other issues - are likely to soon resurface.
At a March 16 meeting of the Mayor's Committee On Ocean View, committee members Janata and Steinmacher again requested no-wake zones. Janata said that the waters at the recreation center have been getting more crowded each year and that a ``no-wake zone has to be looked at again by this summer.''
Steinmacher pleaded for the group to act fast.
``If we don't do something soon,'' he said, ``the marsh will erode into a big mud flat. If the bridge comes in, it will just exasperate the situation.''
There was no dissent from the other members present.
Wright said that he would hold another meeting on Pretty Lake.
``We're going to take another look at the lake,'' Wright explained. ``A small no-wake zone in front of the rec center could be an option.''
Although many residents around Pretty Lake acknowledge that problems and challenges lie in the months and years ahead, the time frame for action remains uncertain.
``Everything is fine for now,'' Gary John said. ``If a new bridge and condos come in, something will have to be done. But that's then and this is now, and a no-wake zone isn't necessary.''
Janata has a greater sense of urgency.
``The idea is to get a consensus on the varied uses now, so that everyone can enjoy Pretty Lake in the future,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Cover and inside photos by L. TODD SPENCER
[Color Cover photo]
Bayview resident Matt Steinmacher is concerned about the future of
Pretty Lake and its inhabitants. ``If we don't do something soon,
the marsh will erode into a big mud flat,'' he said.
Across the lake from East Ocean View, a trailer court sits close to
Camellia Gardens, a neighborhood of $100,000-plus homes. Pretty Lake
is also subject to the roar of aircraft flying to and from Norfolk
International Airport.
PRETTY LAKE: THE VITAL STATISTICS
What: A mostly saltwater body approximately 2 1/2 miles long.
Where: Immediately west of the Shore Drive Bridge running parallel
to the Chesapeake Bay.
Depth: Approximately 16 feet at its deepest point.
Width: Approximately 1,000 feet at its widest point.
Statistics from Edwin L. Rosenbery of the Environmental Services
Bureau.
by CNB