THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 27, 1995 TAG: 9504270331
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 139 lines
Waitress Susan Gordon welcomes Virginia Beach residents to vacation at Lake Gaston, and she enjoys visiting the Oceanfront city several times every summer.
But that is as direct a connection as she will tolerate.
She doesn't want the two areas linked by a 76-mile concrete-and-steel pipeline.
``It's going to hurt us in a lot of ways,'' Gordon said of the pipeline that would carry water from Lake Gaston to Virginia Beach. ``It will hurt fishing. It will hurt the businesses that are developing around here. The people around here are not for it at all.''
The lake is central to the lives and aspirations of many residents in five surrounding Virginia and North Carolina counties.
Pleasure boating and bountiful fishing are not just pleasant amenities for them; the recreation draws vacationers and sportsmen - a major element of the local economy.
``That's where we get our money. It's just like my going to Virginia Beach. When we vacation in Virginia Beach, we spend our money there,'' said Gordon, who works at the Kennon House Restaurant near Gasburg, a small town that overlooks Pea Hill Creek, where the pipeline will begin.
No assurances by Virginia Beach officials or environmental experts who side with the Beach can satisfy residents such as Gordon.
``It's no way they can drain water from our lake and it not affect the life within our lake and around the lake,'' she said.
``It would be the same thing if I did something to Virginia Beach. I can't drain the water from the ocean. But it's as if I came and I threw all of my trash out onto the beach, and it destroyed their beach. It's the same difference.''
The lake, a 34-mile stretch of the Roanoke River, was created in 1963 for a hydroelectric plant operated by Virginia Power.
Since then, the region has sprouted a small but still-growing crop of marinas, boat dealers, and support businesses such as grocery stores and restaurants. The network of narrow roads, more or less ringing the lake, sports signs heralding new subdivisions and retirement communities.
Long-time residents and newcomers say they are afraid of losing all they've built the last three decades.
``Virginia Beach wants the water to expand its development. We want to expand our development here,'' said Wayne Gray, a former president of the Lake Gaston Chamber of Commerce in Littleton, N.C. ``If there's a detrimental effect on the lake, it will destroy what we have now.''
Economic development is being hurt by the threat of the pipeline, Gray said. ``People are reluctant to buy, and that has slowed the development,'' he said.
Take the pipeline off the horizon and Gray will forecast a more dynamic future for the area.
``More property would be sold around the lake and there will be a requirement for more service industries,'' he said. ``You don't buy a piece of land without using an attorney, a surveyor, landscapers, the whole gamut, everything you can think of. You pay taxes.''
Development, Gray said, also would supply jobs for many low-income residents. ``I think that's the key. This particular county has a pretty high poverty level,'' he said.
Lawrence Corley, a boat motor mechanic in Littleton, agreed with Gray's perspective.
``There'd be more jobs for people. You don't find too many jobs around here now,'' he said. ``I know plenty of people who need work.''
Then Corley laughed. Asked why, he said: ``Virginia Beach needs to grow? Virginia can't water their lawns? Rainwater waters the lawns. That's the way we do it out here.''
The boom of Virginia Beach, once the fastest-growing city in the commonwealth, stirs resentment along Lake Gaston.
``They overpopulated themselves as far as their assets go, and their own water. What do they call it, the Green Line? Their Green Line keeps moving. I used to live up that way. I know what happened,'' said Austin Crisman, a retired Navy senior chief.
Crisman, who works at the Ebony General Store, says he tries to stay open minded about the pipeline.
Yet he's cynical about the enforceability of a cap on drawing no more than 60 million gallons a day from Lake Gaston. ``If you believe that, then I got a bridge I want you to buy,'' he said.
John W. Zubrod bought Poplar Creek Marine Sales in Bracey, Va., 11 years ago. ``Virginia Beach just kept growing and growing and relying on its neighbors for their water,'' he said. ``Now Virginia Beach is going to steal water from somebody else.
``They did no planning for their own future.''
Some of the most adamant opponents - such as Zubrod - are marina owners and boat-supply retailers.
Like many Lake Gaston residents, they contend that the pipeline will set a precedent for other growing communities to tap the Roanoke River Basin.
``We came from Northern New Jersey (because) it's more of a year-round boating environment,'' he said. ``And this has much lower crime than where we came from, much less traffic, lower living costs, lower insurance costs, lower property taxes. We enjoy being here very much.''
How would the pipeline change life for Zubrod?
``All your docks on the lake are fixed'' in place, he said. ``The pipeline comes and then we get a drought, and, all of a sudden, the lake's down five feet. Nobody's going to be able to get their boats out of their boathouses. Nobody's going to be able to use their waterfronts.
``That will virtually destroy every marina on this lake.''
Zubrod said the pipeline would give Virginia Beach legal standing to demand tighter boating and development regulations to preserve reservoir-quality water, at least in the Pea Hill Creek intake area.
``If water quality dropped, they could turn around and just eliminate all boating and regulate the use of septic systems on this whole creek,'' he said.
Years of resentment continue to be fueled. The latest point concerned closed-door, court-authorized mediation between Virginia Beach and North Carolina.
The negotiations, Zubrod said, ``were completely underhanded and done down dirty. The state of North Carolina sold out . . . They had no right to negotiate to remove the water from this basin without having the people in this area involved.''
While residents of the Lake Gaston area fret over losing this round to Virginia Beach, they also worry about the legacy to their children.
Susan Gordon, the waitress, said her son, ``J.C.'' is 14 and ``just got his big tackle box and all his reels.''
``By the time he's 21, what is Lake Gaston going to offer him?'' she asked.
But Gordon shrugged when asked whether she's going to continue fighting as thousands of other activists have pledged.
``We're not going to have any say-so in the long run anyway,'' she said.
Yet, she finds ways to make her opinions known. Last Friday, Gordon served dinner to several Virginia Beach visitors. ``I said, `OK, you all are here to enjoy Lake Gaston, and last weekend I went to Virginia Beach. So why can't we just leave it like that?'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by LAWRENCE JACKSON
A boater enjoys the quiet serenity of Lake Gaston. Boating and its
related interests are a major part of life for Lake Gaston
residents.
Photos
Lawrence Corley
John W. Zubrod
Wayne Gray
KEYWORDS: LAKE GASTON PIPELINE by CNB