THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 11, 1995 TAG: 9505110414
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB AND ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITERS
LENGTH: Long : 118 lines
Norfolk's state and city leaders are threatening to derail an agreement that was to have ended Virginia Beach's water wars with North Carolina.
Norfolk's mayor and several key state delegates said Wednesday that they would not lend their support unless the Beach addresses their financial and technical concerns.
Norfolk officials are miffed the Beach didn't adequately consult them when drawing up an agreement with North Carolina over the Lake Gaston pipeline. The settlement, reached April 28, would prevent Norfolk from selling its surplus water outside South Hampton Roads.
It also dictates where Gaston water can be sold. And, it prevents Norfolk from selling its own surplus water outside of South Hampton Roads or northeastern North Carolina.
The fighting, some say, could prove to be the undoing of the pipeline itself.
Norfolk, with its independent reservoir system, has a contract to sell $6 million worth of water to Virginia Beach each year. If the Lake Gaston agreement is completed, Norfolk would lose that revenue once the pipeline is finished.
Norfolk state legislators and city officials said Wednesday that they can't abide by the restrictions on future sales. They also are concerned about the timetable established in the settlement, which requires local and state approvals in both Virginia and North Carolina by the end of June.
Norfolk and Virginia Beach officials say they think everything can be worked out. But behind the scenes, Virginia Beach is scrambling to cut financial and political deals to win Norfolk's support.
Both sides agree that without favorable votes from Norfolk's legislators, the General Assembly will not approve the settlement; Virginia Beach will not get its long-sought water pipeline from Lake Gaston.
The Norfolk delegation met with Norfolk city officials on Tuesday and, although they took no formal action, emerged convinced that Norfolk must be compensated for any limiting of its ability to market water.
The arrangement wasn't supposed to work this way. Beach officials knew they faced hurdles when they signed the agreement almost two weeks ago. But they thought most of the opposition would come from the Southside, around Lake Gaston.
Only Virginia Beach and North Carolina officials participated in the negotiations, because only they were parties to the lawsuit that led to the federal mediation.
The Beach did not notify Norfolk until ``the end of the process'' that it would be prohibited from selling water to the Peninsula, Beach council member Louis R. Jones said Wednesday. The participants had not been allowed to discuss details of the negotiations.
``We just learned days ago,'' Norfolk Mayor Paul D. Fraim said. ``We had one briefing April 21, and I guess we got a copy of the agreement hours, or maybe a day before (it was signed).''
Fraim said he asked to have the sales restrictions eliminated, but was told after the agreement had been signed that North Carolina had insisted on them.
``There is an irony here,'' Fraim said. ``The city of Norfolk has been promoting a sense of regionalism among all the cities of Hampton Roads, and this agreement calls upon Norfolk to limit its customer base, meaning it can never sell water to Newport News and Hampton. We think that violates the principle that this is one region.''
Beach officials also noted the lack of regional spirit on Norfolk's part. ``The city of Norfolk doesn't lose any money,'' in the Lake Gaston settlement, State Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, said. ``This is a windfall for them. All I can think of is they want more of a gold mine than they already have.''
Norfolk has long held power in the region because it holds most of the area's supply of fresh water from its wells and other sources. One of the original reasons Virginia Beach pursued a pipeline to Lake Gaston was to gain a measure of independence from its water-rich neighbor.
Jones said Beach and Norfolk officials are trying to reach an agreement to compensate Norfolk for limiting its water market.
Several Beach officials said they were discussing the possibility of continuing to buy Norfolk water even after the pipeline is completed. They also said there has been discussion about building an inter-city light rail system, something the Beach council has never supported as strongly as the Norfolk council.
``Virginia Beach and Norfolk might be able to arrive at what might be a fair compensation for the city (of Norfolk) agreeing to limit its customer base,'' Fraim said.
Norfolk will lose about $6 million a year, when Virginia Beach no longer needs to buy 30 million gallons of its water a day, according to a contract between the two cities.
Several Norfolk legislators said the 60-day time frame may be too short to allow for sufficient negotiations. Speaker of the House, Del. Thomas W. Moss Jr., D-Norfolk, said Wednesday that he thinks the deal with North Carolina may need to be renegotiated. It's unclear what would happen to the agreement if the Virginia legislators don't meet the 60-day deadline.
``We are going to need some time,'' Moss said. ``Whether we can do it by (June) the 27th I don't know.''
Construction on the pipeline could begin as early as this fall, with the first water flowing to South Hampton Roads by the spring of 1998. Virginia Beach is expected to get up to 48 million gallons of water a day from the pipeline.
Building the pipeline is expected to cost $142 million. Virginia Beach also has agreed to pay Norfolk up to $100 million to process the water.
Stolle said the Norfolk council and delegation had better do something soon, or the entire Lake Gaston agreement could go down the drain.
As the House Speaker, Moss must appoint the committee that will draft the language of the formal agreement with North Carolina. A version has already been written by North Carolina officials and a final draft is expected to be approved by that legislature next month.
Gov. George F. Allen has said he will not call the Virginia General Assembly into special session unless he is confident the legislators will support the Gaston settlement. Because of the power of Norfolk legislators and the strong opposition of representatives from the Southside, the agreement will almost certainly die without votes from Norfolk's delegation.
``Unless there is some action out of the city of Norfolk relatively quickly, I think it is going to seriously jeopardize the General Assembly's ability to act on this within the 60-day time period,'' Stolle said.
KEYWORDS: LAKE GASTON PIPLINE CONTRACT AGREEMENT by CNB