THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 19, 1995 TAG: 9505180276
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY TONI WHITT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 129 lines
THE CITY COUNCIL DECIDED last year to allow residents of Olde Towne to control the destiny of their neighborhood.
When a couple came to the city with the idea of putting a restaurant on the edge of the residential district, the council turned that idea over to the neighbors and asked them to come up with a plan they could live with.
It took eight months, meetings with urban design consultants, research in other cities before the residents of Olde Towne came back to the council with a new zoning plan for the perimeters of the neighborhood.
But after handing control to the citizens, the council isn't happy with the results.
Olde Towne residents on the planning committee agreed to expand zoning in parts of Olde Towne, now zoned Historic Limited Office, to include retail uses such as specialty and gift shops, small clothing businesses, antique and camera shops.
``Low impact businesses that shut their doors at 6 p.m.,'' Leslie R. French III, president of the Olde Towne Civic League, told the City Council at a recent public hearing.
French said in a later interview that the league was looking for ``something positive for the neighborhood and for the City of Portsmouth.''
Urban Design Consultant Ray Gindroz, who was hired by the city to design a new economic development plan, helped the neighborhood come up with the plan.
The residents and the planning staff came up with a new Historic Limited Business zone that the city's Planning Commission unanimously approved.
The plan seemed to be flying through the maze of bureaucracy. But then the residents came back to the board that had assigned them to work out a compromise.
The council seemed unhappy with the compromise because, some council members said, the changes didn't address restaurants.
The civic league said they did address restaurants: The league doesn't want them near the Olde Towne residential district.
``It's difficult to put a restaurant next to residential places,'' said Alan Gollihue, another member of the civic league. ``It disturbs the domestic tranquility of a good, solid historic district.''
A representative for the Catholic Diocese of Richmond was the lone speaker in favor of adding restaurants in Olde Towne during a recent public hearing.
Ralph Jackson, a local attorney, said the zoning is too restrictive. The diocese owns the former Catholic High School on the corner of London Boulevard and Washington Street. The church would like to sell that building, which includes a large institutional kitchen and a dining hall.
``Is this beneficial to the whole city - to make the downtown so restricted?'' Jackson asked. ``They (the council) are spending a lot of money to go forward with Vision 2005. They want a lot of people to come into town - that's wonderful. But the city's not in a position to tell people `come on in, but we close at 5 p.m.' and then turn out the lights.''
The Civic League members believe they have compromised with the city. They worked with the planning department to allow bed and breakfast establishments to have tea rooms and serve lunch to outside patrons - as long as they stop serving at 2 p.m.
Residents reminded the council that restaurants already are allowed one block from the district on High Street. To allow them closer to the residential section would cause traffic congestion and parking problems in the residential areas, said Katherine Williams-Preddy, an architect living in Olde Towne.
``If you begin to allow high-impact uses, you will allow the district to slowly be eroded,'' Preddy-Williams told the council.
The expanded zoning proposed by the Olde Towne Civic League was designed to encourage more pedestrian traffic between the neighborhood and the business district. The proposed zone, however, excludes any homes or buildings that face London Boulevard, a plan to encourage more residential along that street, Preddy-Williams said.
The 10 property owners who were excluded from the proposed zoning plan because their buildings face London Boulevard told the council that they wanted to be included. The folks representing the property owners said they liked the zoning plan as it is, that they didn't care about including restaurants - but they just wanted to make sure their property was included in the new zoning.
The City Council still seemed to want more. Several council members said they had expected restaurants to be included in the proposed plans - even though there is no current request to put a restaurant in the area.
Action on the agenda items involving Olde Towne rezoning was delayed and the proposed new zoning changes were sent back to the planning commission.
All of this has caused the residents to raise the question: What is the nature of compromise? Was the civic league's assignment to find a way to live with restaurants in the residential district or was the civic league supposed to expand other uses in the area?
The situation is similar to that in Churchland where residents are trying to block a shopping center development on the now vacant site of the old Churchland High School.
The council has asked the developer and the residents to work out a compromise to allow the shopping center in the neighborhood. The residents have resisted, saying they don't want mega-stores, and the trucks and customer traffic the stores are sure to bring.
The compromise must come quickly if the city wants to hold on to two new businesses, Caldor's Discount Store and Hannaford Brothers Supermarket - two national chains that have announced they intend to come into Hampton Roads.
The council has tried to stay out of the controversy. But it did vote 6-1 last month to transfer the former Churchland site to the Industrial Development Authority and then urged the residents to compromise.
The proposed shopping center promises hefty revenues for the fiscally stressed city. If the residents can't be satisfied with proposed buffers and other improvements, the council may once again be faced with handing a decision to residents who may come up with a solution that doesn't make council members happy. ILLUSTRATION: Les French is president of the Olde Towne Civic League that has
offered a rezoning compromise to City Council.[Color cover photo by
Mark Mitchell]
Staff photos by MARK MITCHELL
Owners of property on London Boulevard have told City Council they
want to be included in the rezoning plan. As it stands now, homes
and buildings that face London Boulevard are excluded.
The Catholic Diocese of Richmond wants restaurants to be included in
the rezoning so it can sell the vacant Catholic High School
building, which has a large kitchen and dining hall.
These residences are in the 400 block of Queen St., which is
included in the rezoning plan. Olde Towne residents agreed to allow
low-impact businesses in the residential area.
KEYWORDS: REZONING OLDE TOWNE by CNB