THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 21, 1995 TAG: 9505190234
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 276 lines
THE FINISHING TOUCHES on another section of Atlantic Avenue are nearly complete. Four more blocks of well-ordered streets finished with red and blue brick pavers now give the sidewalks a level of polish only dreamed of 10 years ago.
The utility lines are buried, too, revealing a less cluttered view of the Oceanfront business district's north end, and soon sycamore saplings will take root where cement once held firm.
But as the resort strip's $46 million face lift enters its final stages - about $40 million has been spent so far - and another tourism season beckons, a central question arises about the decadelong resort revitalization plan: Now what?
Whose or what vision is unfolding along the streets and businesses that will impress upon the 2.5 million annual visitors the unmistakable message that they have come to Virginia Beach and not landed in just another city somewhere along the Atlantic Seaboard?
The question begs an answer because the money that financed the improvements - a half percent tax on hotel and food receipts that last year raised almost $8 million - is still being paid and collected.
Plans are being drawn for how Pacific Avenue might look if it too were redone. But some in the resort and business community question whether the city should plow millions into that street or invest it into something else.
In interviews with city planners, business and community leaders, a picture emerges of a resort extending beyond the red bricks of Atlantic Avenue. Some see a network of attractions that include more public golf courses, an emphasis on the region's state parks and the city's waterways, an entertainment complex and a bicycle trail that would allow locals and tourists alike to visit these sites.
There is talk of improved shopping - long a sore spot for visitors who often must settle for the kitschy offerings on Atlantic Avenue - and some see the proposed Laskin Village as a key element. Still under private development, the village would be located along land south of Laskin Road and bisected by Baltic Avenue. It is envisioned as an entertainment and shopping complex that would give locals and visitors alike more to do and more options for spending their money.
But lurking under the bright vision of progress is a disturbing sense among some that the city may have lost its focus at a key period in the resort's redevelopment. The reason, they argue, is there is little central oversight to planning.
``We have not decided what we are going to do and what we are going to be,'' said Andrew Fine, an attorney and developer. ``I think we're caught up in the day to day, and the long-range planning that I think is a prerequisite to doing anything else is not there.
``If we're satisfied to remain a resort and a bedroom community, so be it. But I think that's a decision that needs to be made. Do we want to be the next Charlotte or Atlanta?'' Fine said.
``I think the jury is out on those issues. No, I think the jury has not heard the case yet. The jury has not weighed any of the evidence. When this (water) moratorium is up, there is a lot of pent up demand for new initiatives and we better know what we want to do with the future.''
Roger Newill, chairman of the Resort Area Advisory Committee, a group of Oceanfront business owners that for 10 years has pushed and prodded the city toward the Atlantic Avenue revitalization effort, is more blunt.
``They have no vision,'' Newill said of city planners. ``What the city does is guard the zoning ordinance.''
The closest the city has come to putting on paper a vision of what it wants is found in its Oceanfront Resort Area Concept Plan, a 48-page booklet many consider the blueprint for future development.
It outlines key features of commercial and residential districts and largely attempts to identify what works - and what does not work - at the Oceanfront. The plan sets seven general goals that include creating a ``clean, wholesome family resort''; ``promote safety'' and ensure ``a quality image.''
During a February retreat, City Council members said they hoped that such revitalization efforts would lead to ``world class'' destination.
But while the city talks about wholesomeness, a quality image or of having world class anything, they are terms that hold no meaning to the people most likely in charge of implementing them.
``Council went off on a retreat and said, `We want to be an international tourist destination,' '' said Newill. ``You would think they might have said something like that to us earlier, accidentally, or at least in the course of business. I mean, this sounds pretty big. But I have not the slightest idea what they meant when they said that.''
The Oceanfront Resort Area Concept Plan further revolves around four basic concepts that attempt to change the way residents, city officials and would-be Oceanfront developers see the resort area. They are:
``. . . change the way we look at the Oceanfront Resort Area from a collection of individual businesses to a unified entity, and we must devise a parking and (traffic) system aimed at serving this unit. . . ;
``. . . increase our economic development opportunities by identifying and aggressively marketing or developing key areas, particularly . . . the Laskin Road area. . . the Dome site. . . The Rudee Loop. . . the Pavilion Area;
``. . . develop a sense of arrival, a sense of quality and the ability to immediately park one's car. . . ;
``. . . elevate generally the level of amenity both in and around the area, and to diversify it as greatly as possible.''
``It's so broad it's hard to imagine how to implement it,'' said Newill, an architect with the Norfolk firm of Hanbury, Evans, Newill, Vlattas & Co.
Four years ago the city abolished the Resort Programs Office in a cost-cutting move. The office oversaw resort improvement projects and had direct access to the city manager to ensure that plans became more than something else to adorn a library shelf.
With the city contemplating improvements to Pacific Avenue, some former members of that now defunct office worry that the guidance they once provided for Atlantic Avenue will be missing when future improvements are made.
Tim Barrow, former head of the Resort Area Advisory Commission, is widely credited with advancing the city's efforts to improve the resort. His name is often invoked by people who think he has the skills necessary to get bricks into the ground.
He, too, has concerns.
``The resort commission was the focal point for maintaining the vision, for promoting it and for trying to provide the linkage between these projects and the overall direction the city is going as a resort,'' he said.
``I don't know if that is the continuing focus. I get the impression sometimes that it's more fragmented in terms of how the projects are being implemented by the city.''
For example, some components are being advanced by the Department of Convention & Visitor Development, which is investigating the idea of expanding the convention center. The Department of Economic Development is developing the amphitheater, while Parks and Recreation is developing golf courses.
When Barrow talks about ``linkage,'' he talks about visual cues that tell people one project is related to another. These are usually refinements, he said, like unique landscaping, or flags, or architectural details that provide a cohesive look to different projects.
``When we were doing Atlantic Avenue, we had to constantly watch as many things as we could. How was the landscaping division doing? How was the new Rudee Inlet Bridge going to be designed so that it involved a way for pedestrians to get from one side to another? How would the lighting be consistent with the theme that had been established in the resort area?
``It took a tremendous amount of effort to do that,'' he said. ``You have to get the image, the vision, so embedded in the people that they do it as a matter of course. I'm not sure that responsibility should rest with a volunteer group.''
Aesthetic details aside, if there is doubt in some minds about how best to advance resort improvements, none rests with City Manager Jim Spore.
``The group that is responsible is RAAC,'' he said. ``Their sole reason for being is to advise the city on those matters. With that group in place and with the resort area plan adopted last year, I think there is a very clear direction there.''
But there are limitations - no matter whose agenda is being considered.
``Whether it's the Oceanfront or any place else, the system is the same,'' Spore said. ``All those projects are put into the hopper and evaluated by council and presented to the Capital Improvement Program as to which ones should go ahead and when. The competition for money is tight and always gets tighter.
``We cannot fund everything. Some choices have to be made,'' he said.
Spore, like many in the city, does not want one person in charge of resort improvements.
``We don't need a resort area czar,'' he said. ``We need a broad consensus of where we are going. Our strength is team oriented rather than individual, to consider a broad range of ideas. It serves the community better than having one person dealing with a small set of problems.''
The need to push ahead with resort improvements is clear to city officials when they look south to Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Once a sleepy seaside resort, Myrtle Beach has been transformed in the last decade by an enormous infusion of money into a playground for golfers, concert lovers and vacationers.
``Myrtle Beach is a prime example,'' said Jim Ricketts, head of Virginia Beach's Department of Convention and Visitor Development. ``They have $1.2 billion of investment in terms of theaters, a Hard Rock Cafe opening in July, theme parks. There's talk of a Planet Hollywood and more golf courses. You name it. It's one thing after another.''
The major draw in Myrtle Beach is golf, and it's doubtful that Virginia Beach could come up with the municipal will - or land - to build 86 public or private golf courses like Myrtle Beach.
Two reasons the Carolina coastal town has fared so well are its aggressive marketing campaign and the community's willingness to set a goal and go after it.
Almost nothing seems to slow it down. Consider how it solved a problem with flights to its municipal airport.
Last year, air service to Myrtle Beach consisted of USAir's six flights a day via Charlotte and an American Eagle commuter service to its airport, which is about a third the size of Norfolk's.
``The only way to fix it was to do it ourselves,'' said Don Wizeman, director of International Resort & Golf Resources, a company that develops golf courses in Myrtle Beach. Wizeman is a member of a group of about 30 resort businessmen who regularly meet to plan improvements.
The group identified an airport trust fund of $3.5 million. The group then hooked up with an Atlanta-based airline support company, World Technology Systems, which provides marketing and reservation services to airlines.
The businessmen then got city council to underwrite advertisements for Myrtle Beach golf outings and promoted them in major Northern markets. World Technology agreed to provide a jet.
``The funding was for $550,000,'' Wizeman said. ``They gave us a 168-passenger jet that takes off at 7 a.m. and flies to Newark, then flies back with passengers. Then it flies to Philadelphia and back, then to Chicago.''
The tickets cost $59 one way, with the highest at $119 one way - about 40 percent under the best USAir fare.
The first plane landed Feb. 17. Money from tickets is used to reimburse the city.
``We're knockin 'em dead,'' Wizeman said. ``We're adding Detroit, Boston, Cleveland with another plane. We anticipate that by this time next year we'll have another 10 or 15 flights a day from markets that we pick ourselves.
``As soon as we did that, USAir offered two more non-stop flights. USAir South now has three flights a day from Atlanta.''
Comparisons to Virginia Beach may be unfair because Myrtle Beach draws 10 million to 12 million visitors each year and it offers 50 miles of beach. Virginia Beach has about 2.5 million visitors and 14 miles of shoreline for public use.
Virginia Beach also has far heavier responsibilities toward its school system, which in the next six years alone will spend about $225 million on construction and upgrades for its 74,525 students. Myrtle Beach, by comparison, has just 24,726 students in its public schools, though it too is spending $98 million for nine new schools.
Similarly, the South Carolina city has a modest police force of 117 police officers - 30 more during tourism season - compared to Virginia Beach's 646 sworn officers.
But do tourists care?
``We have to take advantage of our uniqueness and chart our course with what we feel comfortable with,'' Ricketts said. ``The bottom line is diversity.''
And diversity means more than red bricks along Pacific Avenue.
``People are discovering Myrtle Beach and they're passing up Virginia Beach,'' he said. ``We see increasing numbers of people considering Myrtle Beach, so we'll be feeling that competitive pressure shortly.''
Chief of Staff Oral Lambert also points out a key distinction between Virginia Beach, a sprawling bedroom community, and towns that are essentially resorts - like Myrtle Beach.
``Frequently we find ourselves trying to compare what we are with other resorts,'' Lambert said. ``Unlike many other resorts, we are a city that has a resort within its boundaries, rather than being just a resort. There's a very sharp distinction there. Different energies come into play when you consider capital investment because there are lots of opportunities to spend your money for schools and roads and recreation centers.
``If you were just a resort, then your energies would be primarily directed there.''
But no other business in Virginia Beach - apart from the military - has such a direct impact on its economy as tourism.
``Is the Oceanfront a separate, unique place that has its own character or is it just part of a larger city?'' asked J. Barry Frankenfield who once served as a landscape architect with the Resort Programs Office.
``Its identity has been hard to understand, it's confusing about what it's trying to be,'' said Frankenfield, now a planner with the Parks and Recreation Department.
``You can take down the power lines, but what do you do with streets to make them vital, comfortable spaces? What do you do with space, to create a welcoming environment? A lot of the things we did out there are very basic. Planting trees, having 20-foot-wide sidewalks, pedestrian lighting. This is not rocket science. These ideas are used all over the world,'' Frankenfield said.
``The difference here is that these levels of improvements are difficult to sell to property owners, or anyone who has to maintain the areas because the level of maintenance will have to be higher.''
Said Fine: ``When you travel around the country, this place has no way of identifying with it other than someone's great aunt got married here or someone spent their honeymoon here. No one knows it's the largest city in the commonwealth. They don't know that it represents an enormous economic impact, or the quality of life it has to offer. You really get a blank stare most of the time. We don't have much that defines us.'' ILLUSTRATION: [color cover photo, no cutline info.]
Staff photos by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT
Roger Newill, chairman of the Resort Area Advisory Committee that
pushed for the Atlantic Avenue revitalization, is critical of the
city's current plan. ``It's so broad it's hard to imagine how to
implement it,'' said Newill, an architect.
Jim Ricketts, head of Virginia Beach's Department of Convention and
Visitor Development, says the city should follow the lead of Myrtle
Beach. ``The bottom line is diversity,'' he said.
Tim Barrow, former head of the Resort Area Advisory Commission, is
widely credited with advancing the city's efforts to improve the
resort. But he has concerns. ``I don't know if that is the
continuing focus. I get the impression sometimes that it's more
fragmented in terms of how the projects are being implemented by the
city.''
KEYWORDS: TOURISM VIRGINIA BEACH by CNB