THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 21, 1995 TAG: 9506210528
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB AND DAVID M. POOLE, STAFF WRITERS
LENGTH: Long : 101 lines
Negotiators apparently have hammered out a tentative Lake Gaston compromise that satisfies Virginia Beach, Norfolk and North Carolina - and may appease leaders in Southside Virginia.
In what could mean an end to the 12-year battle, North Carolina has agreed to drop two demands: that Norfolk be forbidden to sell its water to the Peninsula or the Eastern Shore and that South Hampton Roads be encouraged to form a regional water authority.
The concessions could end a monthlong stalemate between Norfolk and Virginia Beach that had effectively derailed an earlier interstate settlement on Gaston.
In exchange, Virginia Beach has agreed to pay a surcharge on Lake Gaston water. For every 1,000 gallons it takes, it would provide 5 cents to the area around Lake Gaston in North Carolina and 5 cents to the Roanoke River Basin in Virginia, according to several people involved in the negotiations.
That would amount to as much as $2.2 million a year that South Hampton Roads would have to pay for the water.
The money going to North Carolina would be used to create and help pay for an economic development zone composed of Bertie, Granville, Halifax, Martin, Northampton, Person, Vance andWarren counties.
In addition to the payments from South Hampton Roads, the zone would receive an appropriation from the North Carolina General Assembly this year, said Sen. Marc Basnight, a Dare County Democrat and president pro tem of the Senate.
Virginia Beach also would agree to use Norfolk's surplus water before drawing from Lake Gaston, as long as the Norfolk water costs the same or less than Gaston's.
Virginia Beach and North Carolina also agreed to expand a two-state water commission, proposed under the earlier settlement, allowing more representation from south-central Virginia. And Virginia Beach would promise never to restrict the uses of the Roanoke River upstream of Lake Gaston, said Joel Rubin, a Virginia Beach spokesman.
Virginia Beach officials said Tuesday that they hope the compromise, which was roughed out Monday and needs to be fine-tuned, will entice the governor into calling a legislative special session to ratify the interstate agreement and allow construction of the pipeline to begin.
Norfolk officials are happy to see the offending stipulations removed from the proposed settlement.
``We're really back where we started,'' said Mayor Paul D. Fraim, ``which is where we wanted to be when this whole thing began.''
It remained unclear Tuesday whether the various parties could muster the political will needed to ratify the deal by the end of June, as required by the earlier settlement.
Gov. George F. Allen has said he will summon the General Assembly for a special session only if there is a reasonable chance for approval by both houses.
Ken Stroupe, the governor's press secretary, said Tuesday that Allen was aware of the approaching deadline and could call for the special session later this week if his conditions are met.
``The governor has expressed repeatedly his desire to have this issue resolved,'' Stroupe said. ``If there is to be a special session, it would need to occur at the end of next week.''
But several top legislators did not seem as concerned Tuesday with the deadline.
Del. Franklin P. Hall, a Richmond Democrat who heads a special Gaston committee, told Virginia Beach negotiators on Tuesday that he would not be bound by the deadline, which he considers arbitrary.
Beach officials had hoped that Hall's legislative committee would approve the compromise at its Tuesday meeting. Instead, Hall decided that another meeting must be held early next week.
``After the very positive progress we made yesterday, I think there was some disappointment on the part of many parties,'' Virginia Beach City Councilman Louis R. Jones said Tuesday. Jones is one of the city's four Gaston negotiators. ``We felt like, with the progress that had been made yesterday, there was no need for a delay.''
Virginia Beach officials say it's crucial to meet the deadline, because the North Carolina General Assembly will end its annual session in early July and because the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission - the last agency that must approve the Gaston project - is expected to announce its decision by mid-July.
North Carolina legislators said Tuesday that their state should accept the compromise rather than rely on the federal commission, which might not be as interested in their concerns.
``This is the best we can get out of it,'' said state Rep. R. Eugene Rogers, a Martin County Democrat. ``It's better than letting them take the water out without having something to show for it.''
Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. called the proposed compromise ``the best plan . . . under the circumstances.'' Hunt promised to work with those seeking a solution.
On April 28, Virginia Beach and North Carolina agreed to a mediated compact that sought to settle the decade of legal fighting over Lake Gaston water.
Many provisions of that deal would be contained in the new negotiated compromise. MEMO: Staff writers Betty Mitchell Gray and Mike Knepler contributed to this
story.
KEYWORDS: WATER SUPPLY PLAN LAKE GASTON by CNB