THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 5, 1995 TAG: 9507050055
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHARLENE CASON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
The townhouse next to Petty Officer 1st Class Robert Gilmore's has been vacant for four years, not for want of occupants, but because the unit is not fit to live in.
By the end of this year, the Gilmores' home and every other home in their 16-year-old neighborhood will be demolished.
Carper Housing, a complex of 600 four- and five-bedroom townhouses designed as military housing, is the latest Navy neighborhood in Hampton Roads to join the government's demolition derby.
``We're carrying on,'' said Pat Gilmore, who has lived with her husband and three children in the Virginia Beach subdivision for the past nine years.
``This place is home to me. It makes me sad to know it'll be torn down, but it will be wonderful for all those who come after us.''
Carper Housing was built when the Navy's philosophy on providing homes for families was ``put as many units as possible on the land you have,'' said Betty Bates, head of the family housing department in Norfolk.
Subdivisions - usually apartment complexes - were built quickly and cheaply.
Now the Navy's ``Neighborhoods of Excellence'' program is developing comprehensive neighborhood plans, emphasizing quality-built homes and safe, parklike open areas that make military housing look and feel like other suburban subdivisions.
Gradually, Neighborhoods of Excellence will replace all the outdated, crowded and often structurally unsound Navy housing all across the nation. The work being done here is part of Norfolk Naval Base's 2010 Master Plan.
Already, Ben Moreell, a Navy housing landmark on Hampton Boulevard, has been torn down and redesigned. The old complex, home to more than a million families from 1941 to 1993, was built as temporary housing, part of the World War II buildup.
Ben Moreell was typical of many Navy subdivisions, built quickly and inexpensively for wartime. It was never meant to last 52 years, Bates said. The old site crowded 603 structures on 77 acres in Norfolk.
The new $50 million Ben Moreell complex is the first local community being built to Neighborhoods of Excellence standards: playgrounds, sidewalks, bike paths and jogging trails will be woven among the 388 three-, four- and five-bedroom homes. The project is scheduled for completion in the fall of 1996.
It will cost about $40 million to demolish and rebuild Carper Housing. In addition, units are being remodeled at the Armed Forces Staff College and in the old Camp Allen, Capehart and Torgerson housing areas, located north of Terminal Boulevard, and in Willoughby Bay Navy Housing area.
Cost estimates are not available for the last subdivisions because final contracts have not been awarded. All of the renovation and rebuilding should be completed within the next five years.
Most of the existing Navy housing in the area was built without consideration for parking, recreation or landscaping, said Bates. Sites weren't developed properly, which resulted in buckled floors, poor drainage and other water-related problems.
``This is just not conducive to neighborhood pride,'' she said.
Nearly all of the old structures had tile flooring and poor heating systems, which meant homes weren't energy efficient. A Navy survey of residents showed the major improvements they wanted were carpeting, sound-proofing and energy efficient heating and cooling.
``Rebuilding housing, rather than constantly trying to change it, means it's more energy efficient - and cheaper to maintain - in the long run,'' said Bates. ILLUSTRATION: MOTOYA NAKAMURA
Staff
Pat Gilmore, her husband, Robert, and their three children have
lived in Carper Housing in Virginia Beach for nine years. Carper is
being demolished and rebuilt at a cost of $40 million.
KEYWORDS: CONSTRUCTION NAVY HOUSING by CNB