THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 16, 1995 TAG: 9507160042
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHARLISE LYLES, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
Is it a roller skating rink? Is it an attempt to copy those famous gates at Disney World? Or is it the only hill in Norfolk?
Motorists crossing Monticello Avenue at Virginia Beach Boulevard have wondered for months.
Most merchants, workers and others stationed along the busy thoroughfare finally have figured out what's being built atop the 13.4-acre, city-owned site long left contaminated by a manufactured gas plant.
The only thing that can be built on it: A parking lot.
From the 1,200-car, ``park-n-ride'' lot shoppers will shuttle to the proposed MacArthur Center and students can ride to the new downtown Tidewater Community College campus, scheduled to open in September 1996.
The lot will also replace city parking space lost to the MacArthur Center to be located at City Hall Avenue and St. Paul's Boulevard, said Chris Chambers, city design engineer.
The lot costs about $1.3 million. The city paid about $800,000. Virginia Power, whose corporate predecessor VEPCO was responsible for the contamination, paid about $500,000 to seal the site.
For years, the block-long site, bordered on the east by Elmwoood and Cedar Grove cemeteries, was a dusty, weed-ridden eyesore with a limited future due to hydrocarbon contaminants.
From 1853 to 1950, Virginia Electric Power Company operated a coal gasification plant on the southern half of the property. It supplied gas lighting to residents and street lanterns. In 1950, it was converted to a natural gas storage facility, and occasionally used to manufacture gas till 1964.
The plant was closed in 1968. The city purchased the site in 1971.
The contaminants were discovered in 1985 when the city conducted a soil investigation.
Oily benzene and other poisonous hydrocarbon coal byproducts such as ethylbenzene and xylene do not come under federal or state regulations for cleanup, said Chambers.
But a study by the state Department of Environmental Quality concluded that the site should be permanently sealed and continuously monitored by Virginia Power.
The process of investigating the site, studying it and working out a deal with Virginia Power took about seven years, Chambers said.
Last fall, a construction crew appeared. Then the site began to swell higher and higher above street level as workers filled the site with coal ash to seal in contaminants.
Next came a layer of stones, and then 5,000 tons of asphalt.
Soon a red brick wall with pillars partially encircled it. Then came the stairs leading to the sidewalk and antique, acorn-shaped lanterns. Finally, from its center, several grassy knolls rose. Sassafras, day lilies and loblolly pines will be planted there.
Residents and merchants seemed to know that a parking lot was the only hope for the site. But they just couldn't figure out the one under construction.
``One morning I woke up and I heard the noise. They were piling and piling more and more dirt on it,'' said Marcus, who lives across from the lot in Young Terrace. ``It is odd. It doesn't really look like a parking lot.''
Down Monticello at Joe's Used Tires, workers Steve Yancy and John McDonald are glad, but slightly puzzled, about the site's future.
``I noticed it five years ago when I started work here,'' said McDonald. It was a dirt mound. And every time the wind blew there would be a big huge dust cloud. At least now we won't have that.''
``But a million dollars for a parking lot?'' said Yancy. ``That's going to be some good-looking parking lot.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT, Staff
David Perry, left, and Sam Lewis of Asphalt Roads & Materials pave
the new parking lot.
KEYWORDS: HAZARDOUS WASTE VIRGINIA ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY by CNB