THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 6, 1995 TAG: 9509060423
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
The City Council yielded to community pressure Tuesday and scrapped plans to move its Health and Social Services departments to a site on South Independence Boulevard.
Residents of nearby Larkspur had flooded City Hall with letters and phone calls to protest the move.
Their primary complaint was that motorists would use their neighborhood as a shortcut to get into or out of the 7.7-acre site near Holland Road. They also criticized the proposed four-story height of the building, its architecture and the relatively small size of the site.
The two city departments, which serve many of Virginia Beach's neediest residents, are now housed in a dilapidated building on Virginia Beach Boulevard. The building is too small to accommodate the burgeoning demands on the departments, and the work needed to bring the building up to par does not justify its cost, city officials said.
The city plan, announced in mid-July, had been to get a private developer to buy the city-owned property on South Independence, construct a building to suit the needs of the two departments and lease the building to the city.
By selling the property to the developer, the city would raise cash and avoid issuing bonds. The property, which the city bought for a now-tabled state road project, would be returned to the tax rolls. And the city would be eligible for federal and state money to defray rental costs.
Council members said they are still interested in the lease-purchase concept, but they do not want the building on the Larkspur site.
Instead, the council directed the city staff to spend 30 days examining other sites and perhaps different financing plans. Four of the 11 council members voted Tuesday to support a Rosemont Road site that was considered and rejected several months ago; the rest wanted to consider all available sites other than the South Independence Boulevard site.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH CITY COUNCIL CONSTRUCTION VIRGINIA BEACH
HEALTH DEPARTMENT VIRGINIA BEACH SOCIAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT by CNB