THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 17, 1995 TAG: 9509170044
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBBIE MESSINA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 128 lines
Concessions have been made in the city's hurricane protection plan in hopes that disgruntled North End residents will not scuttle the long-awaited project for the resort and residential oceanfront areas.
The question remains: Will the compromise work?
Beach improvements for the resort area and North End are tied together in a $93 million project jointly sponsored by the city and the Army Corps of Engineers. If the North End does not accept the proposed dune enhancement, it is unlikely that the resort strip will get its new boardwalk, seawall and wider beach.
One of the biggest sticking points in the plan was how to get beachgoers over the taller dunes with minimal erosion.
Instead of limiting access in the North End to 10 elevated concrete crossovers as originally planned, the project now calls for low-level, wooden walkways at the end of every street (totaling 29), which would be more aesthetically appealing.
Additionally, private paths leading from oceanfront homes to the beach would be allowed. They were not permitted under the old plan.
The compromises drew mixed reaction from civic league leaders, who met last week with the city and corps to review the changes.
``This is looking much better,'' said North End Vice President Ric Gauriloff, one of the more vocal opponents of the project.
But resident Adin K. Woodward isn't so accommodating: ``I don't think any of us begrudge the south end getting help, but this dune project (for the North End) is a complete waste of money.''
The league president, Dr. Roger L. Visser, echoed Woodward's sentiment, but said the group will gauge the community's reaction when the city and corps make another presentation at the league's Oct. 10 general meeting.
City Councilman W.W. ``Bill'' Harrison Jr. is pleading for residents' cooperation and a compromise.
``We're working hard on this, but you have to be a team player and work with us too,'' he said after learning that some residents remain opposed.
Relations between the largely affluent North Enders and the city and Corps of Engineers have been strained. Residents accuse the government of pushing an unnecessary project on them to get federal money for the more vulnerable south end.
The hurricane-protection project calls for widening the beach from Rudee Inlet to Fort Story, building a seawall and expanded boardwalk from Rudee Inlet to 40th Street, erecting a new bulkhead from 40th to 58th streets and replenishing the dunes from 58th Street to Fort Story.
It is designed to protect the resort and North End areas from a major sea-borne storm.
Federal funding for such projects is based on a cost-benefit ratio. While the resort strip meets the minimum ratio on its own, the case becomes more compelling when the North End is factored in because of the relatively small amount of work that is needed to protect pricey property. In these times of financial austerity, only the most cost effective projects get funding.
``This isn't something anybody's tried to jam down everybody's throats,'' said Roland W. Culpepper Jr., deputy district engineer for the corps.
Dune enhancement in the North End is necessary, engineers said, because an 18-foot elevation is required to protect homes against a major storm, the kind that hits once every 140 years. They add that without a continuous line of defense extending through the North End, south end improvements would be compromised.
Dunes now range from 15 feet to 24 feet above sea level. Based on surveys, about 67 percent of the dunes will have to be elevated.
Some oceanfront dwellers are concerned that they would lose their views of the ocean, views for which they paid up to $1 million.
The city contends that the dunes - which have been building naturally over the years because of a northward drift of sand - already block views from the first floor of many homes. And of the 167 oceanfront properties, only six houses may lose their view from their second story.
Rebuilding the dunes would require that new crossovers be built.
Plans for concrete crossovers were abandoned because the community feared they would destroy the natural character of the area. Officials, however, believe they would be more cost-effective than wood.
Because this is a federal project, the crossovers must meet construction guidelines.
That means that at certain points they would zigzag across the dunes so their slopes do not exceed standards. Handrails and pickets would be required in some sections where the structures exceed 30 inches off the ground.
Additionally, the American Disabilities Act requires that the crossovers be handicapped accessible. Officials, however, do not know yet how many of the crossovers must meet ADA standards.
Complying with the act also may require that handicapped parking be established.
Whenever the issue of parking is raised, so is the ire of residents who fear beach improvements would lead to large-scale parking lots and public restrooms in their neighborhood.
City officials assured residents that a city ordinance prohibits parking lots and public restrooms in the residential community.
Officials warn that if residents are successful in removing the North End from the hurricane protection project, that would make them ineligible for federal disaster relief if a hurricane strikes. It also may hurt their chances of collecting federal flood insurance.
Visser said hanging such fears over their heads is ``bureaucratic blackmail.''
The civic league last month conducted a survey of North End residents, but changes have been made to the plan since then and some misconceptions have been clarified.
That survey showed that about 90 percent of those who responded did not favor the project. About the same percentage believed that it would lead to parking lots and commercial development in their neighborhood.
``People who have lived here for years . . . they want to know what am I getting out of this?'' said Reid Ervin, a North End resident and former city councilman.
Ervin, who said he is satisfied with the revisions, added, ``Most of us on the North End have learned to live with storm damage. We know what to expect.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
MORT FRYMAN/Staff
Beach improvements for the resort area and North End of Virginia
Beach are tied together in a $93 million project jointly sponsored
by the city and the Army Corps of Engineers. If the North End does
not accept the proposed dune enhancement, it is unlikely that the
resort strip will get its new boardwalk, seawall and wider beach.
This view is to the north and northwest, with Fort Story in the
background.
KEYWORDS: BEACH EROSION by CNB