THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 24, 1995 TAG: 9509240041
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
Local governments must allow citizens a greater voice in decision-making to successfully manage reductions in federal and state funding, Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf told a grass-roots conference Saturday.
Ironically, only about 30 citizens were on hand to hear Oberndorf, the keynote speaker at a forum on ``managed growth,'' sponsored by the recently formed Hampton Roads Coalition of Civic Organizations.
Chairman Leslie K. Fenlon expressed disappointment at the turnout and said his group needed to work harder to attract citizens to regional forums.
The coalition represents civic-league umbrella groups in Chesapeake, Hampton, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It tries to give citizens a greater voice on regional issues by holding forums with area governmental and business leaders and exchanging ideas on solving similar problems.
``Managed growth'' was chosen as Saturday's topic because neighborhoods in Chesapeake and Suffolk are confronting development issues like those faced by Virginia Beach over the past two decades.
Oberndorf noted growth controls recently created by Virginia Beach.
They include an ``agricultural reserve program'' that will pay farmers not to sell land for development.
Chesapeake Mayor William E. Ward attended the forum and said later that his city - now the fastest growing in Virginia - may want to consider a similar program to save farm land.
This summer, the Chesapeake City Council voted 5-4 against holding a public referendum on controlling growth through an ``adequate public facilities'' law.
The referendum would have asked citizens if the city should petition the General Assembly for authority to halt construction of new homes until adequate schools, roads and utilities were in place.
Oberndorf said citizens must recognize the need to balance development and preservation, but she also urged more civic participation. She said that includes devising growth plans that consider the varied needs of increasingly diverse populations.
``There will be an ever-growing emphasis on the importance of citizen involvement in everything that we do,'' she said. ``Local governments are going to continue to be challenged by decreasing revenues, by increasing costs and growing capital improvement, infrastructure and human-service needs.
`` So now, more than ever, we need to involve the citizens in the decision-making process to make the best possible use of what we have as natural resources.''
Oberndorf also described her ``win-win'' scenario for guiding the growth of Hampton Roads, a viewpoint somewhat at odds with Norfolk's regional philosophy.
Virginia Beach and other newer communities no longer should be considered suburbs to older central cities, Oberndorf said. ``Each of us have to come to the table as equals,'' she said.
That, she said, means creating a regional water authority to give Virginia Beach a stronger hand in attracting business development ``so we won't be the bedroom community to the rest of the region.''
Currently, Norfolk and Portsmouth sell water to Virginia Beach and Chesapeake. Norfolk also would process the water going to Virginia Beach through the proposed Lake Gaston pipeline.
Chesapeake's Mayor Ward said he agreed with the concept of a water authority, but he was more moderate about other issues, such as poverty and joblessness.
``As Chesapeake, Virginia Beach and Suffolk grow and develop, we certainly need to form some type of partnership with Norfolk and Portsmouth because the core cities have limited space for development,'' Ward said. ``But we will inherit their problems if we don't - in some way - create a means whereby they can benefit from our growth and prosperity.''
Ward said he favored ``some type of revenue sharing,'' such as from taxes on new development.
``That may not be popular at this point in time, but it's certainly something we're going to have to look at as we move to the next century,'' Ward said. ``We cannot allow Norfolk and Portsmouth to undergo urban decline while we prosper because . . . we're going to inherit some of those problems.'' by CNB