THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 23, 1995 TAG: 9511190042
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA MCNATT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
Lake Gaston pipeline engineers think they can save $30 million by altering the portion of the project that runs through Isle of Wight County, but some residents fear that could damage their property.
And whether Isle of Wight County residents overall would tap into the Virginia Beach water project depends on whether the county is willing to help pay for it.
Both of these points of discussion came up at the county Planning Commission's most recent meeting, but no decisions will be made before Dec. 12.
The potential property problem involves county residents living on the shores of Ennis Pond, a tributary to the Suffolk lake where water is stored for cities throughout Hampton Roads and where the Gaston pipeline's 60 million gallons of water a day would wind up.
In 1987, Virginia Beach was granted county consent to build a booster pump station and to run nine miles of the 76-mile pipeline through southern Isle of Wight near Windsor. The pump station would have boosted the water through 2 miles of pipeline along its route to Suffolk and into Lake Prince.
But project engineers say they have found a better, cheaper way to get the water to Lake Prince, Beach Utilities Director Clarence Warnstaff told county Planning Commission members at their meeting last week. The engineers now want to eliminate the booster station, as well as the 2 miles of pipe, and terminate the Lake Gaston pipeline in Isle of Wight County, where the water would be dumped into the Ennis Pond channel, which runs directly into Lake Prince.
The city of Norfolk already dumps water, collected from the Blackwater and Nottoway rivers, into Ennis Pond. If both Norfolk and Virginia Beach dump their water on the same day, some residents fear they would be flooded out of their homes - or, at least, that all that water would cause other problems.
The pipeline project involves 32 county residents, all but two of whom have sold easements to Virginia Beach, Warnstaff said.
The two holdouts are Michael Blythe and Harry Young, who own homes in the Hazelwood subdivision off U.S. 460 near Windsor. Rather than selling easements to the Beach, they have hired a lawyer to fight the city.
They fear their properties eventually could become wetlands because of the volume of water and the nature of the soil surrounding Ennis Pond, their attorney, Suffolk lawyer Randy Raines, told the Planning Commission.
``The area floods very easily,'' he said, ``and drains very slowly.''
The Lake Gaston pipeline route runs through Isle of Wight and crosses under roadways in at least nine places, primarily U.S. 258. Warnstaff told the commission the pipeline would have little effect on county residents and that construction could start early next year.
``There will be no disruption of traffic, no temporary road closings without Virginia Beach first obtaining prior approval from the Virginia Department of Transportation,'' Warnstaff said.
In fact, it isn't yet a sure thing the pipeline ever will operate because North Carolina officials continue to fight it, in the courts and with legislation. Lake Gaston straddles the Virginia-North Carolina line.
Warnstaff contends the pipeline actually would benefit the county. Several Hampton Roads localities intend to share in the water if the project is completed, and Isle of Wight could draw up to 1 million gallons a day.
But it would be expensive water, county Utilities Director Dave Murphy said.
If the county decides to tab into the Lake Gaston water - and that decision hasn't yet been made - Isle of Wight would have to share in the cost of legal fees as well as pipeline engineering, design and construction costs, Murphy said.
And that, he added, would amount to more than $2 million.
In addition, Murphy said, Isle of Wight would have to build a water treatment plant and would have to share the annual cost, as yet undetermined, of operating and maintaining the pipeline.
``It's not free,'' Murphy said. ``We have to buy into the project to use that water.''
In any case, Murphy said, he doesn't see Isle of Wight's full participation for several years. But Virginia Beach is desperate for new water and is focusing on getting the pipeline built even as it defends the project against North Carolina.
Thus, Warnstaff last week asked the planning commissioners to approve an amendment to the local consent granted in 1987 and a conditional-use permit to begin the physical construction of the pipeline through the county.
The commissioners, deciding they need to know more about what the impact of such huge volumes of water might be, unanimously tabled the matter.
``This request creates a whole new monster for the citizens of Isle of Wight,'' planning commissioner Edna King said. ``This becomes almost a nightmare for us. We regard the protection of the citizens of this county of utmost importance.''
The Virginia Beach request was then rescheduled for the agenda of the commission's meeting at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 12. by CNB