THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, November 27, 1995 TAG: 9511270073
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
The City Council is trying a second time to find a publicly palatable site for the city's Social Services and Health departments.
Neighbors of the first proposed site, on South Independence Road, fought the project, saying it would violate their privacy, damage their quality of life and create a traffic nightmare. After several public meetings, the council gave up and began to pursue its second choice, on Rosemont Road just south of Route 44.
Now the council wants to make sure there is less public concern about that site. The council is holding a public meeting Tuesday to discuss the proposed location.
``We don't want to go too far in our negotiations and then find out there's such major opposition that we have to pull out like we did in Larkspur,'' said David M. Grochmal, director of the city's General Services Department, which is responsible for city buildings.
Larry Dennis, president of the Princess Anne Plaza Civic League, which represents residents living across Rosemont Road from the site, said some of his neighbors are worried about the extra traffic.
``I wouldn't say that I personally had a concern,'' Dennis said. ``But some people who live in the area are kind of concerned about it.
``I just won't use Rosemont Road. Not unless I have to.''
Most of the opposition in his neighborhood dissipated, Dennis said, when the city decided not to include a homeless shelter and detoxification center at the site. A new location has not been chosen for those functions, although the council said last month that it is committed to building the city's first public shelter for the homeless.
``The site is as good as we can find,'' Grochmal said of the Rosemont Road site. ``It is not immediately adjacent to a subdivision.''
The city staff had recommended the Rosemont site over the South Independence Boulevard one early this year because of concerns about public opposition from the adjacent Larkspur neighborhood. Council members initially preferred South Independence because they wanted to put the land back on the tax rolls by selling it to a developer who would build the building.
The Social Services and Health departments are now housed in a converted Miller's Department Store building on Virginia Beach Boulevard that is too small and, according to city studies, not worth renovating.
The planned five-story building would be built, owned and operated by The Runnymede Corp. in an office park at the corner of Rosemont Road and Sentara Way. The city would lease the building for 20 years at a cost of slightly less than $20 million.
The city should not buy the building, Grochmal told the council last month, because it can qualify for more federal and state money by renting rather than owning. The site, to be served by TRT bus Route 29, was the cheapest of the options considered.
Michael J. Barrett, chief executive officer of Runnymede, said last month he expects the building to be ready by spring or summer of 1997.
Grochmal said Runnymede has agreed to install a traffic light at Rosemont Road and Sentara Way to deal with extra traffic.
The public can comment on the project at Tuesday's council meeting, which begins at 6 p.m. in City Council chambers. ILLUSTRATION: ABOUT THE SITE
The planned five-story building would be built, owned and
operated by The Runnymede Corp. in an office park at the corner of
Rosemont Road and Sentara Way. The city would lease the building for
20 years at a cost of slightly less than $20 million.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH CITY COUNCIL by CNB