THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 21, 1995 TAG: 9512210359
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
For the first time in recent memory, a City Council vote on borrow pits left all sides happy.
On Wednesday, the council added and revised stipulations about using the 57-acre and 107-acre adjacent pits in Western Chesapeake.
The revisions guarantee that a 250-foot buffer around the site would be maintained permanently by the city. Old stipulations said the buffer would be ``extinguished'' once the city took ownership.
Residents had asked that the buffer between their homes and the pits be reduced from 1,000 feet to 250 feet to help prevent future development, including industrial.
Also, the city created a stipulation that allowed for an assortment of future public uses for the site - from a city reservoir to a city park - once excavation ends.
Even Gary Szymanski, president of the Sunray Farmers Association and an opponent of the pits, said he was leaving ``somewhat satisfied.''
The proposed borrow pits were the first in recent Chesapeake memory to receive more support than opposition in a city where such issues are often hotly contested. Thanks in part to the revisions, all sides agreed the project would not be a burden on the nearby communities of Sunray and Colony Manor.
The Southern Pines development company wants to dig the pits on 294 acres of pristine land off of South Military Highway near Colony Manor Drive.
Opponents worried that the two man-made lakes would drain nearby wetlands and deplete local water tables. Those arguments subsided after the developers promised to monitor wells and replace those affected by the pits, and after the City Council pledged to strictly monitor the site.
``I can probably assume that. . . the city would prudently monitor its progress,'' said Council member John M. de Triquet. ``I think that accountability is going to be there.''
During public hearings before the Planning Commission and the City Council, a majority of residents around the site supported the pits. Most said the pits would help keep dense development from intruding on their rural neighborhoods.
Robert G. Podruchny, who headed the drive for the borrow pits, said residents hope the pits will become recreational lakes in the future.
Residents will have to put up with at least seven years of truck traffic, noise, dust and construction. But in the end, Podruchny said the pits will be more blessing than curse.
The site will be given to the city once excavation and land restoration is complete, which probably will be in seven to 10 years, the developers said.
City Hall has implied that the pits could become reservoirs in the future. However, there's no commitment. No mention was made Wednesday about just what Chesapeake intended to do with the land once it achieved ownership. by CNB