THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 1, 1996 TAG: 9603010003
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
For all its talk of tourism, Virginia Beach appears to be neglecting one of its important attractions: Rudee Inlet.
This narrow passage connecting Lake Rudee and the Atlantic Ocean was created by the city nearly 30 years ago. Nature never intended it to exist, and the elements conspire constantly to shoal it up. Rudee Inlet's channel is supposed to be 10 feet deep, but silting makes it shallow - a mere 3.5 feet at times.
In early February a $1.5 million yacht ran aground there, was swamped by waves and sustained considerable damage. Chances are the owner of this vessel will come after the city for reparations. If history is a predictor, it is Virginia Beach taxpayers who will pay.
This latest grounding came just two months after a 46-foot sailboat on which a Virginia Beach police officer and his family lived hit the shoals of Rudee Inlet at almost the same spot. This owner has filed a claim against the city seeking compensation for damages which are estimated at as much as $30,000.
This was no surprise to the city. In December a federal-court judge ordered Virginia Beach to pay for the damages suffered by yet another vessel grounded in Rudee Inlet in the summer of 1992.
As surely as sand will sift into Rudee Inlet, tax dollars will continue to flow to mariners who run aground trying to make their way between Lake Rudee and the ocean until the city finds a reasonable way to keep the channel open.
It won't be long before boat owners from up and down the East Coast avoid Rudee Inlet altogether to protect their valuable craft.
Twice in the past 25 years federal courts have held the city negligent for allowing the inlet to shoal up. Both times, federal judges told Virginia Beach it is obligated to keep the inlet navigable, since the city built it.
City officials argue that they do dredge when weather permits and when their dredge is operational. Each spring a major dredge of the inlet is done. In addition, the city recently posted a warning buoy at the mouth of the inlet and has asked the Coast Guard to warn boats when the inlet is hazardous.
This isn't good enough. A number of businesses - including boat slips, restaurants with boat slips and condominiums with boat slips - have sprouted up on the bulkheads along Lake Rudee. These were all built with the expectation that the inlet would remain navigable.
Like a street built by the city, Rudee Inlet is a Virginia Beach thoroughfare. The city must maintain it or the city - and its taxpayers - will pay the price. by CNB