THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 3, 1996 TAG: 9603020004
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: PAT LACKEY
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
``In Era of Shrinking Budgets, Community Groups Blossom.'' So proclaimed a Page One headline in last Sunday's New York Times.
``Across New York City and the country,'' the story said, ``neighborhood groups are growing in number and in strength, taking on responsibilities that were once the province of government agencies and getting more attention from government officials.''
The truth is, effective neighborhood groups are old hat in Hampton Roads. During Virginia Beach's superheated growth in the '80s, it seemed that trees would be bulldozed away on a Monday, white pipes thrust into the ground Tuesday, houses built Wednesday, sold Thursday and occupied Friday, and a civic league formed Saturday. The following Tuesday it would pester the City Council to improve a local park.
Civic leagues have been big players in Hampton Roads' development for decades. Fortunately, their zeal and influence continue and in fact are growing.
The latest of countless civic-league success stories is set in Portsmouth, a city of neighborhoods.
First, a little history. At the turn of the century, Park View, on Scotts Creek's south side, was the new neighborhood in which to buy a house in Portsmouth. Development expanded to West Park View a few years later and continued, across an inlet, to Shea Terrace in the '30s and '40s.
Some 30 years ago, white flight led to absentee ownership in the neighborhoods, but many residents stayed put.
Today, the three neighborhoods are incredibly diverse, with residents young and old, rich and poor, white and black, lowdown and upstanding. Even the wide creek varies: mud flat at low tide; scenic waterway at high tide. Houses range in value from $20,000 to more than $150,000. Some are immaculate and stately, with an elegance that only age can bestow; others are dilapidated victims of absentee landlords' neglect.
Each neighborhood has an active civic league and numerous residents dedicated to improving their part of the world. The civic-league memberships include professionals with all manner of expertise, people used to solving problems and getting their way.
Less than a dozen years ago, the north bank of Scotts Creek was zoned industrial. There was talk of putting a barge-cleaning facility on that side, opposite the neighborhoods, but a group of residents from the three neighborhoods formed an organization called the Scotts Creek Waterfront Committee that pressured the city into blocking industrial development there.
The committee has since disbanded, but civic leagues for each of the neighborhoods have carried the ball.
For more than 10 years they've fought to have their creek dredged and a marina built on the north bank. Their dreams have been incorporated into the city's long-range plan, Vision 2005, but the residents have hardly waited patiently for the city to make the dreams come true.
Starting with a simple phone call, one resident recruited a big-time developer for the marina. He's Myrl Hairfield, who earlier helped develop the fabulously successful Kingsmill in Williamsburg. Also involved in the marina is Bill McKnew, who has a strong background in financing developments.
Last Tuesday, the city's Industrial Development Authority discussed the proposed marina in closed session with the City Council. Afterward, Mayor Gloria O. Webb said, ``I think it's safe to say we definitely want the marina out there if we can work out the details with the developers.''
The city already has set aside $900,000 to dredge Scotts Creek, but the federal dredging permit requires an approved marina project. If the neighborhoods can clear the way for the marina, they get a deeper Scotts Creek and many of their properties become more valuable.
Current marina plans call for 103 boat slips with a storage area. Eventually the marina would have slips for 300 boats; space for boat and motor sales, dry-docking and storage; and a first-class restaurant. The marina would be sheltered from hurricanes, and strategically located off the Intracoastal Waterway near the zero-mile marker. (The waterway's 1,095-mile marker is in Miami.)
All Portsmouth would benefit from the tax and tourist dollars the marina could produce. And why? Because three stubborn neighborhoods worked years on the project, and because the city government is listening to them.
These are neighborhoods that city planners might call transitional, meaning that they could go to pot. But they won't. The civic leagues won't let them. MEMO: Mr. Lackey is an editorial writer for The Virginian-Pilot.
by CNB