THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 31, 1996 TAG: 9603310097
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By KATRICE FRANKLIN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
To prepare for future development, Suffolk and Isle of Wight officials are exploring jointly extending water lines along Routes 17 and 460 - two of their most heavily traveled corridors.
The localities are also talking about forming a regional water authority that would initially include only Suffolk and Isle of Wight.
Both jurisdictions have assigned their utility directors to examine how much such projects would cost and where the water would come from.
And both agree that there are advantages in jointly funding a water extension project along the major thoroughfares.
``We have a lot of similarities as far as the expansion of city-treated water throughout parts of our city and they throughout the county,'' said Suffolk Mayor Chris Jones. ``Working together just makes more sense.''
The Hampton Roads Sanitation District recently extended sewer lines along Route 17 and will extend lines along Route 460 in July.
The routes serve both Suffolk and Isle of Wight, and both jurisdictions have targeted land along them as likely growth areas.
``We can always do a heck of a lot regionally, and sometimes they are things we don't want to do by ourselves,'' Suffolk City Manager Myles E. Standish said. ``The communities of Suffolk and Isle of Wight can work together to a common goal. It's time to explore the feasibility and probability of mutually developing a water service. We share a border and a change in development patterns.''
Isle of Wight County Administrator W. Douglas Caskey said extending water ``is the last piece of the puzzle'' in Isle of Wight's preparation for development.
``Obviously, anytime there is an opportunity to share the responsibility in these areas, then we ought to be talking to our neighboring . . . jurisdiction,'' Caskey said. ``Regional water is a very important issue. And those areas within our county represent two of our three development service districts where we anticipate over the next decade growth and development activities to really be prominent.''
Suffolk asked Isle of Wight officials to consider the partnership in a letter sent in February. The letter asked the county to ``explore the feasibility of the City of Suffolk providing water service along our mutual growth corridors . . .''
The letter also stated that, ``it may even be appropriate to expand our discussions to include consideration of a regional water authority that would, initially, include Suffolk and Isle of Wight.''
Isle of Wight County had already asked the sanitation district to extend sewer lines along Routes 17 and 460 after pockets of growth began popping up along the two corridors.
The two localities have a history [of forming partnerships. They worked together to build the Western Tidewater Regional Jail, which opened in 1992.] by CNB