THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 19, 1996 TAG: 9604190565
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA MCNATT
STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Despite an offer by Virginia Beach promising local property owners one-and-a-half times the appraised value of their land for the right to run the Lake Gaston Pipeline through the county and to dump millions of gallons of water into a small pond near Windsor, the Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 Thursday to delay a decision for another month.
Virginia Beach acquired a conditional use permit from the county in 1987 to run 11 miles of buried pipeline through Isle of Wight and to construct a pumping station that would route lake water to a Norfolk-owned reservoir in Suffolk.
But Virginia Beach changed its plans, to eliminate two miles of pipeline and the pumping station. City officials, hoping to save an estimated $32 million, want to dump the water directly into Ennis Pond, a tributary of the Suffolk lakes. Late last year, the city requested a change in the original permit.
County officials tabled that request until residents along the pipeline route and those living near the shores of Ennis Pond could be compensated for necessary easements.
The city has offered to reduce drainage problems along the Ennis Pond Channel by spending $500,000 to widen culverts along the stream. And on Thursday, officials offered property owners even more than their property was appraised for.
But for some supervisors, the offer wasn't enough. One property owner along the underground pipeline route and 13 owners along the Ennis Pond route are holding out.
``Property owners need the opportunity and time to work this out with city of Virginia Beach and city of Norfolk representatives,'' said Robert C. Claud, supervisor representing the Windsor district, where the pipeline would end.
Malcolm Cofer, representing the Smithfield District, disagreed. Cofer wanted to give the property owners two more weeks to settle their differences with the city and continue the matter until an upcoming meeting on April 29.
``I want to work with the citizens,'' Cofer said. ``But at the same time, we need to bring this to a conclusion.''
O.A. Spady, who represents the Newport District, agreed.
``Virginia Beach has done everything the county has asked and probably then some,'' he said.
But Board Chairman Phillip Bradshaw sided with Claud. Bradshaw said there was some misunderstading involving the original permit, but ``I will not be held accountable for mistakes made in the past. I have not met any citizen in the county who supports the Gaston pipeline. We should not rush into this.''
Henry Bradby, who represents the Hardy District of the county and was chairman of the board during the original negotiations, cast the deciding vote.
Virginia Beach would draw up to 48 million gallons of water a day from Lake Gaston, which straddles the Virginia-North Carolina border. Chesapeake would take up to 10 million gallons per day, and Franklin and Isle of Wight could each draw up to 1 million gallons per day.
Virginia Beach began construction on the pipeline last month in Southampton County. Construction will be slowed if Isle of Wight does not sign off on the pipeline soon, Beach officials have said.
William Macali, deputy city attorney for Virginia Beach, said after the meeting that appraisals for the remaining easements necessary to begin the work range from a few hundred dollars an acre up to $8,000 an acre.
Macali said he was uncertain exactly how much the land investment would cost the city.
KEYWORDS: LAKE GASTON by CNB