THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, May 21, 1996 TAG: 9605210315
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERRI WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
The Planning Commission will meet today to vote on a proposal for the Navy's surplus Radio Transmitting Facility that apparently will include providing property for the Youth Entertainment Studios.
A public hearing will precede the vote. The commission meeting will begin at 2 p.m. and be held in the Suffolk City Council Chambers.
For about the past six months, an Alexandria-based consultant, EDAW Inc., has held several community meetings to get citizen feedback about community re-use plans for the 600-acre facility near Driver. The proposal that has emerged includes:
150 acres for Old Dominion University's environmental center;
208 acres for a wildlife refuge;
141 acres for a city park;
63 acres for Little League use;
35 acres to house the Youth Entertainment Studios.
Residents have been in favor of most proposals, but many have raised concerns about the studio.
YES - a Virginia Beach-based organization that is a partner of privately funded Regent University - is a program that helps inner-city and disadvantaged youth through media education.
Citizens at a recent community meeting in Driver said they were concerned about how the students would be selected and whether the students would have enough adult supervision. Others said they were upset that a privately funded organization would get public land and possible sewage connections.
However, YES president Harry Young said 30 percent of the high school students would come from Hampton Roads and the others would come from around the nation. He told residents that the students would be supervised, and possibly live in dorms at Hampton and Norfolk State universities until dorms are built on the Driver site. He assured residents that the students would be well-behaved and not ``knife-wielding.''
Planning Commissioner Vice Chairman E. Dana Dickens said he'd heard ``from second-hand information'' that YES was included in the re-use plan. Last December, the commission approved the re-use plan, but YES wasn't included.
``I want to reserve comment until after the meeting,'' he said. ``I haven't seen the new proposal.''
The YES proposal has divided City Council.
In January, City Council delayed voting on the matter after Councilman Charles F. Brown raised allegations that residents were vetoing YES because many of the program's participants were inner-city, minority students.
Councilman Richard R. Harris supported the program. Meanwhile, Councilwoman Marian ``Bea'' Rogers asserted that residents had legitimate concerns that weren't based on race. After considerable debate, the council voted to pay a consultant about $15,000 to host community meetings.
The planning commissioners will make their recommendation to the City Council.
The final decision on who gets the property rests with Navy Secretary John Dalton. ILLUSTRATION: DETAILS
The Planning Commission will meet at 2 p.m. today in the Suffolk
City Council Chambers.
by CNB