THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 6, 1996 TAG: 9606060352
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERRI WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 53 lines
City Council voted Wednesday to recommend funding for several neighborhood utility projects as well as to pay a consultant to start up the city's Comprehensive Plan.
From its $40.3 million capital improvements budget, the city has $4.2 million earmarked for sewer projects. The council voted unanimously to begin surveying the following sewer projects next month:
Nansemond Parkway South construction
Milteer Acres design and construction
Lake Forest/Cedar Lakes design and construction
Palmyra/Northgate design
Holland Heights design and construction
The city has $600,000 available from its capital improvements plan for the following water-system projects:
East Washington Street main construction
Brook Avenue/Battery Avenue water main construction
Rosemont water system improvements design and construction
Milteer Acres water system improvements design and construction
City Utilities Director Al Moor said they chose the projects based on the following: impact to the upcoming Comprehensive Plan, proximity to existing facilities, cost benefits, and the number of people each will serve.
Although the council voted to recommend the projects, the citizens living in the communities ultimately decide whether they'll get water and sewer. Moor said the second step is for 80 percent of all residents to petition for utility extension. If the citizens don't agree to connections, the city staff and City Council will begin considering other communities, said Moor.
Several residents at Wednesday's meeting urged the city to consider their communities.
About 30 members from Southside Baptist Church said their congregation has been on a septic tank system for more than 40 years. The church's pastor Rev. Stewart McCarter said they hope to attract new members and expand, but they need a new system.
Meanwhile, Paul C. Gillis, president of the Wilroy Civic League, said he was pleased that the Nansemond Parkway project was on the list, but he urged the council to take stronger measures - instead of petitioning residents - to force citizens to hook up to lines.
``If the sewage line comes in, they must hook up,'' Gillis said. ``There are ordinances that can force them to do that. My neighborhood is fastly becoming a renter's neighborhood. A renter doesn't have to hook up.''
In other city business, the council voted to pay LDR International $175,000 to conduct the city's Comprehensive Plan. The Columbia, Md., company took a tour of Suffolk on Wednesday to study the city's 436 square-mile terrain. In the next 18 months, the company, along with city officials, will help organize community meetings on how Suffolk should develop. by CNB