THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 9, 1996 TAG: 9606070184
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 45 lines
Concerning the Youth Entertainment Studios project at the Naval Radio Transmitting Facility at Driver:
The YES concept does not bother me. Young people need any opportunities they can receive to better themselves.
My problem is with what happens after the two, three-week sessions are over. It is my understanding that Regent University will be using the 37 acres for its own purposes the rest of the year.
It is asking almost 700 parking places. What will happen to the Sleepy Hole Road, Kings Highway and Nansemond Parkway area? How will a wildlife preserve be successful, and can Little League children be safe from the traffic?
Old Dominion University has been allocated 150 acres for its environmental projects. The difference is that Regent will have dormitories, with people living year-round on campus. If ODU backed out, I am sure Regent would claim that acreage also and have close to 200 acres for its use.
YES is nonprofit. Let's maintain what the people of Suffolk wanted: the wildlife preserve, Little League, city park and ODU environmental studies. The consultant now includes YES, but it won't just be YES. We've yet to hear definite plans of Regent for the property. But with a request for 700 parking spaces and year-round dorms, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure this out.
The consultant was hired by Suffolk to bring together low-impact projects. This is not low impact.
Roads will have to be widened at Suffolk's expense, not Regent University's. Once there is rezoning for high density, that opens the door for more acreage in the immediate area to be rezoned to higher density.
YES says it has a $200,000 budget, which will go to $5 million a year for the next three years. Wow! What an increase! It's hard to believe most comes from donations and private companies and individuals. I suspect Regent will have a big hand in the budget.
It should take its money and find a more suitable area for a campus, one more convenient to its students. A winding, narrow, two-lane road, a rural area with homes, livestock and very scare water access is better left to Suffolk residents - the ones who live there, pay taxes here and vote here.
Barbara W. Hunt
River Breeze Road
Suffolk by CNB