THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 23, 1996 TAG: 9607230242
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: 39 lines
The city is ready to negotiate with a group of citizens who want to create a haven for wildlife and environmental studies just 15 minutes from downtown on 142 acres the state used as a borrow pit site for construction of Interstate 664.
The Hoffler Creek Wildlife Foundation, a non-profit group of citizens, made the sole response when the city sent out a request for proposals for the area of woodland, wetlands and a briny 35-acre lake near the Suffolk city line.
City Manager Ronald Massie told City Council members at a work session Monday that he would have a plan ready for action at their Aug. 13 meeting.
His promise followed a report by Kenneth A. Dierks of Virginia Beach, director of environmental services with Langley and McDonald, an engineering and planning firm. Dierks is chairman of a committee of volunteers who have worked as free consultants to the city for almost two years.
The committee recommended that the city give the foundation a short lease with conditions to insure that the refuge is developed within a certain length of time.
The conditions don't bother Randi Strutton, who heads the foundation. She said the organization has ``many offers of support'' that will materialize once the city and the foundation have an agreement.
``At this time, we have no authority to do anything,'' she said. ``We already have the money and the offers of labor to repair a fence around the property but we can't do it until we have a deal.''
The Virginia Department of Transportation first attempted to sell the land for residential development in 1994.
When a proposal fell through, it then offered the parcel to Portsmouth for $1, providing that should the city sell the land for commercial development, proceeds would go to the state.
Environmentalists in the neighborhoods on the James River near the land persuaded the city to consider saving the area as a wildlife refuge.
Although the city has vowed it will spend no money on the project, it has held off on any development, pending an agreement with the foundation. by CNB