THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 5, 1996 TAG: 9609050356
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERRI WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 48 lines
The head of the city's redevelopment and housing authority wants to draft a comprehensive conservation and redevelopment plan for Suffolk, she told the City Council Wednesday.
Authority Executive Director Clarissa E. McAdoo, in a joint meeting of the authority and City Council, said she hopes to have the plan ready in the next three or four months.
The plan - drafted with community input - will be the blueprint for handling many of the city's housing concerns, she said.
``I want their total input, so they'll buy into it,'' McAdoo said. ``Because it's their plan, not ours.''
McAdoo, former manager of development operations for the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, began her job in Suffolk Aug. 1. She has taken the reins of an agency that has been beset in recent years with accusations of mismanagement and problems of deteriorated housing.
Several council members on Wednesday pointed to Norfolk's efforts to provide housing as well as redevelop its downtown as a model that Suffolk should emulate.
McAdoo said Norfolk officials were successful because they used a ``holistic'' approach - instead of working on communities in a piecemeal fashion.
``Within those conservation areas, there is a plan and a history of that community so you can deal with the issues of that community,'' McAdoo explained. ``Housing is only one piece. I'd like to see a planning document attached to everything we do.''
McAdoo's proposal would entail drafting a comprehensive conservation and redevelopment plan - with the aid of neighborhood citizens and city staff - that could be fine-tuned for each neighborhood.
Housing Commissioner Cola R. Cobb said he hopes the city and authority will follow through with any plan drafted. For years, Cobb said, the council has been worried about upsetting its constituents.
For example, it's customary for a housing agency to draft a second deed of trust with property owners as collateral for housing rehabilitation grants and loans. But residents often balk at the idea for fear of losing their property, Cobb said.
``It's going to take guts,'' Cobb said. ``Because if you have this little old lady saying, `No, I don't want it,' that stops the plan.''
Councilman S. Chris Jones said: ``We need a plan. We need to be able to take the heat.''
KEYWORDS: SUFFOLK REDEVELOPMENT AND HOUSING AUTHORITY by CNB