THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 12, 1996 TAG: 9609120340
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 64 lines
Lake James residents won the first round Wednesday in their bout to keep a Pep Boys auto center from locating near their doorsteps.
They persuaded the Planning Commission to recommend against giving the nationwide company a conditional use permit to open an outlet in the 5400 block of Indian River Road, about 70 yards from the shores of the freshwater lake.
The issue, with the commission's 9-1 negative recommendation, will now go before the City Council for a final determination.
Eight Lake James residents, including Planning Commission Vice Chairwoman Margaret L. Eure, spoke against the proposed opening of a 22,000-square-foot Pep Boys auto repair outlet on a 2.6-acre, commercially zoned tractbordering the community.
Their main argument was that other Pep Boys outlets in Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Newport News violated local zoning ordinances and polluted local waterways by allowing oily waste products to wash into storm drains and canals.
Lawrence Stampe, president of the 274-member Lake James Homes Association, produced a petition bearing the signatures of 261 homeowners who oppose Pep Boys' use permit request.
Within three-tenths of a mile of the entrance to the Lake James subdivision site are at least five other auto repair or auto supply sales outlets or service stations, Stampe told planners.
``We're just getting saturated,'' he said. ``We're trying to tell you enough is enough.''
Donna Summerour, who headed up a Lake James fact-finding squad, handed planning commissioners a series of photos showing Pep Boys employees tinkering with autos outside company bays in Chesapeake and Norfolk, in apparent violation of corporate policy.
Also in Summerour's stack were photos of oily substances running into storm drains, trash and debris littering Pep Boys outlets in other cities and deteriorated landscaping.
``This is just what we don't want in Virginia Beach,'' she said.
Her husband, Jeff Summerour, said tests conducted on fluids collected by him and his wife from a Norfolk Pep Boys parking lot revealed the presence of petroleum products.
After the photos were shown, Pep Boys representative R.J. Nutter, a Virginia Beach lawyer, said mistakes occur in any business operation.
Jeff Summerour said Lake James residents had met with Pep Boys representatives, including Nutter, four times since April in an attempt to smooth over obstacles to the opening of an auto repair facility on Indian River Road.
``At first we thought it was a done deal,'' Jeff Summerour said. ``Finally, we realized we could do something about it.''
In presenting Pep Boys' side of the issue, Nutter said he and company officials had tried repeatedly to reach some compromise with Lake James residents, but had come up empty-handed.
The proposed Pep Boys site is abutted on three sides by commercially zoned property, including a shopping center across Indian River Road.
Nutter said Lake James residents had turned a deaf ear to Pep Boys' promises to use special precautions to see that no pollutants reached the clean, spring-fed lake. They included using three mechanical water-oil separators to treat any water runoff from the Pep Boys parking lot. ILLUSTRATION: VP Map
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH PLANNING COMMISSION PEP BOYS by CNB