THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 15, 1996 TAG: 9609130233
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 60 lines
Residents along a well-traveled 3/4-mile stretch of Mill Dam Road convinced the Planning Commission Wednesday that two prospective businesses didn't belong in an established residential area where home values range from $90,000 to $400,000.
One proposal was submitted by Michael T. and Anna Marie Bertolino, who sought to locate a plumbing and electrical shop on land adjacent to a dog grooming business and a veterinarian's office near the heavily commercial Great Neck Road intersection.
The second was submitted by Robert and Janet Kottke, who sought a use permit to operate a school for 200 toddlers at the corner of Mill Dam Road and Shoveller Drive. The Kottkes operate three other residential schools in Virginia Beach and a fourth in Chesapeake.
The Planning Commission, on votes of 9-2 and 6-5, recommended that both requests be rejected when they come before the City Council in the next 30 to 60 days.
More than 60 residents of developments such as Silver Hill, Alanton, Baycliff and Mill Dam Pointe, areas that can be accessed from Mill Dam Road, were on hand to protest both would-be projects on the grounds that:
The commercial ventures would encroach on a well-established residential area populated by residents from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds and that further commercial development would surely follow.
The commercial establishments would erode property values in nearby subdivisions.
The commercial establishments would add to an already heavy vehicle count on Mill Dam Road, where two other schools - Cape Henry Collegiate School and First Colonial High School - already contribute to the daily traffic crush.
Mill Dam Civic League president John Haynes said he and his family had lived in the area for generations. In the early 1980s, the city spent ``millions of dollars in (federal) block grants'' to upgrade a cluster of homes occupied by African-Americans, he said. That money would be wasted if commercial ventures were allowed to locate nearby, he added.
In the past two decades, Haynes said, the Mill Dam area had become settled by a mixture of white and black, elderly and young, high- and low-income residents who live together in relative harmony and security. Neither the plumbing and electrical shop nor the preschool facility are welcome in the neighborhood, he said, because the applicants represent ``still another business encroaching on a residential neighborhood.''
Mimi Kopassis, a real estate developer, said she bought property on nearby Shoveller Drive six months ago with the intention of building homes in the $200,000 to $300,000 range. The proximity of two commercial establishments would hurt those plans, she said.
Pat Grillo, a retired Navy man who lives in Victorian Crescent, produced a petition from 104 Mill Dam and Great Neck Road residents opposing the businesses. ``Mill Dam Road is a narrow road,'' he told commissioners. ``It's frequently used as a shortcut between Great Neck Road and First Colonial Road. Traffic is increasing.''
Grillo pointed out that Mill Dam area residents had managed to persuade city officials to turn down a dozen previous commercial development plans since 1981. He asked planners to reject the two latest plans as well. by CNB