THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 9, 1996 TAG: 9610090388
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 101 lines
Don't expect someone to knock on your door or leave fliers on your car about the upcoming ballot question on the creation of a redevelopment and housing authority in Virginia Beach.
There won't be any TV ads, high-powered consultants or contribution seekers.
Most voters will have to make an effort to learn even the basics about what a redevelopment authority can do.
But that doesn't mean an authority, under the direction of the City Council, wouldn't have an impact on citizens' homes and lives.
With new powers to condemn land for redevelopment, the council could replace troubled neighborhoods with new development and make more aggressive plans for slowing decline in other communities.
Many city and business leaders say the redevelopment powers are essential to keeping Virginia Beach healthy as its housing ages.
Others point to the spotted history of redevelopment authorities across the region and the country, and argue that the power to condemn land will enable the city to violate individuals' property rights, particularly those of African Americans.
Though the issue stirs up a lot of emotion, it has not stirred up much campaigning.
Three business groups, Virginia Beach Visions Inc., the Hotel & Motel Association and the Virginia Beach division of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce, endorsed the creation of an authority. But none will be leading the charge for it.
The leadership of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has spoken out against the proposal, but has not planned any events.
The Council of Civic Organizations, an umbrella group of many of the city's civic leagues, is holding a debate and question-and-answer session tonight to help inform citizens about the pros and cons of redevelopment authorities, but it will not take a position on the authority.
The City Council, which decided on the last possible day to put the issue on the Nov. 5 ballot, is divided. All six men on the council strongly support the creation of a redevelopment authority. Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf said she is leaning toward it. The other four women are strongly against it.
The city will pay for two ``informational'' newspaper ads about the ballot question and hand out those ads as fact sheets on Election Day. The city's public information department has put together a flier on the issue and added the same information to its home page on the World Wide Web (http://www.virginia-beach.va.us).
But because of state restrictions that say public money can't be spent to push one side or the other, the city can't do anything else, and most of the council members said they will not be involved in the campaign.
Council member Louisa M. Strayhorn will dedicate her regular monthly town hall meeting on Oct. 16 to a discussion on the ballot question.
Mayor Oberndorf's October episode of ``City Dialogue,'' aired monthly on the local public access television station, VBTV Channel 48, will also be devoted to the ballot question. It begins airing Oct. 16. Unlike most of her programs, this one will not be taped in front of a studio audience and will not include questions from the public.
The city turned down the Council of Civic Organizations' request to air tonight's forum on VBTV, saying that it was not appropriate to air individual viewpoints at city expense. The city also turned down a request by the NAACP to produce a program on redevelopment authorities.
MEMO: The Council of Civic Organizations meeting will be held tonight in
the City Council chambers, on the second floor of City Hall, beginning
at 7:30 p.m. ILLUSTRATION: [SIDE BAR]
REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY BASICS
What is a redevelopment and housing authority?
Every city in the state is entitled to set up an authority if its
voters give their permission. The authority has the power to condemn
land to help combat blight and to resell that land to private
developers. It also usually leads other rehabilitation efforts and
has the power to build and run public housing.
How would an authority be used in Virginia Beach?
The present City Council has said it has no interest in creating
public housing here. The majority of council members favor the
creation of a redevelopment authority so the city can finish the
transformation of the Burton Station neighborhood into an industrial
park. The historically black neighborhood, which sits between
Norfolk International Airport and Northampton Boulevard, is a prime
location for luring jobs to Virginia Beach, they said. The city
already has spent $2 million in the neighborhood and has said the
redevelopment project probably would have to be scrapped if an
authority is not created. Many property owners in the neighborhood
have resisted the city's efforts to buy their land, saying the
prices offered may match the current value of the land but do not
compensate the owners for value lost because of the airport's noise
and crash zone restrictions or for the value the city will receive
when it resells the land to private industry.
How would the authority be organized?
Plans call for the authority to be staffed with existing city
employees, under the direction of the city manager. The authority
would be led by a board of five to nine members appointed by the
City Council. The council members could ask the General Assembly to
allow them to appoint themselves to run the authority.
by CNB