THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 20, 1996 TAG: 9610180228
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: COVER STORY
SOURCE: BY TERRI WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 118 lines
CITY COUNCIL WILL solicit public input Nov. 6 on its legislative wish list for the 1997 General Assembly session.
A final draft is to be ready for the next meeting.
As Suffolk grows, how to pay for demands such as new schools and roads become increasingly pressing.
There's good reason for the concern:
Residential development has boomed over the past several years. In 1995, the Bureau of Inspections issued 883 residential building permits - 77 percent more than in 1993, when 500 were granted. The city's population of 55,000 is expected to double to 110,000 by the year 2018, according to a report by the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission.
Growth demands also mean that a locality must confront its ability to pay for infrastructure. Recently, city officials have proposed hiking water and sewerage rates next year.
And for the past decade, city officials have questioned whether they should allow citizens to elect their mayor. In Hampton Roads, Norfolk is the only other city that doesn't have direct election of the mayor.
The following are some of the proposals council is currently considering:
Impact fees: A charge tacked onto the price of every new home to offset the impact of the houses on schools, roads and utilities.
Support for Old Dominion University to obtain funding from the General Assembly for the Virginia Modeling and Simulation Center to be located next to the U.S. Atlantic Command's Joint Training Analysis and Simulation Center.
ODU officials hope to get $1 million a year for the next five to seven years from the General Assembly.
Direct election of mayor: Allowing the entire city to vote for mayor instead of just council members.
Voluntary cash proffers: Asking developers to voluntarily provide financial contributions to offset development costs.
Retaining the rights to set water and sewer connection fees that offset development costs.
Increased state funding for school construction costs, as well as fully funding costs for Standards of Quality and other educational mandates.
One possible method of gaining revenue is a sales tax on lottery tickets - earmarked for school construction projects.
State funding is crucial with growth needs, said Michael K. Brinkley, Suffolk Schools director of finance. Brinkley said the current state literary fund provides low-interest financing on only a portion of a new school due to a maximum borrowing of $5 million per site.
A referendum allowing citizens to vote on future school construction costs; a move officials say could possibly raise taxes.
Growth Tools
Cash proffers, impact fees and utility hookup fees are tools city officials say they need to manage growth.
Currently, cities are allowed to use voluntary cash proffers. Impact fees are mostly used in Northern Virginia, not Hampton
Roads. State code allows counties with a population of 500,000 or more - or any county or city nearby - to impose impact fees on new development to pay all or part of the costs of road improvements.
City officials say proffers help pay for new school construction and other major capital projects. But most developers object to impact fees and have a powerful lobby at the General Assembly.
In fact, in 1995, a bill that would have allowed Chesapeake officials to charge an additional $3,000 on every new home died in the House Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns. Last year, three other bills requesting impact fees also died in committee.
The General Assembly is already considering two pieces of legislation that affect development: House Bills 1513 and 1517. One, HB 1517, would place restrictions on voluntary cash proffers, requiring cities to establish that the development would actually cause a demand on city facilities.
The other, HB 1513, would prohibit cities from charging developers more than the actual costs of hooking up to water and sewer lines. However, HB 1513 died on Tuesday during a meeting of the subcommittee of the House Committee on Cities, Counties and Towns. That same committee will also consider HB 1517 on Oct. 29.
Economic Development
The answer to balancing Suffolk's growth demands is attracting more commercial and industrial growth, said Bob Chisom, president of the Downtown Suffolk Association.
``I'm a staunch believer in minimum residential growth until the infrastructure is there and you have enough commercial industrial growth,'' said Chisom.
Yet the prospect of getting the Virginia Modeling and Simulation Center excites officials. It will be run by Old Dominion University. In addition, new Economic Development director Thomas A. O'Grady began work last week.
He served as director of development for Forward Hampton Roads for the past seven years and has experience in attracting industry for the entire region. In addition, officials are also completing a new publicly owned Suffolk Industrial Park off U.S. Route 13.
But even with new ventures on the way, officials at ODU say they hope the city works in concert with them to attract more business so the center will be a success.
``I think we'll have some strong supporters (General Assembly),'' said ODU President James V. Koch. ``Critically, however, the question is: Can we show that there is enough economic and commercial development to attract to the center?''
Chisom said that will happen.
The trend, Chisom said, is when a large commercial development comes to an area it often attracts similar types of compatible industry. He cited NASA in Hampton and the Canon plant in Newport News as examples. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos including color cover by JOHN H. SHEALLY
III
ON THE COVER
Pipes for a force main sewer line between Suffolk and Windsor are
placed along US 460 by workers from Central Builders Inc.\
City officials are considering tacking an impact fee onto the price
of every new home in Suffolk, such as this Wilroy Road house being
framed by workers from Beach Framing.
Jim Cogsdale checks a US 460 sewer main project. Sewerage rates may
go up to cover such projects. by CNB