THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 22, 1997 TAG: 9701220429
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 52 lines
A year after meeting to make sure they were on the same page, the City Council and Planning Commission are trying to figure out if they're still in the same book.
The council has slowed development over the last few years in the city's rural mid-section. But the commission, which has spent months redrafting the city's comprehensive plan, is considering allowing more growth there.
Although council members didn't reach a consensus Tuesday, some said they thought the commission should be told it was going too far.
``We need to reassert what the council's priorities are or admit they're open to change,'' said council member John A. Baum.
Last March, the council and commission spent a full day in a retreat to ensure the two groups agreed on a general direction for the comprehensive plan. But now, some of the council members are worried that the commission may be heading down a path they don't like.
At issue is what to do with the so-called transition areas, where the city will not pay to extend city services. The transition areas allow growth at the developer's expense.
Land south of that is even further restricted to protect its rural character and the city's agricultural industry, which cannot thrive alongside suburban development.
A developer's plans to put a high-quality retirement and golf community just south of one of the transition areas is testing that protection, though. At a meeting earlier this month, several planning commissioners said the lines marking the transition areas should be redrawn to allow the proposed Coastal Green development.
Council members Baum and Barbara M. Henley said the city has gotten into trouble before by changing city-wide plans to benefit one developer.
Henley said she doesn't like the idea of opening up new land for development before the Lake Gaston pipeline is completed and while the city faces tight finances. New water, when it comes, should be devoted to business development that brings jobs, Henley said, not to new houses that bring new demands for city services.
Other council members, including those who support the Coastal Green proposal, said they would rather let the commission come to its own conclusions.
``I have a lot of problem with us telling our boards and commissions what to do,'' council member Reba S. McClanan said.
The council, which is expected to receive a draft of the comprehensive plan in late spring or early summer, can make changes then.
The commission will discuss the transition areas again Thursday, beginning with a tour from 9 a.m. to noon and then a work session in the City Manager's Conference Room from noon until 6 p.m.