THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 3, 1997 TAG: 9702020001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 36 lines
The Pilot and electronic media continue to dwell on the 20 or so hotels scrambling to comply with installation of automatic sprinklers. Couldn't you also speak of those of us in compliance?
Many of the hotel owners in Virginia Beach have, in fact, completed installation of the automatic sprinkler systems. Through prudent management and minimal planning, we brought our hotel into compliance two years ago, and at roughly half the per-unit cost being charged today in this last-minute rush to comply.
Of the 49 or so Atlantic Avenue hotels four stories and above affected by this law, no fewer than 23 are in compliance, and at least 18 have permits or applications pending to do the work.
The tourists will leave on Labor Day, and the hotels not in compliance will simply close that evening, allowing them until the 1998 tourist season to complete the systems and reopen. A closed hotel does not have to comply. The Sept. 1 extension could be a 14-month extension for many.
Along with The Pilot's editors, we also reluctantly support Senator Stolle's solution. The hotels are certainly not going to be closed for the season. The economic consequences are simply too great. Each Oceanfront hotel room generates at least $2,500 in state and local taxes and fees each year. The citizens of Virginia Beach cannot afford to lose this income, even for one season. The industry cannot afford the consequences of the bad publicity, and the owners cannot afford to carry the mortgage on their properties while closed for the tourist season.
ROBERT L. YODER
President
CBM Co. T/A Schooner Inn
Virginia Beach, Jan. 28, 1997