DATE: Wednesday, February 26, 1997          TAG: 9702260450

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   52 lines

BEACH FAMILY GETS THE GO-AHEAD TO OPEN BUBBA HOUSE FOR THE ILL

Joe Nicklin lost his son to cancer a year and a half ago.

Tuesday night he won city approval to open a nonprofit facility to help other families whose loved ones face serious illnesses.

The City Council approved Nicklin's plan to open Bubba House at the corner of West Plantation and Great Neck roads despite objections by some neighbors in the Point O' Woods subdivision that it would threaten their property values and create traffic problems.

The Nicklins and their volunteers aim to help out-of-towners who are undergoing chemotherapy and families of critically ill patients at nearby Virginia Beach General Hospital by providing them with temporary lodging.

``We're just happy that we've got the go-ahead and now we can get started,'' a happy but subdued Nicklin said Tuesday night.

Bubba Nicklin died in the summer of 1995 at the age of 31 after battling Ewing's sarcoma, a form of bone disease, for three years. He was the proprietor of Bubba's Beach Club on Laskin Road, which his family still operates.

Although there was much support for the project from cancer survivors, their families and medical professionals, the Point O'Woods Civic League had waged a long and sometimes bitter fight against the project.

``This is more a monument to Bubba than a service to people with cancer,'' civic league member Jack Warren said in his remarks to the council.

City Councilman W.W. ``Bill'' Harrison Jr. asked Nicklin to agree to several conditions Tuesday night before the council voted 10-1 to approve the permit needed to operate the house. Councilwoman Reba S. McClanan cast the only vote against the plan.

Nicklin agreed to reduce from eight to six the number of people who would be housed in the facility at any one time.

He also agreed to try to limit cancer patients to one at a time so that they could have the privacy of the master bedroom and adjoining bath and to limit visitors to family members and volunteers in order to reduce parking problems.

Civic league president Sally Frohlich, while disappointed in the council vote, said that the restrictions would be helpful.

``We can live with that,'' she said following the meeting.

A few minutes later Frohlich and Joe Nicklin's daughter, B.J., exchanged a few words outside council chambers.

``I think this will all work out,'' Frohlich said. B.J. Nicklin, surrounded by well-wishers, agreed. ILLUSTRATION: Joe Nicklin won his fight to open a house, in honor of

his son, for chemotherapy patients and the families of seriously ill

patients. KEYWORDS: BUBBA HOUSE VIRGINIA BEACH CITY COUNCIL

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