DATE: Thursday, June 26, 1997               TAG: 9706260416

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MEREDITH COHN, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   51 lines

PARTNERSHIP AGREES TO SEEK STATE FUNDS

Hampton Roads' 10 cities and five counties plan to collectively seek state money to help them tackle regional initiatives and make them more attractive to businesses and tourists.

The cities and counties have given their official nods to the Hampton Roads Partnership - a regional public-private body made up of business, government and citizens groups - to pursue part of a $6 million fund set up by the General Assembly last year.

If the group is successful, it could mean better jobs, roads, water and cultural attractions for the region, officials said.

The partnership will submit an application by Tuesday to the state's Regional Competitiveness Program and expects to learn the outcome in September.

The money would be used for the partnership's Plan 2007, named for the 400th anniversary of the settlement of Jamestown.

The plan took four years for leaders from the Peninsula and South Hampton Roads to create. Barry E. DuVal, president of the Hampton Roads Partnership, said he expects it will persuade state officials to award money to the region.

In the next decade, the plan calls for Hampton Roads to lure high-tech jobs, become the premier port and key defense establishment on the Eastern seaboard, and grow into a globally competitive tourist destination. The region should be known for its schools, transportation systems, quality of life, support for businesses and sound government, according to the plan.

``The result of this will be a region that's more competitive,'' DuVal said.

The state's goal is also to improve competitiveness, said Shea Hollifield, associate director for community development with the Department of Housing and Community Development.

Hollifield said it is impossible to say how many regional applicants there will be from around the state. Dollars will be doled out by population - giving Hampton Roads, with nearly 25 percent of the state's population, the potential for a hefty sum of money.

The regions' accomplishments will be reviewed annually and more money could be awarded each year for five years. Then the regions would have to apply to the program again.

``They all may have lofty goals, but they'll need to set in concrete incremental steps,'' she said. ``We'll be looking to see if they met them.'' ILLUSTRATION: REGIONAL PARTNERS

MAP

KEN WRIGHT

The Virginian-Pilot KEYWORDS: HAMPTON ROADS PARTNERSHIP ECONOMY REGIONALISM

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