DATE: Wednesday, July 16, 1997              TAG: 9707160467

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   61 lines

CHESAPEAKE STRENGTHENS GROWTH-CONTROL POLICY

The City Council on Tuesday beefed up its main growth control tool, closing a loophole that had exempted planned unit developments and adding the future impact of adjacent undeveloped property when planners decide whether an application would overwhelm schools, roads and other city services.

The changes to the city's so-called level-of-service policy were approved, 8-1. Councilman Peter P. Duda Jr. cast the only dissenting vote.

The council also gave planners some flexibility on sewer requirements for nonresidential rezonings that will help economic development. It also exempted developments of five or fewer lots from the reviews.

The council stopped short, however, of additional restrictions sought by the Planning Commission.

One would have included the effects of all phases of upcoming developments - not just those approved - in judging an application's impact on city facilities. The provision was opposed by the Tidewater Builders Association.

The commission also wanted to hold an application accountable for its impact on major roads and intersections up to a mile from the development.

Councilman Alan P. Krasnoff attempted to add the stiffer restrictions, but the motion was defeated.

TBA officials said that if the Planning Commission's more stringent requests had been enacted, it would have resulted in a moratorium on applicants who want to build in already developed areas of the city.

Some citizens spoke in favor of the changes, including Denise Waters of the Clearfield-Triangle Civic League.

She said her members wished the provisions had been in effect when Warrington Hall, the city's first planned-unit development since Riverwalk, was approved earlier this year.

That project would have had difficulty passing the level-of-service review, according to Planning Department Director Brent R. Nielson.

The restrictions, Waters said, send a positive message: ``Chesapeake cares about quality of life'' because ``we don't plan more growth than the city can handle.''

Chesapeake has been lauded nationwide for its level-of-service growth control policy.

Essentially, it calls for planners to reject applications if they would exceed certain standards.

For instance, an application would fail under the policy if it pushed nearby schools above 120 percent capacity.

Residential rezoning applications have dropped dramatically from a pre-1995 range of 25 to 35 a year to 7 applications since the policy took effect in March 1995.

Growth has also slowed, from a rate of 4 percent in 1993 to 1.7 percent in 1996.

The number of portable classrooms at Chesapeake public schools have decreased from a high of 342 in 1995 to a projected number of 180 for the 1997-98 school year.

However, the council has approved four of the seven applications that did not pass the level-of-service test, a factor that was mentioned often Tuesday night.

``We are not bound to be just a rubber stamp'' by this ordinance, said Councilman John M. de Triquet, who supported the stiffer provisions and urged his council colleagues to enact them, saying they were ``not something we should be afraid of.''

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