DATE: Wednesday, July 16, 1997              TAG: 9707160471

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NIA NGINA MEEKS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   57 lines

A.R.E.'S PROPOSED EXPANSION RUNS INTO OPPOSITION

The North Virginia Beach Civic League dedicated most of its monthly meeting Tuesday night to beef about its host: the Association for Research and Enlightenment Inc.

A.R.E., an international nonsectarian organization that advances the teachings of psychic Edgar Cayce, wants to add another building to its complex at 67th Street and Atlantic Avenue.

Many neighbors, who regularly hold their meetings at A.R.E headquarters, said nix. And they intend to keep saying nix as the plan advances to the next stage: a presentation before City Hall.

The addition, a planned health and education center, is needed because A.R.E. is already ``bursting at the seams,'' group Executive Director Mark Thurston said. ``Some of the massage classes are already being held in the lobby.''

The idea for the expansion has been brewing for some time. In 1983, the group received the go-ahead to add a new building - one smaller than the 23,000-square foot structure now proposed. The group opted to invest in digitizing Cayce's readings instead. Now, A.R.E. trustees have turned their sights back to improving their complex.

David L. May Jr. of the TAF Group, a Beach architecture engineering firm, detailed the plans for the site at Tuesday's meeting. Existing operations, such as administrative staff and the Reilly School for Massotherapy, would move to the proposed site. Additional research and classrooms also would be included.

When A.R.E. recently raised the issue again with the civic league, the league expressed concerns about parking along the 68th Street corridor. The architects drafted a newer, more expensive plan that now includes a parking port beneath the proposed building.

The building would sit between the center's administration building and the meditation garden. Now, a cluster of live oak resides on the land.

A.R.E. members said the trees would have to come down anyway because of a fungus infection.

Many residents still think the City Council should say ``no'' to this project.

``I have no problem with the A.R.E.,'' said Ruth Schepper, who lives on 68th Street. ``They have done good in the world. But that doesn't mean that good is supposed to be in the middle of 68th Street. A larger building doesn't make A.R.E. any more godly.''

This is not the first time A.R.E. and its neighbors wound up on opposite sides of a fence. Back in the '70s when the group proposed building its library, the civic league balked. Now not only does the league hold its meetings in that building, the site also serves as a polling place for the North End.

Burton Jaffe worries that a new building could open up the area to even more development, destroying the quiet appeal of the North End.

``On the other hand,'' he added, ``they have been very good neighbors and continue to be.'' ILLUSTRATION: Map

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