DATE: Saturday, August 2, 1997              TAG: 9708010020

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B8   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial 

                                            LENGTH:   68 lines

FOUR HR CITIES TO MEDIATE DISPUTE THE CIVILIZED WAY MEDIATION HAS MANY ADVANTAGES OVER LAWSUITS.

A private mediator will try to help resolve a water dispute that led to Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Chesapeake suing Suffolk last March. The three plaintiffs proposed early last month that a mediator be appointed, and Suffolk recently agreed. This is progress.

The lawsuit challenges a condition Suffolk placed on zoning permits that Norfolk needs to expand a pumping station to treat Lake Gaston water before it is transported to Virginia Beach.

If the parties can resolve their dispute, with the mediator's help, the agreement will be legally binding and the lawsuit will be dropped.

That is the civilized way for cities to settle differences. Lawsuits between cities, by contrast, are wars, albeit without arms. Better to avoid them and the grudges that follow. Hampton Roads already has enough grudges between cities, some more than 30 years old.

Mediation's advantages over lawsuits are many. Mediation is faster and cheaper, for starters. It leaves a less bitter aftertaste, since the outcome is agreed to by all parties, rather than imposed by a court. It allows the parties to put all their concerns on the table, while a trial restricts what may be presented. The negotiations are confidential. In some heated matters, confidentiality can be an advantage. Any final agreement, of course, would be published.

Another advantage to mediation: It is conducted by a trained mediator rather than a judge. The mediator presumably is skilled at having both sides understand their opponent's positions and at helping all the parties find middle ground. In a civil case, a judge determines a winner and a loser, according to the law. But what's needed in this and many other cases is an agreement that both sides can live with.

Trials may result in endless appeals. Successful mediation results in cooperation among all parties.

In this case, Suffolk said it would grant permits for the pumping station only if Norfolk would accept new restrictions on the use and sale of surplus water from four deep wells Norfolk owns in Suffolk.

Suffolk said it needs that condition to ensure that Norfolk doesn't overuse groundwater needed by Suffolk residents. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit argue that the condition is unnecessary and overly restrictive.

Mediation should begin soon. It's clearly in the best interest of residents throughout Hampton Roads for the cities to work out their differences.

And speaking of mediation and water, it would be to everyone's advantage if a mediator could help Virgina Beach, North Carolina and all other concerned parties reach a settlement regarding the Lake Gaston pipeline.

Virginia Beach is winning all the battles, and water should begin flowing through the 76-mile Lake Gaston pipeline this December.

But the war will continue. Virginia Power's 50-year license to operate the hydroelectric dam that created Lake Gaston expires in 2001, and pipeline opponents are expected to argue during federal relicensing hearings that a new license should not be awarded if the pipeline to Virginia Beach is included. The dispute surely will spill over into courts.

Having challenged the pipeline for 14 years, North Carolina is unlikely to surrender now, not with the dam on its land. Yet protracted antagonism benefits neither side. A mediated settlement would benefit both.

Virginia Beach and North Carolina tried mediation in 1995. They reached a settlement that would have ended the endless string of court challenges. The deal collapsed, however, amid political wrangling among Norfolk and Virginia Beach, the General Assembly and Gov. George F. Allen. The mediation should have involved all concerned parties.

Mediation should be tried again. Courts should be the venue of last resort for deciding public policy.

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