DATE: Thursday, August 28, 1997             TAG: 9708280536

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TERRI WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   78 lines

2 CITIES SIGN A WATERSHED DEAL AGREEMENT, SAY OFFICIALS, SIGNALS A NEW ERA OF COOPERATION

As cameras flashed and the councils from both cities watched, the city managers from Portsmouth and Suffolk signed a water agreement Wednesday that provides Suffolk an additional 2 million gallons a day.

But the agreement is about more than just water. It's a marriage based on economic opportunity.

Just like plants, businesses and residential development can't grow without water. And each city has something the other desperately needs.

Landlocked Portsmouth has limited opportunity for development. Complicating matters, much of its existing land is tax-exempt. However, Portsmouth's major asset is its water system, located in Suffolk.

Suffolk's gem is its 430 square miles, much of which is being developed in its northern end near Portsmouth's border. But what the city doesn't have is the water to keep up with the increasing demands of new development.

``If this works and it fosters good trust, they will be open to share in more services,'' Portsmouth Mayor James W. Holley III said. ``It's in our best interest to be friendly.''

Providing Suffolk more water sets the stage for future development opportunities, Holley said.

``They (Suffolk) have the possibility for malls, office parks and more residential development.''

Officials from the cities are discussing plans to improve Suffolk Golf Course, owned by Portsmouth and leased to Suffolk. Portsmouth might extend the lease by 10 to 20 years.

In addition, there are plans to build a golf course on one of Portsmouth's watershed properties in Suffolk. Plans are sketchy, but Portsmouth could possibly lease the new course to other cities in the region, and Suffolk would sublease to an operator.

The cities also are discussing a proposal to build a regional recreational facility near the Portsmouth, Suffolk and Chesapeake borders, said Steve Herbert, Suffolk's assistant city manager for development.

Herbert would not elaborate on the specifics, but said Suffolk and Portsmouth officials will bring Chesapeake into their discussions. There would be the possibility to share in revenues, and the cities would kick in necessary infrastructure and services, he said.

Suffolk Mayor Thomas G. Underwood said, ``We're excited that it will bring future growth. It also brings us to a newer level of regional cooperation, as well as ensures that our short-term water demands are met.''

The groundwork for Wednesday's agreement was laid in 1982, when the cities signed a water deal in which Portsmouth provided Suffolk 500,000 gallons per day. The new agreement increases that amount, as well extends the original contract to the year 2040.

The water will be supplied incrementally, with the first distribution of 1.82 million gallons per day supplied on Dec. 31. It does not raise the water rates of residents in either city.

S. Chris Jones, a member of Suffolk City Council, said that, over the past several years, the two councils have discussed various development plans for the land at the Suffolk and Portsmouth border where Tidewater Community College is located. But Suffolk didn't have the water or the resources to expand the city's existing water supply.

To negotiate the deal, Portsmouth City Manager Ronald W. Massie, Suffolk City Manager Myles E. Standish and staff members from the cities have met since last December.

But history made establishing cooperation difficult.

More than 30 years ago, threats by Portsmouth to annex parts of what was Nansemond county - now Suffolk - soured relations between the two cities. And in the late 1980s, after a severe drought in Hampton Roads, a plan to enter into a joint water authority between the cities failed. Resentment also lingered among Suffolk locals because Portsmouth not only owns a golf course in Suffolk, but their water system and reservoirs in their city.

Holley remembers those times. He was Portsmouth's mayor in the late 1980s, when friction existed between both cities. ``Some of that (conflict) was deep-seated and they didn't want to talk to us,'' he said.

He credits the city managers and staff members for establishing trust. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/The Virginian-Pilot

City managers Myles E. Standish of Suffolk, left, and Ronald W.

Massie of Portsmouth sign the agreement Wednesday.

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