DATE: Wednesday, September 10, 1997         TAG: 9709100531

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   85 lines

DEVELOPMENT MAY GET BOOST FROM NEW SEWER-LINE PLAN

One month ago, the controversial Edinburgh development appeared doomed.

The project off Battlefield Boulevard South had been approved for rezoning in 1989 but had been in limbo awaiting permission to build a necessary sewer line along the highway to serve the development.

The City Council, realizing that such a line would increase pressure to develop rural areas well beyond Edinburgh's boundaries, seemed willing to let the project wither rather than face the demands of another growth boom.

Official reluctance to approve the project increased after the Hampton Roads Sanitation District decided in June to link permission for the Edinburgh line to construction of yet another sewer main through a different stretch of rural area.

The second line would have opened thousands of additional acres for development in southern Chesapeake - and could have resulted in more than 6,000 new homes in an area that the city preferred remain quiet countryside.

But the development may have gotten something of a reprieve last month when sanitation district planners quietly decided to move the second proposed sewer line out of the rural area and into the Great Bridge suburbs, where it might not be in conflict with the Comprehensive Plan.

Tonight, the Planning Commission will be asked to decide whether this revised sewer line route fits into the city's development blueprints. If they approve it, the result could be new life to the Edinburgh development.

Because the developer is offering to build the sewer line and donate it to the sanitation district, the council would not have to OK the project if approved by the district. District officials have said they will approve the Edinburgh line if the planning commission gives the go ahead to the Great Bridge line.

That means, unless the City Council specifically asks to weigh in on the decision within 10 days of the Planning Commission's vote, Edinburgh could get permission to build its line, and the project could move forward.

The area around Edinburgh is a part of Chesapeake not scheduled to develop for another 20 years.

And every option available to bring the sewer line to the development's 220 homes would violate some current city policy, according to City Planner Brent R. Nielson.

Ross Schlobohm, the sanitation district's chief of planning, said the agency's original route for its line was arbitrary, so it was moved.

``You've got to be able to give and take in order to make it fit with the zoning and where development is right now,'' he said.

``It's a paper line, and we kind of place it in the vicinity somewhere where we'd like to see it built. . . That's basically what happened here. We just look at a map and find a good place to put this.

``We don't need it today, but it's something that will be needed. By the time it's actually built, it could be adjusted again.''

The line, known as the Southeastern Interceptor, would provide additional capacity to the Great Bridge service area. Limited capacity there caused sewage to flow into the streets in 1991. The Southeastern Interceptor is not expected to be built for another five to 10 years.

Nielson said the new sewer line location would reduce its impact on the rural areas, but does nothing to alleviate the pressures the separate line to Edinburgh will create.

The City Council delayed a decision on the Edinburgh sewer line in March, saying it wanted to further study its impact on city services.

Even if the Planning Commission approves the sanitation district's plan for the Southeastern Interceptor line, home construction in Edinburgh is years away.

Builders of the 277.8-acre development across the street from Southeastern Elementary School agreed not to build homes until an adjacent interchange on the Chesapeake Expressway is completed - expected to be sometime in 2000.

A proposed 9-hole golf course and commercial development, however, will be allowed to break ground before the road is built.

The developers are willing to pay for and build the $1.65 million sewer main.

But city officials are worried about setting a precedent. A report on the project's impact said it could result in ``crowding of the right of ways with multiple pipelines serving individual projects and `superfluous' pump stations to be operated by the city.''

The cost to the city of allowing Edinburgh to open is expected to be $31 million in operational expenses.

The developers have suggested limiting the number of hook-ups on the line they are proposing to build on a first-come, first-served basis until capacity in the sewer system is critical.

Much of the land in the affected areas of southern Chesapeake is not zoned for residential developments, city officials note, and any zoning changes would require review of the planning commission and approval by the City Council. KEYWORDS: CHESAPEAKE CITY COUNCIL

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