DATE: Thursday, October 9, 1997             TAG: 9710090540

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   66 lines

CHANGES TO OCEANA DELAY 2 ADDITIONS FOR BEACH SCHOOLS

Thanks to proposed changes at Oceana Naval Air Station, additions meant to relieve overcrowding at two schools will be delayed at least until spring or summer.

Work on Plaza Elementary, near Lynnhaven Mall, and Point O'View Elementary, in Kempsville, was scheduled to begin last month. The projects are now on hold until the city learns the final accident potential zones for Oceana.

Under the draft environmental study released last month, Plaza lies in one of the areas where an off-base crash is considered most likely. The school may have to be moved. Point O'View is a victim of circumstance. The school's renovations were designed and bid with Plaza's to save money. Now, rebidding Point O'View alone would raise the cost of the work.

``It's a very frustrating position. We're not in a position, quite frankly, to get (information),'' said superintendent Timothy R. Jenney. ``We're caught in the middle with a process that's not scheduled to be complete until the spring of 1998.''

The addition at Plaza would have brought 10 classrooms; a new media center; a heating, ventilation and air conditioning renovation; and more to the 36-year-old building. The school has operated with 10 portables and is almost 250 students over capacity.

Point O'View was in line to get 14 classrooms, a new media center and other renovations. The 28-year-old school is 375 students over capacity.

``We're extremely disappointed'' by the delay in the project, said Glenda Batte, Point O'View PTA president.

The school has 17 portable classrooms that have reduced class size, Batte said, but students are still exposed to the elements when they move between the portables and the main building.

``It looks like portable city out back,'' said Batte.

``The school is doing an excellent job given the circumstances,'' the PTA president added. ``But I'd like to see the Navy and city work together to solve the situation as quickly as possible.''

The twinned projects were expected to cost $4.2 million, about $300,000 less than budgeted. Had the work begun on time, construction likely would have been completed for the 1998-99 school year. Starting work next summer will probably delay completion about a year, said Tony Arnold, the school division's director of Facilities Planning and Construction.

``We are discussing with the general contractor how long he'd be willing to maintain his bid price in hopes that he will extend his bid price until such a time as the Navy makes a decision on the APZ contours,'' Arnold said.

Should the projects have to be rebid next spring, inflation likely would add up to $300,000 to the combined cost, depending on market conditions, Arnold said.

Separating the projects could cost more, although Arnold said it is difficult to pinpoint the price tag.

When the draft study was released Sept. 10, city officials were stunned to learn that one of the schools they had pledged to move because it was in an accident potential zone, Linkhorn Park Elementary, was no longer in the zone. Work on the new $12 million project on First Colonial Road is about half complete and ahead of schedule.

Two other schools, Plaza and Brookwood elementary schools, are now narrowly in the crash zone.

City officials have since learned that changes had been made to the crash zone maps years ago, but the city never was notified of the changes by the Navy.

The city has hired a private consultant to double-check the new accident potential zones.

School officials have gotten conflicting information over the likelihood of Plaza and Brookwood being moved out of the zones.

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