DATE: Friday, October 24, 1997              TAG: 9710240641

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   39 lines

CITY COUNCIL DECISION CAN'T SAVE TREES FROM UTILITY'S CHAIN SAWS

Even a City Council decision to preserve a vacant lot on High Street at Cedar Lane did not spare the ax for all the tall pine trees that soften the landscape there.

A week after a rezoning controversy, Virginia Power moved onto the land with a chain saw, clearing space for new utility poles.

Within hours, there was a buzz across Churchland.

``I thought they were just trimming them at first,'' Larry Fagan said. ``But they are cutting them down.''

Residents, who turned out by the hundreds Oct. 14 to oppose destruction of the open space, this week are keeping telephone lines busy with talk about the destruction of some of the trees.

``The power company has to move their poles to make way for the widening of Cedar Lane,'' Assistant City Engineer Rock Bell said. ``They are taking down the trees in a 20-foot easement.''

Bell said he did not know how many trees would be removed. He also said he was not sure if the street project would require destruction of more trees. The state has an additional 20-foot right-of-way to widen Cedar Lane.

Cedar Lane will be widened, and a turn lane will be added. Bell said the three lanes will fit into the existing right-of-way.

``I don't think that will require them to take down any trees,'' Bell said.

The 1.7-acre, triangular-shaped site of the trees was given to the city in 1981 by Joseph Garner Jr.

Raeford Eure applied to have the property rezoned from residential so that he could build an office building on the lot.

The city determined that Eure's proposal was illegal because he did not own the land. Then the council decided to give the corner a preservation designation to keep it from being used for anything else.

More than 200 residents of nearby Churchland neighborhoods packed council chambers to fight rezoning that would destroy the open space. KEYWORDS: PORTSMOUTH CITY COUNCIL

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