DATE: Friday, October 31, 1997              TAG: 9710310649

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PAUL CLANCY 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   89 lines

SANDBRIDGE BULKHEAD DEAL OK'D HOMEOWNERS, FIRM REMOVE FINAL BARRIERS TO BEACH PLAN.

At last it's over. After years of disagreements, holdouts, lawsuits and threats, a last-minute agreement ensures that the collapsed bulkheads at Sandbridge will be repaired.

The rusty steel bulkheads, long symbols of the menacing power of nature, will be repaired by the same company that was hired to tear them out, the homeowners and city officials said Thursday.

``We've finally hammered out the final terms of an agreement that seems to be acceptable to everybody,'' Charles Snyder, negotiator for the oceanfront property owners, said Thursday.

The agreement clears the way for the city, at a cost of $8.1 million, to replace more than a million cubic yards of sand that have washed away and left the fragile oceanfront community vulnerable.

It has been eight years since the homeowners determined that the bulkheads might be faulty, six years since a Halloween northeaster pushed the tall steel sheets over and two yearssince the city demanded that they be repaired or removed.

Most of the 22 affected homeowners repaired their bulkheads, but seven continued their battle with Waterfront Marine Construction, the company that built the structures. One of the homeowners privately arranged to have his bulkhead repaired. Until late Wednesday, the remaining six had failed to reach an agreement.

In the end it was not sweet persuasion but the blunt threat of more storms and the arrival of heavy-duty equipment to yank out the bulkheads, the last bastion against storms, that brought about the agreement.

Even Thursday morning, workers from Waterfront Marine, both the builder of the bulkheads and winner of the contract to remove them, moved sand behind one of the homes on Sandfiddler Lane to get ready for a crane to proceed with the work.

Two doors down, the bulkhead on a vacant lot had already been extracted from the beachfront, leaving the property exposed.

Last week, a powerful storm shattered one house at the south end of the beach and, at the north end where the failed bulkheads lean toward the ocean, ripped away a wooden bulkhead.

Monday, the arrival of work crews with front-end loaders and a towering crane brought peace.

``I hate to admit it, but the city's action convinced us we had to do something,'' Snyder said.

Virginia Beach coastal engineer Phillip Roehrs would not say that the city deliberately sent its big guns to force an agreement. ``I don't doubt it had some effect on their decision to seek a solution. But we didn't do it just to force them to the bargaining table. We did it because it was time to.''

One of the conditions set by the Army Corps of Engineers, which will do the beach renourishment job under contract with the city, was that the bulkheads had to be removed or repaired before the project could begin. The timetable calls for the project to begin in the spring.

A spokesman for Waterfront Marine Construction was not available Thursday, but the homeowners and the city say the parties have agreed the company would repair the bulkheads at a reasonable cost, depending on how much new material is needed.

Waterfront Marine had built the structures for about $35,000 to $45,000 each. After the bulkheads failed, city officials said, several owners withheld final payments and the battle ensued. The dispute has bounced around the courts - including the Virginia Supreme Court - and the bargaining table since 1991.

A year ago, the sides seemed close to an agreement, but getting all 22 homeowners, many of them absentee owners, to agree was difficult.

Many residents were surprised when the same contractor won the bid to remove the failed structures. The bid was not only far less than expected, but the company offered to let the property owners keep the expensive steel sheets that would be needed for the repairs.

If another company had done it, Snyder said, the steel would have been sold to a scrap yard.

``Thank the good Lord and Randy Sutton (the company's president) that he got the job,'' Snyder said.

``We've been on opposite sides of the fence with Randy Sutton and Waterfront Marine, but they've always been courteous and helpful,'' he said.

Both sides signed off on the agreement, but lawyers on both sides were reviewing it. Final approval is likely by next week, Snyder said.

It will take several weeks before additional parts can be ordered and shipped, but the contractor is expected to shift immediately from bulkhead removal to bulkhead repair.

Said one oceanfront owner, who wished not to be identified, ``I'm tickled to death it's finally happening.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

STEVE EARLEY/The Virginian-Pilot

Waterfront Marine Construction workers... KEYWORDS: SANDBRIDGE BULKHEAD

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