DATE: Tuesday, November 4, 1997             TAG: 9711040303

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   68 lines

BUSINESS OWNERS GATHER, BEMOAN TOLL OF EXPANSION OF ODU ACROSS HAMPTON

They might demand a referendum or ask the City Council to delay action pending more study, but at the very least, they are determined to let their collective voice be heard.

Owners of businesses soon to be displaced by Old Dominion University's leap across Hampton Boulevard gathered Monday night to practice speaking in unison in a tone they hope will make city officials sit up and take notice.

About 40 people agreed to lobby the City Council to reject the plan in favor of a second look at Lamberts Point, a residential neighborhood south of the campus. They believe their livelihoods will be adversely affected if the university gets the go-ahead to develop the area east of Hampton Boulevard for a village and convocation center.

At issue is the 75-acre tract bounded by Hampton Boulevard, 38th to 49th streets and Killam Avenue, site of hundreds of businesses and small industries. While property owners would be paid fair market value, those who lease the spaces to conduct business would be compensated with a moving stipend that they say wouldn't begin to make up for what they'd lose.

The council is scheduled to take action on the redevelopment plan Dec. 30.

Meanwhile, the city, the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority - the entity that would condemn property if necessary - and the university will conduct two public informational meetings on Nov. 12 and 19. The times and places have not been announced.

But news of the upcoming sessions did little to allay the fears of the business folks who came together Monday. Businessman Charles Thompson's comments were typical:

``They're just going to yank the property out from under us, resell it for a profit. The hearing (Nov. 25) is just a formality. It's a done deal.''

A schedule titled ``Review and Approvals'' for the proposed project has the NRHA adopting the plan Dec. 8. Planning Commission action is scheduled for Dec. 11.

The small-business men and women were joined in their stance by Hunter Hogan Jr., a local business leader. He called the proposal to jump across Hampton Boulevard ``pretty dumb,'' and said expanding the campus south would cost a fraction of an eastward spread.

``It's just common sense,'' said Hogan. ``I'm suspicious of what's behind it. The law is unfair to tenants. You take a beating. You're up against a tough situation. You must convince the city it's wrong on fiscal grounds.''

``You all are the voice,'' said Jay Sherrill, president of The Old Dominion Merchants and Business Association and temporary chairman of the grass-roots group that formed Monday. He urged those present to voice their fears at the public hearing. ``This is a grass-roots campaign not before seen in this city. They work for you. It could end with the City Council. We want to change the course of history in Norfolk. We can't afford any more debt. Small businesses are going under. We're the cash cow for the city of Norfolk.''

Sherrill, who also serves as vice chairman of the Virginia Small Business Financing Authority, said economic impact studies should be made public before any decision on the proposal is made.

``We're the stockholders, the ones who take the risk,'' he said. Sherrill owns Old Dominion Inn on the west side of the boulevard and stands to gain from the university expansion. But he has rallied on the side of his business peers who think they will lose not only their investments but also their lucrative sites.

Sherrill lives in Lamberts Point and said the neighborhood is more blighted than the area the city proposes to bulldoze, but, he said, encouraging the university to expand south is a political hot potato nobody wants to touch.

``Next year is an election year, and every seat on the City Council will be affected,'' said Sherrill. ``The city has a history of not letting the people talk, but we are the economic engine of Virginia. Let's have a renaissance in Norfolk, not a stifling of abilities and talents.''

Hogan said he believed the issue could be brought to a referendum.

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