
DATE: Friday, November 14, 1997             TAG: 9711140630

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:  124 lines

NAUTICUS IS BEST SITE, OFFICIALS SAY

There aren't many parking spaces on the crowded downtown waterfront large enough to wedge in a 887-foot-long, 108-foot-wide ship.

And the chance of finding a more suitable site than Nauticus to berth the battleship Wisconsin appears unlikely, officials familiar with the downtown's waterfront and the Elizabeth River shipping channel said this week.

From the Hague to Harbor Park, there are few, if any, places where the long, tall Wisconsin wouldn't block someone's view, interfere with river traffic or prove too costly to berth.

``I think they've made the best choice there (at Nauticus), I do,'' said Coast Guard Capt. Richard Bennis, the service's captain of the port, responsible for safety and navigation oversight in the river.

Said Ron G. Vann, chief of the waterways and ports branch for the Army Corps of Engineers at Fort Norfolk: ``It would be hard to find another place if you want to keep it in the downtown area. It's not going to be easy in any site - period.''

The Navy's surprise offer to the city to moor the World War II-era battlewagon at Nauticus has lifted hopes of reversing the fortunes of the city-owned maritime center, vexed by an identity complex and lagging attendance since opening in 1994.

But some residents at the neighboring Harbour Place condominiums don't want a battleship next door: It'll block their river views and create too much traffic, they argue.

At an emergency meeting called by condo residents Monday, Mayor Paul D. Fraim said he was willing to consider other docking sites. Cmdr. Mike Andrews, a spokesman for the Norfolk Naval Base, said Thursday that the service is willing to look at other homes for the Wisconsin, as well.

But space along the river is at a premium, and the few sites available present problems that go well beyond those at Nauticus, officials who'd be involved in approving the Navy's plans say.

Even preparing the Wisconsin's proposed home in a basin just north of the maritime center poses a challenge, officials say. It will require extensive dredging, bulkheading the basin's shoreline and installing mooring piles. That work, the Navy estimates, would cost between $3 million and $5 million.

Bennis, who has studied the Navy's preliminary plans to dock the ship in the basin, said the vessel would fit there safely and would not impede river traffic. He said it could ride out hurricanes and storms there without endangering surrounding property.

``We were looking for show stoppers early on, and we found none,'' Bennis said.

J. Douglas Forrest, executive vice president of Colonna's Shipyard Inc., said the Nauticus site is one of the few that could accommodate a battleship without posing a risk to commercial ships.

``Of all the existing berths, that lends itself most naturally for berthing an Iowa-class battleship,'' he said.

City Councilman W. Randy Wright, who spearheaded a fruitless campaign three years ago to land the Wisconsin's sister ship, the Iowa, for the city, said Nauticus was always viewed ``as our premier site'' for the attraction, though those involved in the campaign did discuss placing the Iowa near Waterside or at Harbor Park.

But officials said this week that both of those sites have strikes against them.

Harbor Park has plenty of parking and is within walking distance of downtown, but moving the battleship there would be daunting, said Rick Henderson, a navigations specialist with the Army Corps of Engineers.

The ship would have to pass through the Berkley Bridge, a draw span that is wide enough to accommodate the Wisconsin, but just by a squeeze.

``We're not going to do anything that's inherently unsafe,'' the Navy's Andrews said.

Beyond that, docking it along the shoreline would require massive dredging and the construction of a mooring pier and bulkheading, Henderson said. And much of the property there is privately owned and already used by tugs and barges for overnight stays.

Henderson noted, too, that the ship might interfere with a landing site for ferries that bring passengers from the Portsmouth and Norfolk waterfronts to the baseball stadium.

The biggest problem with the riverfront at Waterside and Town Point Park, officials said, is a lack of suitable space and the risk posed to passing ships. At least a portion of the ship would extend into the shipping channel practically anywhere it might be positioned there, said Mike Evans, the dockmaster at Waterside Marina.

The largest ship that regularly docks near Waterside today is the 187-foot-long Spirit of Norfolk, one-fifth the size of the mammoth Wisconsin.

Parking the battleship at Town Point Park also would obstruct the river views for the thousands of residents and tourists who stroll through the green space.

``An awful lot of thinking has gone into the layout of the waterfront so visitors have a view of the river,'' Evans said.

At the Hague, where the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has berthed its research vessels, the problem is one of scale, officials said: The battleship would dwarf everything around it, consume pier space and block access into the Hague's U-shaped basin.

``How far you go depends on whether you're looking for a tourist draw or just a place to park it,'' Bennis said.

City officials, who've produced a scale model of an Iowa-class ship, hope to dispel the fears of Harbour Place residents by convincing them that it wouldn't overwhelm them at Nauticus. Ray Gindroz, a Pittsburgh urban design consultant who has helped shape the look of Norfolk's revitalization downtown, toured the basin site Thursday and noted that the ship has a low profile that ``fits in quite comfortably'' with Nauticus and the adjacent Harbour Place condos.

``I'm always looking at ways to enhance the addresses downtown, and I think this does that,'' Gindroz said, calling it a ``dramatic landmark.''

For residents critical of Nauticus' modernist design, Gindroz said the ship could serve ``as a more traditional facade'' to screen the monolithic maritime center.

City Councilman Mason C. Andrews, who favors putting the ship at Nauticus, said the Navy's offer is an ``enormous opportunity'' for Norfolk.

``I hope we can do the good for the whole without hurting the few,'' Andrews said of the condo residents. ``But if we get too fussy about it, (the Navy) may look elsewhere to do something with it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo illustration by JOHN CORBITT/The Virginian-Pilot

ARTIST'S CONCEPTION OF THE WISCONSIN BERTHED AT NAUTICUS

This conception shows how the venerable battleship would fit along

the north side of Nauticus. Harbour Place condominiums are at the

far left of the photo and the World Trade Center at the far right.

Graphic

Other Sites, Their problems

Waterside, Town Point Park

The Hague

Harbor Park

For complete copy, see microfilm KEYWORDS: WISCONSIN WATERSIDE