VIRGINIA BEACH
John Purnell stopped by a rural patch of land he owns at the city’s southern edge last week and found a surprise. He could drive to his house with little problem.
The once pockmarked Pocahontas Club Road had been covered with roughly six truckloads of a gravel-like material made from recycled sidewalks and gutters.
Purnell, a real estate investor and sometime contractor, who has blamed a commercial neighbor for repeatedly washing out the street near his home, complimented the work.
“You could take a stroller all the way to my house,” he said. “This is pretty miraculous.”
No, just routine maintenance by a city work crew.
Mark Gemender, an operations engineer in the Beach’s public works department, said crews were sent out after Purnell complained about the surface of the road.
The work came after the city sent a letter stating it “will continue to provide routine maintenance” on the road. The project, finished Dec. 14 , took three days and cost about $1,000, Gemender said.
Pocahontas Club Road, a rural tendril off Princess Anne Road, was the subject of a recent Virginian-Pilot story that described a spat between Purnell and Bonney Bright, a farmer who owns two sand mining pits near Purnell’s property. One pit is just over the North Carolina line.
Purnell says Bright’s borrow pit operation in Virginia Beach helps create washouts on the unpaved portion of Pocahontas Club Road, cutting off access to Purnell’s property.
Bright, through his attorney, has denied that. Some neighbors, including longtime residents on the street, defend Bright and say the unimproved portion of Pocahontas Club Road never has been more than a country path.
Gemender said workers filled potholes, fixed areas of rutting and made the unpaved street level. He said work is planned soon for the already improved portion of Pocahontas Club Road, which stretches about a mile from its intersection with Princess Anne.
Purnell also has complained about pollution in the waters of Back Bay, claims that are under review by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The city is waiting for the results of that case before taking any action.
Purnell, who recently lost two houses to foreclosure after unsuccessfully playing the real estate market in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, said he is fighting to keep ownership of the one at the end of Pocahontas Club Road.
Richard Quinn, (757) 222-5119, richard.quinn@pilotonline.com
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What Maintenance??
Why doesn't the city maintain the neighbor's driveway on Pocahontas that the city school buses have to turn around in everyday? Have you looked at the pot holes 3 buses twice a day have created there? Not to mention it is where everyone else including the city trucks that fixed Purnells driveway had to park because they have no where else to turn around on that road. Perhaps that'll make front page news and something will get done about that!
Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Purcell
Looks like VB doesn't want to pay fines for violating permits. That's O.K. Right is right. Mr. Bonney may be a very great person. I don't know him. What I do know is if that road is marked public on an official map you got exactly what you deserved. It doesn't matter what the locals call it, the official map counts.
Just a little Gravel
If Virginia Beach can give all the rich folks at the Beach Millions in sand to line thier greedy pockets then this guy can have a thousand bucks in gravel. wake up people. it's not always about the rich folks. This guy should have a road for his house. at on e time or another many folks had no road's, no city water, no city sewage and so on. That's what we pay taxes for. And he pays taxes too. So he should have a road. So people get over it, it could be you!!!!!
Sure
This isn't resolved. Lets see the results on the pollution. How about the test wells? As for LC and b cat, keep your gripes and your worthless opinions in your end of town. Do try not to visit.
gravel
Its amazing what a little gravel on a road can do !! Glad this issue is resolved. Now hopefully this will help Purnell sell his propery. As for the pollution, lets not forget the lawn chems and septic systems that pollute also. For all the new people that move down that way, you can look for something else to whine and belly-ache about. You still have options to MOVE !! Happy New Year.
It's Everyones Fault but Mine (Yeah, Sure)
It appears that Purnell got the Hand-Out he was Crying for. Too bad that instead of realizing that his own Poor Decisions, Failures, and Lack of Legal Ethics have caused his misfortune, he finds it necessary to attack and criticize others. Particularly well respected members of the comunity. Pitiful.
I'm glad the city took their head outta the sand.
I am amazed! The city has actually done something and looked over the blue prints where the little guy prevail's. Not the big buck's man and the long time resident's, who think it's "just an old country path." City and state record's are record's. And after enough mess was raised, finally the city came in and took care of one of their roads. Good luck, sir. Now let's hope we can get that bay pollution cleaned up.