Beach says it's pleased with discussions on Burton Station

VIRGINIA BEACH

A reshaped Lake Wright Golf Course, new roads, and water and sewer connections are all part of the city's latest plan to rejuvenate Burton Station, a historically black community, and the aging industrial park and strip shopping area that surrounds it.

But after three months of discussions and meetings between planners and property owners, a central question remains unanswered: What will the actual Burton Station neighborhood look like?

Urban Design Associates - a Pittsburgh company that has helped steer the redevelopments of downtown Norfolk, Portsmouth and Suffolk - presented a draft master plan for the Burton Station/Northampton

Boulevard corridor to Virginia Beach's City Council and economic development folks Tuesday.

City officials had hoped by now to have a definitive plan that would show the core 30 acres of Burton Station as either a slightly more built-up single-family residential neighborhood; a mix of apartments, offices and senior housing; or primarily an office park.

But the families of freed slaves who own the property are torn between wanting to sell their land for the highest value, which would be condominiums and offices, and wanting to upgrade the neighborhood and keep it intact.

"I don't want to lose, and I don't want my neighbors to lose," said Rebecca Saunders, whose mother-in-law owns land in Burton Station.

Even without a specific plan yet, city officials say they are pleased with the progress they have made in such a short time and that property owners are willing to discuss future alternatives.

"This is a major, major step forward for us," City Manager Jim Spore said.

The first meetings about Burton Station in early April were marked by distrust.

Angry landowners complained about how city officials had come to them several times in the past with plans that never materialized.

In 1962, the Princess Anne County Board of Supervisors rezoned much of the community for industrial uses without telling residents. It took 20 years before residential zoning for most of the land was restored.

For years, residents couldn't get city permits to make improvements to their homes, or their church, which eventually moved out of the neighborhood to Princess Anne Road. There are only about 30 people who still live there.

The area is still one of the largest tracts in the northern part of the city without water and sewer service. In the mid-1990s, the Virginia Beach City Council, frustrated by the drawn-out purchase negotiations, sought a redevelopment and housing authority with the power to condemn land, partially so it could transform Burton Station into an industrial park. Voters rejected the idea.

This time, city officials said the plan isn't for taxpayers to buy the land from residents. It will be up to the property owners to negotiate a fair price for their land with developers.

The city will help by putting in curbs and gutters, street lights, other utilities and developing a plan for the area that will attract developers, said Steve Herbert, the city's chief development officer.

If developers "see a plan, and they can see the city is willing to do it, they will be willing to take a risk," Herbert said.

Planners and economic development officials see this area, bounded by Interstate 64 to the south, the airport on the west and the Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base to the north, as a solution to Virginia Beach's need for additional office space and a place to house the growing number of military contractors.

As either a mixed-use development or completely commercial, the taxable value of Burton Station when it is completely built out could be between $166 million and $230 million, according to an economic impact study commissioned by the city. The market value of the area if it remains primarily residential would be $43 million.

The proposal for this area calls for a new road that runs parallel to Norfolk International Airport and into the amphibious base. The road could be lined with offices, some of which would face the golf course.

Officials from Virginia Beach and Norfolk also are in discussions about moving more holes of Lake Wright Golf Course into Virginia Beach and using the lake as part of the driving range. Norfolk owns the golf course, but it straddles both cities.

The swap would allow Norfolk to develop some land next to the airport as office space. The course would move into an area of Virginia Beach that can't be developed for residential or office space because it's too close to a runway. Virginia Beach also would be able to develop offices on a current 20-acre driving range off Northampton Boulevard.

City officials will continue to talk with Burton Station property owners in the hopes of getting a specific plan for the neighborhood in the next six months. The final plan will be subject to approval by the City Council.

Deirdre Fernandes, (757) 222-5121, deirdre.fernandes@pilotonline.com