Norfolk's latest, greatest plan for 21 acres in East Ocean View is being hashed out now, with hopes that it will end five years of fighting over the fate of some prime property.
Advocates for a park in Bay Oaks have met new assurances from City Hall with their own pledge to begin gathering signatures on a petition to force the city to rezone the land. That's a process almost guaranteed to end in court. Again.
Simply put, park advocates don't trust the city of Norfolk to now do what it should've done years ago. Given the city's intransigence, and its willingness to spend taxpayer money to fight the public will, it's no wonder park advocates are skeptical.
The Bay Oaks Park Committee wants the plot set aside as open space, seeing the 21 acres as one of Norfolk's last real chances to safeguard more parkland. The city now says it is drawing up a plan to build houses where there are already houses, and to leave much of the plot in open space. How much, and in what proportion, is where the committee and the city may part ways.
Such differences go to the heart of the divide between the citizens' group and the government, widened when the city challenged the committee's petitions seeking to overturn the property's rezoning. The state Supreme Court's ruling came a year ago, but little has changed.
The ruling should have spurred a quick end to this fight, but it didn't. Instead, positions have hardened enough that nobody seems much interested in talking.
The city is almost sure to propose more houses on the property than the committee wants, and the committee will insist on more wild parkland than the city prefers. If they can't or won't talk, a solution - if there is one - seems likely to come only after another expensive and unnecessary rematch in court.
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
The number of homes in OV
The number of homes and people in OV warrant a park, if for nothing more than to provide a sense of community. Someone had wanted a bike trail on OV Ave. to provide a sense of community, but I can't picture anyone stopping to chat on a bike trail. An area for kids to play and meet other kids, a picnic area, a fitness area and a jogging trail around the paremeter would benefit everyone living in the area. Throw in some blooming plants, trees etc, and give OV that sense of community it deserves. There are plenty of motels, homes, old apt. buildings that will be torn down, that's plenty of land to build more homes and condo's on postage stamp lots. The City is going to spend $11.5 million on the 7 acres of Town Point Park, I can't imagine what that kind of money will do. Lets hope there are singing fountains at that price or maybe they are planning to move the statue of David from Italy.
QUALITY OF LIFE IS LACKING IN NORFOLK
Ocean View wasn't built in a year and it sure won't be cleaned up in a year. We can all appreciate the efforts of neighborhood revitalization that have occurred in Norfolk's Ocean View section. The next step in that revitalization effort is to increase enjoyable park space. The current park and open space in Norfolk is a joke in comparison to the surrounding suburban cities. The mere 21 acres that comprises Bay Oaks park needs to be just that, a park. All citizens in Norfolk have a vested interest in this area becoming a park. The park alternatives in Norfolk are most limited and consist of the following parks:Lakewood,Lafayette, Northside, Shoop Park, etc. In addition, these parks are very limited in size and amenities. So what gives? Build the park. If not, residents will continue to take their children to parks in outlying suburban areas, where one can truly experience the benefits of ou
We can trust city hall
We can trust City Hall to do exactly as they want to, and whatever developers want them to, but that does not mean we give up fighting them on every issue we disagree with. It's fine to tap dance on their pointed head to get things done, just don't give up.