Grants will aid Norfolk businesses displaced by light rail

NORFOLK

City Manager Regina V.K. Williams wants to set aside $1 million to persuade businesses forced to move because of light rail and other public construction projects to remain in the city.

The plan, warmly accepted when presented to a City Council committee last week, won't be officially voted on until next month.

However, it is already in effect.

With no public debate, the council appropriated a $100,000 grant for Gilbert Eyecare, a downtown business being forced to move because of light rail. The city will turn over $100,000 from its general fund to the Economic Development Authority, which will provide the grant to Gilbert.

"We should have gone down this road years ago," Mayor Paul Fraim said.

Councilman W. Randy Wright, who owns a print shop near The Gallery at Military Circle, said the road widening of Military Highway more than a decade ago uprooted many businesses, some of which moved to other cities.

"If we'd had this program then, it would have prevented a lot of pain," he said.

More than a dozen road construction and infrastructure replacement projects are under way throughout the city, including the widening of Virginia Beach Boulevard just west of the Military Circle area. The $19.6 million project, which is affecting businesses along a 1.5-mile stretch of road, is being done by the Virginia Department of Transportation. It is expected to be completed in 2010.

Construction on light rail, the largest public infrastructure project in the city's history, also is ongoing. The line, which also is expected to be finished by 2010, will extend 7.4 miles from Eastern Virginia Medical Center to Newtown Road at the Virginia Beach border. Fewer than half a dozen businesses are expected to be relocated by the $232 million project, a remarkably low number for such a large endeavor, Fraim said.

Nonetheless, Williams said, her plan is needed to entice those businesses to relocate within the city of Norfolk.

Because Gilbert Eyecare doesn't own the York Street building in which it is located, it is entitled to about $30,000 in relocation aid from Hampton Roads Transit, which is overseeing construction of light rail, Williams said.

That doesn't come close to paying what it will cost to relocate, outfit a new building and even redo its statione ry, Williams said. Gilbert Eye-care, which is based in Virginia Beach, has had a downtown location for 27 years.

Under Williams' proposal, businesses would receive grants or low-interest loans based on their moving expenses and anticipated tax revenue. The city's $100,000 grant to Gilbert Eyecare doesn't have to be paid back as long as Seth Gilbert, its chief executive officer, commits to remaining in Norfolk.

Gilbert plans to move in mid-October to a site on Brambleton Avenue, he said.

"We're ecstatic that the city worked with us and that we'll be staying downtown," Gilbert said.

The program will be limited to small, locally owned, non franchised businesses, meaning that if a chain restaurant such as Ruby Tuesday is dislocated, it would not be eligible for the aid.

Some business owners have complained that construction projects have made it difficult for customers to find them.

For those businesses, the city also is offering to install signs to help direct customers to them, something recently done along Virginia Beach Boulevard. Williams said the city also is considering allowing businesses such as restaurants or office supply stores to benefit from Norfolk making bulk purchases from them whenever feasible.

Norfolk also will refund affected business owners who offer discounts to their customers a portion of that discounted rate back. Williams said the discount would likely provide a few hundred dollars of direct aid for most businesses.

That frustrates Jean Vines, who owns Textures, a beauty salon on a strip shopping center on Virginia Beach Boulevard. She said one of five tenants in the shopping center has gone out of business because of construction, and the rest, including the German Pantry restaurant, have seen business plummet.

"We appreciate the signs that have been put up," she said. "But I emptied out my 401(k) to start my business and have seen my business fall by 30 percent because of the construction.

"It seems to me that the city should do more."

Harry Minium, (757) 446-2371, harry.minium@pilotonline.com