Norfolk council to reverse Highland Park zoning

NORFOLK

Bowing to the wishes of residents from a small neighborhood near Old Dominion University, Mayor Paul Fraim said Tuesday that the City Council will reverse its decision to allow an apartment building in Highland Park.

Fraim was the deciding vote in a 5-3 council decision on April 28 to rezone nearly 3/4 of an acre on the Lafayette River for high-density development. Developer Dietrich Heyder had planned to build a four -story, 21-unit development there.

Residents mounted a petition drive that in three weeks gathered more than 5,000 signatures as of Tuesday night, said Amry Cox, who led the petition drive for the Residents for Responsive Government.

The group needed only 4,000 signatures to force the council to either rescind the rezoning or have the issue decided in a referendum.

Fraim said he was so impressed by the group's enthusiasm that he began to rethink the issue, especially on Monday, when a petition volunteer knocked on his door.

On Tuesday night he met with about 50 residents and conceded that "sometimes we make mistakes. But the council is not deaf. We hear you."

He said he had spoken to other council members and expects the issue to be reconsidered next Tuesday. "I anticipate the vote will be 7-0," Fraim said.

This is the second time in four years that the city has faced a referendum drive. In 2005, the Bay Oaks Park Committee turned in petitions with almost 5,400 signatures demanding the council rescind rezoning that would have allowed houses to be built on part of 21 acres in East Ocean View.

That controversy was handled much differently by the city, which challenged the group in court.

The issue ended up in the Virginia Supreme Court, where the city lost. A compromise, in which half the land was set aside as a park, was cemented in March.

Peter G. Decker III, attorney for Heyder, said the Highland Park group has good intentions but is misguided. "This petition drive is nothing like the Bay Oaks situation," he said. "That was a public park. This is private property.

"I seriously doubt that many people who signed the petition were made aware they were taking away a man's right to develop his own property."

He said Heyder will have no choice but to develop six single-

family homes. Decker said the homes will almost certainly be rented to ODU students. He said there will be less green space and more cars on the street than there would have been with apartments.

A decades-old oak tree, which Heyder had hoped to save, will have to be cut down to make way for the homes, Decker said.

Although enthusiastic in their support of Fraim's change of heart, residents still expressed exasperation with overcrowding, parking problems and code enforcement in their neighborhood. Fraim promised no quick fixes, saying code enforcement is a pervasive problem.

"But clearly, we need to do a better job," he said.

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