City running late to ride the Tide

The Virginian-Pilot

In Arlington County near D.C., the tallest buildings crowd the Metro stops. They're filled with a mix of offices and high-end apartments grounded by funky shops and interesting restaurants.

There aren't many places to park, mostly because there's no easy way to drive anyplace. The subway moves people, and at last count, Arlington had more than 200,000 of them, a lot more than before.

As you walk away from the Metro stops, the buildings hunch lower. A few blocks from the subway, high-rises give way to townhouses and one-story shops that give way to detached houses. You could be in any quaint neighborhood in any city.

If you live in the right part of Arlington, you can walk where you need to go - to work, to shop, to eat, to the subway - and avoid the ugly traffic of Northern Virginia.

It looks as if it just happened.

It didn't.

And that's the lesson for Norfolk and its light-rail system. When Arlington County knew that the Metro was coming its way, it did its homework.

It changed county zoning to encourage precisely the kind of development it got. Today, it is one of the most vibrant, educated, affluent and walkable cities in America.

As Norfolk prepared to welcome a light-rail line running from Newtown Road to Eastern Virginia Medical School, it did precisely nothing to its zoning. In fact, it went for years without a planning director.

"We need a smart plan now," Councilman Randy Wright told Pilot staff writer Debbie Messina. "We're not going to get the best development by letting plans happen on their own."

Wright is being too reasonable. Norfolk needed a smart plan five years ago when it got serious about light rail. It needed a smart plan three years ago when the federal government got serious about Norfolk light rail. It needed a smart plan in October, when The Tide was finally approved.

Today, as it breaks ground on one of the most important projects in its history, Norfolk still needs one. What it has instead is an insufficient plan to limit downtown parking to support its $232 million, 11-station project that will determine the face of the city for the rest of its history.

The bad news is The Tide has already generated $220 million in planned development. The fact that rail has spurred only $220 million is also the good news.

According to its estimates, the 7.5-mile line could prompt $1.4 billion in new investment. There may still be time to fix the mistake.

Take an example: City leaders would love to see a cool neighborhood of shops and apartments spring up around Harbor Park. It needs the zoning to encourage that, right now.

But this goes well beyond the ballfield, to the neighborhoods surrounding each of The Tide's stations. If Norfolk doesn't do its homework, or can't, it imperils the chances for light rail to transform the city and the region.

"There's already huge opportunities within the city of Norfolk," Wright said. "Ultimately, when we extend the line to the Navy base, there will be more opportunities. And even more if it goes into Virginia Beach."

In other words, light rail is too important to all of Hampton Roads for it to be derailed because Norfolk officials didn't study for this test.