After spill, residents press Chesapeake to move them

CHESAPEAKE

A year ago, despite the city's plans to relocate her longtime neighborhood, Mildred Harvey had no intention of moving.

The collapse of a storage tank that spilled 2 million gallons of fertilizer, and the fear of more accidents like it, have changed her mind.

"I don't feel too safe now," said Harvey, a retired housekeeper who has lived in her South Hill home for more than 45 years. "I've got a tank right outside my door, a big old tank."

But the city's plan to relocate South Hill residents has made little progress in the year since it was unveiled.

No company has sought to buy the 11-acre neighborhood that adjoins a bulk storage facility that holds millions of gallons of fertilizer and fuel. Even if one had, the people who live there want at least $2.4 million more for their homes than the combined assessed value of the South Hill properties.

In addition, the city's inaugural housing coordinator, whose first major assignment was the South Hill redevelopment plan, quit in September.

Officials discussing the plan a year ago feared that a nearby industrial accident could endanger the entire South Hill community.

Then one happened Nov. 12. A storage tank at Allied Terminals collapsed and spilled 2 million gallons of liquid fertilizer, sending what one resident described as a tidal wave of liquid rushing through South Hill's streets.

Though no residents were seriously hurt, more than 30, including Harvey and her family, were evacuated and had to spend up to three nights in a hotel.

City officials say they understand that residents are growing impatient, especially after the collapse. They recently requested help from U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes. But after speaking with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Forbes said last week that there isn't any federal relocation money available for a situation like this.

"People at City Hall really want to do something to help out there," said Chesapeake city spokesman Mark Cox. "It's frustrating there isn't more we can do right at this point. That doesn't stop the effort from moving forward."

South Hill came under the City Council's radar last year as a developer proposed building the nation's largest biodiesel plant next door. The company secured council approval after promising up to $5 million to redevelop or reinvigorate South Hill. The project and money never came through.

The council still pledged to help. In October 2007, the city hired 27-year housing authority veteran Jim Liles to lead the South Hill redevelopment effort. The city's economic development office began to market the property to an industrial company. From November 2007 to September 2008, the City Council or staff met at least seven times with representatives from the neighborhood.

The city's effort to market the 11-acre neighborhood came in the middle of an economic downturn. But economic development officials say the property also had other challenges. It is relatively small in comparison to industrial park properties, it could have costs tied to home demolition and it could require negotiations with roughly 30 homeowners.

"There are other industrial parks where you can buy an 11-acre parcel from one person," said Ben White of the city's economic development office.

The city had four meetings with residents to try to establish a sale value for the properties. Residents came back asking for a grand total of $6.8 million, even though the total assessed value for all the properties was about $4.4 million, according to a June 3 letter from Liles.

"The prices set by the homeowners in the South Hill community are inconsistent with the present market," Liles wrote in a letter to South Hill Civic League President Marvin Hill.

After that June 3 letter, city economic development staffers had one more meeting with Hill on Sept. 11 to discuss the city's effort to attract a buyer for South Hill, city documents show. Liles resigned four days later, and his duties were temporarily reassigned to a senior planner, according to a city memo.

The tank collapse at nearby Allied Terminals happened about two months later.

Mildred Harvey and her husband went to the store just minutes before the 2:25 p.m. tank collapse Nov. 12. When they returned to Rosemont Avenue, the one way in and out of South Hill, they were not allowed to return to their home. Their daughter, Chakeeta Rivers, arrived and was happy to find her parents were safe.

"We're all together now," Rivers remembers saying. "The house can go, but we're all together."

Rivers said she and her parents waited outside in the cold for three hours before going to a community center. About 11 p.m., a Fire Department van took them back to their home to pick up some personal belongings. They arrived at the Candlewood Suites at 2:15 a.m. Thursday. "We were stressed out, we were tired, and we were hungry," Rivers said. They stayed at the hotel until about 11 a.m. Saturday, when they were allowed to return home.

The weeks since have been tense. Rivers said an Allied Terminals executive met with residents last week. She described the meeting as "very heated."

Days after the collapse, it was revealed that there are about two dozen tanks around South Hill that can hold at least 10 million gallons of gasoline, 10 million gallons of diesel fuel, and 26 million gallons of fertilizer. A state regulator who routinely visits bulk storage facilities said South Hill is easily the closest of all Hampton Roads neighborhoods to a site with so many large tanks.

"This seems to be the one location where the neighborhood is so close that it's almost inserted into the facility, if you will," said Tom Madigan of the Department of Environmental Quality's petroleum storage tanks program.

After the tank collapse, city leaders intensified talk of relocating residents. Economic development officials say they will continue to market South Hill. "We're not going to rest until there's a solution for everyone who wants to leave," Councilman C.E. "Cliff" Hayes Jr. said.

Most people do want to leave, just like they did a year ago, said Marvin Hill of the South Hill Civic League.

"We know it's a bad time to try to market houses, so we want to be patient," he said. "We don't know where it goes from here. But 96 percent of the people feel the same way. They want out."

Mike Saewitz, (757) 222-5207, mike.saewitz@pilotonline.com