By Bob Gibson
Daily Progress staff writer
Thursday, March 18, 2004
RICHMOND - John J. “Butch” Davies III, the Culpeper
District representative on the Commonwealth Transportation
Board, is urging Gov. Mark R. Warner to amend - but
not veto - a Lynchburg senator’s bill pushing a U.S.
29 Charlottesville bypass.
A veto of Sen. Stephen D. Newman’s bill would send a
message that the rest of the state is insensitive to
the needs of the Lynchburg and Danville regions and
the residents along the U.S. 29 corridor who want less
congestion while traveling through Charlottesville,
Davies said.
“Amend it so that it’s not punitive,” Davies said after
a luncheon meeting of the North Charlottesville Business
Council at the Doubletree Hotel. The council has supported
the bypass for the past 12 years.
Davies told the group, a council of the Charlottesville
Regional Chamber of Commerce, that the 2004 session
of the General Assembly reminded Charlottesville loudly
and clearly “that you are not alone on the 29 corridor.”
The former Culpeper delegate said state transportation
money is not available to build the 6-mile western bypass
around Charlottesville, which he said would be “a failed
bypass” if it were built now, in light of a large number
of traffic lights north of the proposed route. “That’s
something that I think we have to acknowledge,” Davies
said.
“We are not jettisoning the 29 bypass route until we
have an alternative,” Davies told the business group.
He said any alternatives would need “both community
consensus and state consensus.”
With Virginia’s lack of highway funds, “it really makes
it impossible to figure you are going to get the road
done in the next 15 to 20 years because the money is
not there,” Davies said.
Newman introduced his Senate Bill 670 calling on the
state to build a U.S. 29 western bypass around Charlottesville
“as soon as practicable” and saw the measure amended
and narrowed considerable before its final passage March
9.
The bill, as amended, would require federal and state
reimbursement by the Culpeper Transportation District
“if the construction of a U.S. Route 29 bypass around
[Charlottesville] is not constructed because of opposition
from a metropolitan planning organization, and the Federal
Highway Administration requires the commonwealth to
reimburse the federal government.”
Paying back the state and federal governments would
put other major highway projects from the Charlottesville
area to Fauquier County at risk for years because there
is so little construction money in the budget, Davies
said.
Davies endorsed study of eastern bypass routes, upgrades
along U.S. 15 and short-term construction of parallel
roads along U.S. 29 in Albemarle County. “I think we
need a commuter rail initiative that would go from Charlottesville
north,” he said.
He also endorsed public-private partnerships and the
use of toll roads, and said this region must be prepared
when construction along Interstate 81 forces traffic
east onto the U.S. 29 corridor.
A bill sponsored by Del. Daniel W. Marshall III, R-Danville,
could help Charlottesville and Albemarle set up a special
taxing district for commercial and industrial property
to help pay for local road improvements along U.S. 29,
Davies said.
The Commonwealth Transportation Board meets today in
Richmond but will not be able to vote on six-year plans
for the state in light of the legislature’s budget impasse,
said Transportation Secretary Whittington W. “Whitt”
Clement.
This will be the first of a series of disruptions caused
by the General Assembly’s failure to agree on a budget,
officials said.
Contact Bob Gibson at (434) 978-7243 or bgibson@dailyprogress.com.
One
more chance
By Fred Carroll
Daily
Press
February
25, 2004
NEWPORT NEWS
-- A deal struck Tuesday likely scuttles a court ruling
against a state agency opposed to the proposed King William
Reservoir and gives Newport News another chance to win
a permit from that agency.
The Virginia Marine Resources Commission unanimously endorsed
the agreement. Newport News officials want to notify the
City Council before signing, but they expect city approval.
The deal says a hearing must be held by Aug. 15.
"The vote to do this has no bearing on what the vote
will be on the project," said William Pruitt, marine
resources commissioner. "That will be decided at
the hearing."
Newport News needs the permit - which the commission denied
in May - to build an intake pipeline that would pull water
from the Mattaponi River into a 12.2-billion-gallon reservoir
in King William County.
In recent months, city officials have sued to get another
hearing before the commission and lobbied for state legislation
that would bypass the commission.
Randy Hildebrandt, an assistant city manager, said the
deal allows Newport News to amend its permit request in
hopes of better protecting American shad, a bony fish
protected in Virginia's waterways.
The marine commission opposed the reservoir because Newport
News wants to build the intake in a prime spawning grounds
for shad, threatening to destroy thousands of eggs and
larvae annually.
The deal's key points include:
Newport News drops its lawsuit seeking a quasi-judicial
hearing before the commission. A judge ruled in January
that the city was entitled to the hearing, which could
have set the precedent of future applicants asking for
such hearings. Lawyers never filed a court order. City
officials can sue again if the commission again denies
the permit.
The commission will oversee a second hearing on the permit.
It will follow rules that set time limits on discussions
for supporters and opponents, give Newport News the chance
to question state experts and restrict public comments
to how the intake affects shad. City officials cannot
request another quasi-judicial hearing.
"It was an effort to compromise a very difficult
issue, and it protects the needs of the city," said
Mayor Joe Frank. "Some features we would rather not
have."
Newport News heads a coalition of Peninsula localities
that considers the reservoir the cheapest, most efficient
way to ensure a steady water supply in future decades.
The City Council voted Tuesday to add about $1.2 million
to the reservoir, upping the total spent to about $21.7
million. The city still needs a federal permit from the
Army Corps of Engineers.
Opposition comes from environmental groups who say the
reservoir damages too many plants and animals to provide
more water than the Peninsula needs and from Indian tribes
who say construction will destroy their spiritual and
cultural ties to the river.
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, an environmental group,
criticized the deal in a written statement, saying it
attempts to exclude public opposition, allows only city
officials to question state experts and gives Newport
News too much time to speak.
"This is just egregious," said Ann Jennings,
a foundation scientist. "This clearly shows that
the attorney general was not looking out for the best
interests of the commission or the commonwealth."
The commission voted in January to appeal the court ruling
regarding the formal hearing, but Attorney General Jerry
Kilgore wanted to pursue other options. That prompted
the Sierra Club to ask Kilgore to remove himself from
ongoing talks. That didn't happen.
Tim Murtaugh, a Kilgore spokesman, said the agreement
avoids a costly lawsuit and ensures a more complete record
for any possible future lawsuit.
"It's best for everybody involved," Murtaugh
said, "when you avoid litigation."
Fred Carroll can be reached at 247-4756 or by e-mail at
fcarroll@dailypress.com
Copyright (c) 2004, Daily Press
River intake rights sought
By Hugh Lessig
Daily Press
February 12 2004
RICHMOND -- King William Reservoir opponents won a victory
Wednesday when a House of Delegates committee tabled legislation
aimed at making it easier to build the reservoir.
The bill, sponsored by Del. G. Glenn Oder, R-Newport News,
would have granted an easement to the city of Newport
News so it could build a water intake in the Mattaponi
River, the source of the water for a 12.2 billion-gallon
reservoir the city wants to build.
The city said the Peninsula needs the water; environmental
groups and others say it does not.
Critics have accused the city of trying to skirt the authority
of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, which opposes
the reservoir and would have to grant the easement. City
officials say the General Assembly must step in and settle
the matter because some state agencies approve of the
project while the VMRC does not.
Oder requested the Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural
Resources Committee to table his bill. A nose count showed
that members would have rejected it anyway in an up-or-down
vote. And city officials are now talking with VMRC about
finding a way around the problem, so a legislative remedy
might be unnecessary.
Still, debate isn't over yet in the 2004 session, according
to environmental forces that have fought the reservoir.
"It's not over until it's over," said Roy Hoagland,
Virginia director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. "The
session isn't even halfway over. There's a bill on the
Senate side. There are other bills they could try to tack
this onto. I don't think this vote means the city has
lost."
"They're going to do whatever they can to get their
reservoir," said Michael Town, director of the Virginia
Sierra Club.
The VMRC and the city have begun closed-door talks that
could lead to another hearing before the state agency.
A judge had ruled the city is entitled to one, although
the judge's decision could be appealed.
"We believe that we have made progress in the right
direction with the VMRC," Oder said. "And we
believe there is a much greater awareness in the General
Assembly about how hard we make it for a regional water
authority to follow the rules we make for a safe and adequate
water supply."
Afterward, Oder said the bill wasn't filed in order to
force VMRC to the negotiating table.
"This was a very serious bill," he said. "It
was intended to grant an easement . . . it's been done
by other localities and there is clearly an opportunity
for any locality to do it."
Others said the committee did a courtesy to Oder by tabling
it rather than killing it. They said the legislation was
essentially a bargaining chip in the negotiations, and
reservoir supporters wanted it tabled rather than rejected
outright.
"They didn't have the votes," said Hoagland.
"I don't think they wanted to send a message to the
VMRC that the General Assembly killed this legislation
in concept."
Del. Harvey B. Morgan, R-Middlesex, opposed the bill in
committee, and he agreed the legislation could have been
killed.
"The arrogance of the city in this situation,"
he said, "is beyond my comprehension."
Chris Bridge, a lobbyist for Newport News, said the bill
was good-faith attempt by the city to fix a problem.
"Elected officials on the Peninsula are under tremendous
pressure to develop new water supplies," she said.
The Senate version of the bill should be heard in committee
next week. Sen. Frank Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, has sponsored
it.
Hugh Lessig can be reached at (804) 225-7345 or by e-mail
at hlessig@dailypress.com .
Copyright (c) 2004, Daily Press
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