Featuring Rotarian Pearl Smith

Will the Tide come this far?

Light rail gains steam again in Beach

By Erick Soricelli, Inside Business - Hampton Roads, 12/3/2007

Several Virginia Beach officials and business leaders wonder if The Tide could one day sweep in from the west.

This Tide wouldn’t be the saltwater that laps the Beach’s east and north coastlines. It would be rolling stock of Hampton Roads Transit’s light rail train cars, coming in and out of the Beach.

The October green light of federal funding for the $232 million, 7.4-mile Norfolk rail line has some in the Beach wondering if the line could extend past Newtown Road, through Virginia Beach Town Center to the Oceanfront.

A west-east railroad running from Newtown Road, at the Norfolk-Virginia Beach border, to Birdneck Road, is a possibility for light rail. The railroad is owned by Norfolk Southern, which has asked for $40 million for the city to use its right-of-way. The Beach needs a deal with the railroad company in order for any public transportation to use the railroad.

“We certainly need to have some kind of public transportation that’ll hook up to Newtown Road,” said John Uhrin, a Virginia Beach city councilman. “It’s clearly the spot that public transit should go.”Uhrin is among a few council members who want to hold meetings on light rail at the Beach.

Robin Chapman, a Norfolk Southern spokesman, said a year has passed since the company and the Beach have formally discussed the railroad right-of-way. The parties had been in talks for four years. The $40 million may change if or when they talk again, Chapman said.

Regardless, any meetings would likely reflect how sentiment has changed since 1999, when Beach voters rejected a referendum on light rail.

“At least two-thirds of our membership supported the referendum,” said Martha McClees, executive director of Virginia Beach Vision. The civic and economic advocacy organization is comprised of more than 110 business leaders.

McClees said the group’s members are soon expected to take a new formal position on light rail.

Some business leaders are cautious but supportive. “I think that it’s something that naturally creates economic activity,” said Mike Standing Jr., owner of Waterman’s Surfside Grille at the Oceanfront. Restaurateurs, he thinks, could benefit at the least from more customers.

“Anytime you can move people regionally, then it’s good for business,” said Standing, immediate past president of the Virginia Beach Restaurant Association.

It’s not hard to tell how Pearl Smith feels. “I’ll be thrilled if we have light rail in Virginia Beach,” said Smith, executive director of the Central Business District Association, which has over 170 companies as members. She referred further questions to Glen Huff, CBDA’s board president and one-time member of the Beach’s light rail commission.

“It would make great sense to connect downtown Norfolk with Virginia Beach, so that businesspeople can travel between the two,” Huff, a founding attorney with Huff, Poole & Mahoney, said. “We need to work together rather than blocking progress.”

In November, Vice Mayor Louis Jones told The Virginian-Pilot that while he supports public meetings in the Beach, he’d also want to see light rail get off the ground in Norfolk first.

HRT will hold a groundbreaking for The Tide Dec. 8 at Harbor Park. The line will have 11 stations. It starts at the Eastern Virginia Medical Complex, goes through downtown Norfolk, runs parallel to Interstate 264 and ends at Newtown Road.

The Federal Transit Administration will chip in $128 million, or 55 percent, of the cost. A mix of federal and state funds will make up $71.2 million. The city of Norfolk will pay $33 million.

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