Belharbour Station at SoNo

[vdogg]

Contaminated soil means uphill battle for SoNo developer

To prepare the old J.G. Wilson factory site for new residents of Belharbour Station at SoNo, a developer will dig up nearly 60,000 square feet of contaminated soil - a "hot spot" bigger than a football field, state environmental officials say. Then, it will move 13,000 tons of dirt to the Southeastern Public Service Authority landfill in Suffolk. Soilex Corp., a company based in Chesapeake, will purge the soil of lead and arsenic so it can be used as cover at the landfill.

[Serbian Underground]

In defense of Belharbour from the most recent newspaper propaganda about real estate taxes in Chesapeake -- Belharbour has nothing to do with the "general tax" fund in Chesapeake as Gene Waters (running for City Council election) seems to think it is. Belharbour is being funded through the South Norfolk TIF district, but of course... any chance to cast Belharbour in a negative light is to the advantage of those who want to be elected and re-elected in Chesapeake and find it useful to use the ignorance of Chesapeake's citizens to get that done. I thought things were bad in Serbia... go figure.

[vdogg]

More problems for Sono

The state Department of Environmental Quality is not satisfied with a developer's plan to clean up an old factory site slated for a $200 million South Norfolk development. Truxton Development LLC will have to firm up its plan before any work begins on Belharbour Station at SoNo, a project meant to attract residents and shoppers to an area known mostly for heavy industry.

The Department of Environmental Quality noted that removing 13,000 tons of contaminated soil does not guarantee a low risk level on the site and is asking the developer to come up with a way to measure and prove it. A senior environmental engineer with the agency said Truxton will also have to specifically address groundwater contamination rather than trying to pin it on a nearby abandoned plant.

[Serbian Underground]

More problems for Sono

[vdogg]

I don't think these people will ever stop crying.

Leading opponent to project still sees problem

Hackney is concerned about putting a residential development on top of contaminated land and doesn't think the city should invest $37 million in the project. He also sees the Belharbour project as a prelude to clashes and friction, a pivotal development that will signal the end for heavy industry in South Norfolk. He said his company and others will leave Chesapeake if the project is built.

[vdogg]

Titan America was serious. The company wants to turn the Belharbour site into a warehouse - a more practical and fitting use, in Hackney's eyes.

Without an answer on the offer to Spruill, Hackney called and e-mailed every member of the C ity C ouncil. He and his group paid to run a full-page newspaper ad March 19 calling the project "The Greatest Waste of Tax Dollars in the History of Chesapeake!!"

"I may not be on your favorite-person list," he told the council the next day. "And I may not be on your Christmas card list."

He pledged that night to fight the project until it is built. "This is the first step in a long, drawn-out process that will eventually end in the Belharbour site being an industrial warehouse," he said.

[PeninsulaKiddo]

Who does this guy think he is? That type of corporate attitude would make Walmart proud. Nothing about working with the community. They're just gonna get what they want whether the community likes it or not. This is the first time I've heard that they wanted the site to build a warehouse. Now their vehement opposition is making a bit more sense. If they knew they wanted the property they should've gone ahead and bought it a long time ago.

[Serbian Underground]

"In Hackney's eyes..." I'll say! His name is rather descriptive - he sounds like a total hack.

I understand that there is a very important industrial component to this region, after all, we are a major hub for shipping and rail on the East Coast, however, an inner-city area that is on the rebound, replete with a growing number of residential units is NOT the place to plop a large industrial warehouse. And I agree vdogg, if he wanted the property, he should have taken it instead of crying like a spoiled infant because someone else got it first. That's how real estate works, I'm sorry he's completely ignorant of that.

[vdogg]

Contaminated Plant nearing its last days

Just north of a proposed $200 million development in South Norfolk, a crumbling warehouse is drawing attention from city, state and federal authorities. Once a key part of a South Norfolk fertilizer plant that operated for more than 100 years, the timber building next to the proposed Belharbour Station at SoNo is now filled with 10-foot piles of soil and fertilizer contaminated with lead and other metals.

The lead also has gotten into 300,000 gallons of storm water accumulated on the site, according to Environmental Protection Agency official Dominic Ventura.

[vdogg]

Weak market could delay/change mix of project