Revitalizing Buckroe, then and now
By Phyllis Flanders
Daily Press
July 17, 2005
I want to thank Wil LaVeist for a wonderful column regarding the green space at Buckroe Beach, and the feasibility of developing the space as a park rather than building a condominium community on those last 10 acres of open space on the Chesapeake Bay in Hampton.
In response Planning Director Terry O'Neill's remarks to LaVeist, I find his logic circumspect, convoluted and suspect.
If, indeed, as O'Neill explained to LaVeist, an expanded well-developed park won't revitalize Buckroe and "new and rehabbed housing" is what Buckroe needs for said revitalization, then why wasn't Buckroe revitalized by the building of the Cantamar and Morningview condos on the waterfront property that had originally been zoned for a beachfront park? And why didn't the building of the Salt Ponds condos by the marina revitalize the neighborhood? And why didn't the building of the gated community on North First Street that sits behind the so-called public beach at the end of North First Street revitalize Buckroe? And why didn't the building of the gated community of Bayshore revitalize Buckroe?
If none of those worked, why would O'Neill think that creating more of the same would work?
The issue is not complicated. The planning is not complicated. Yes, 20 years ago these bay-front acres were intended for development; however, times change and purposes change and the amount of high-density housing at Buckroe has changed. The City Council rezones property all the time. It's time to rezone this acreage and save it as a park for our now and future generations.
Phyllis Flanders
Hampton
