[CPEO-IRF] Virginia Beach "felt bullied into" August land deal

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Beach felt bullied into deal

By MARISA TAYLOR AND JON W. GLASS
The Virginian-Pilot
November 7, 2005


VIRGINIA BEACH — When City Council members voted in August to halt a 
condominium project near Oceana Naval Air Station, they offered few 
details of their decision to pay more than twice the site's assessed value.

In fact, a week before the vote, the council had decided privately that 
the $15 million price tag was too high.

But in the days after that closed-door rejection, state officials 
stepped in. A flurry of e-mails between city and state officials shows 
that Gov. Mark R. Warner's office was working furiously behind the 
scenes to persuade the council to buy the Laskin Road property to try to 
safeguard the master jet base.

As the council wavered, city officials raced to reach a deal with the 
developer. Negotiations went down to the wire, and they reached a final 
agreement the day before the purchase was announced.

Events unfolded so quickly that some council members and state officials 
now acknowledge that they were forced to put aside questions about the 
price and doubts about whether the gamble would pay off.

...

For the entire article, see
http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=94892&ran=6394&tref=po

--
Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org
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