Wetlands cleanup becomes controversial

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) - On the banks of the Lafayette River, the spot for a wetlands clean-up will be the scene of a neighborhood dispute.

The city approved the area for the Promenade Pointe complex, and developers are bringing in volunteers to clean the environment.

"Unfortunately it's out of sight, out of mind," said Dwight Dunton, President of Bonaventure Realty, the developer building the complex. "It's a very beautiful area back there, but it's been neglected."

But neighbors in Roland Park said the one-day clean-up is a public relations stunt that will not really clean anything in the long run.

"It's the upland, the buffer, that's just as important as the wetlands that's going to get clear cut and paved over," said Skip Styles, director of environmental group Wetlands Watch.

Neighbors have put together a petition drive to stop the development with a city wide vote. The Promenade Pointe calls the organizers "a group of dissidents attempting to obtain signatures for a petition to overturn the City Council's action."

Organizer Clayton Lory said the dissidents are confident of victory.

"Nine out of ten people we go to say they will sign our petition," said Lory.

So are the developers.

"If this comes to a vote I would expect the broad support to continue," said Dunton.

Developers will start their cleanup Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. near 6201 Tidewater Drive.

"It's going to now bring [the wetlands] to more people so they can see it, so they can hopefully become good stewards and good shepherds of it," said Dunton.

That is also the time neighbors will start their petition drive and protest along Roland Drive.

"They're going to come through with bulldozers and they're going to strip off every bit of living green and topsoil on the complex," said Lory.

This weekend, much more than wetlands will be at stake on Tidewater Drive. It could be no less than the future of a neighborhood decided on a Saturday morning.

For more information on Promenade Pointe, click here .

For more information on the petition drive, send an email here .