VIRGINIA COASTAL COMMUNITY TO BE NATIONAL EXAMPLE OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

In recognition of Northampton County, Va.'s, efforts to spur economic development through improved coastal resource management, a team representing the President's Council on Sustainable Development will visit the county Feb. 7 and 8, the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said today.

The Eco-Industrial Park Team of the Eco-Efficiency Task Force will visit the county to learn about the progress made locally. The prototype will include a new "green" industrial park at the Port of Cape Charles, which will serve as a demonstration site for advanced facilities that incorporate resource efficiency and pollution prevention.

The visit is part of a sustainable development project begun in 1992. Northampton County won one of three grants offered through NOAA's Coastal Zone Management Program to develop ways to balance economic growth with coastal resource conservation. The $700,000 grant will be spread over four years.

"This community shows how sustained economic growth is linked to our stewardship of the environment," said John Bullard, director of NOAA's Office of Sustainable Development and Intergovernmental Affairs, who represents NOAA at the President's Council on Sustainable Development. "The people of Northampton County are making a valuable investment in their long-term welfare through coastal resource management."

In conjunction with the visit by the Presidentþs Council team, the Northampton County Board of Supervisors will sponsor a community meeting at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 7, in the Kiptopeke Elementary School, Cape Charles. The meeting will provide an opportunity for citizens and business leaders to redesign the county as a prototype community and to give county officials and the Clinton Administration feedback on the concept.

"We're committed to development that is good for business, good for the environment, and good for people," said Tom Dixon, county board chairman.

The industrial park is only the first in a series of changes the community will see over the next few years. In becoming a model community, the county will also concentrate on:

  improving organic and other farming techniques that reduce      
  runoff pollution while sustaining yields, and educating farmers 
  on using the new techniques;

  promoting aquaculture (seafood farming) by identifying          
  productive sites and protecting them from all types of water
  pollution, including buying cost-effective, environmentally     
  sound wastewater treatment facilities and replacing septic      
  systems with town systems;

  marketing the county as a prime place for touring historic      
  districts and watching nature that includes rare plants and 250 
  birds species; and

  positioning the county as a premier location for environmental  
  research.

"By properly using our assets [natural resources], we meet the needs of our people and businesses," noted Tim Hayes, the county director of sustainable development. "And by protecting these assets, we ensure that our people and businesses will continue to profit from them for generations to come."