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A 6-acre site near Laskin Road was going to be home to a condominium complex under the flight path of Oceana Naval Air Station jets. yoon s. byun/the virginian-pilot.

VIRGINIA BEACH — In a last-minute bid to save Oceana Naval Air Station, the City Council on Tuesday agreed unanimously to buy a disputed condominium site on Laskin Road for $15 million.

In another move, the council said it intends to accelerate plans for more land purchases to buffer the Navy jet base from development.

That effort, estimated at $161 million over the next 20 years, would target properties under a key flight path between Oceana and a training field in Chesapeake and other areas the Navy views as critical, including the resort.

Tuesday’s action came as the federal Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission prepares to vote next week whether to recommend closing or downsizing the base, the city’s largest employer.

Vice Mayor Louis R. Jones said the city’s financial commitment represents “definitive steps” to show the BRAC panel it is serious about keeping Oceana as the Navy’s East Coast master jet base.

Jones said the city decided to purchase the condo site – located in an accident-potential zone and a jet-noise zone around Oceana – because it had become a “lightning rod” in the BRAC Commission’s debate over closing Oceana. The council voted 7-2 in November 2003, over the Navy’s strenuous objections, to rezone the 6-acre site.

The state has agreed to pay for half of the purchase price, officials said, and already has put up $250,000 on an option to buy from the owner, identified as the Seasons at Birdneck Point, LLC.

It is the site of the former Seashire Inn, a 1950s era hotel, and a Hardee’s fast-food restaurant. Council members who supported rezoning the site for condos had hailed the project as a needed redevelopment of a key resort gateway.

The Navy had argued that the project would put residents at risk of jet crashes, would spark noise complaints and would impair its ability to train pilots.

Several retired Navy admirals warned against the rezoning, arguing that it would signal the city’s willingness to override a tough new Pentagon stance to oppose new homes in noise zones.

The concerns proved warranted. Last month, before the nine-member BRAC Commission voted 7-1 to consider closing Oceana, a staffer pinpointed the condo project on a map to illustrate how the city had ignored Navy concerns about development.

In a Monday interview with The Virginian-Pilot, BRAC Chairman Anthony J. Principi called on Virginia Beach to take “definitive steps” – a phrase echoed by Jones on Tuesday – to block new development around Oceana and roll back projects already in the works.

On Tuesday, Jones brushed aside the council’s 2003 vote supporting the condo project.

“Our initiative today is to deal with today,” he said at a news conference . It is “all for the purpose of showing a strong commitment to Oceana ... not only now but in the future.”

An ordinance the council approved Tuesday said the property was being bought for a “public necessity” to preserve the safety, health and welfare of city residents.

William H. Leighty, chief of staff for Gov. Mark R. Warner, said the state money would come from economic development funds under the governor’s control.

If the BRAC panel votes to recommend closing Oceana next week, the city will not exercise the option to buy the site, Jones said.

The developer has razed the old structures on the site to build the 72-unit condo project. The condos would sell for $795,000 and up, according to the Seasons at Birdneck Point LLC’s Web site.

The proposed $15 million purchase price is more than twice its $6.5 million assessed value for tax purposes, according to the city’s real estate assessor’s office.

Jones said the property owner readily agreed to negotiate with the city, and he read a statement Tuesday quoting the owner as saying, “I love my city, and I’m going to do what I have to to save Oceana.”

Jones later identified the owner as John Mamoudis, a Virginia Beach developer. Mamoudis could not be reached Tuesday.

The estimated $161 million acquisition fund would receive initial funding in next year’s budget, beginning July 2006, city officials said. The plan, Jones said, is to earmark a penny of the city’s tax rate to land purchases, which next year would generate about $4.4 million to help buffer Oceana.

The vote on the land buy came unexpectedly. City officials told reporters Monday afternoon that a closed session was being planned to discuss land acquisitions, but offered no details.

On Tuesday, seven of the 11 council members who showed up at City Hall immediately voted to go into closed session. A little over an hour later, eight emerged to approve buying the Laskin Road property.

Hal Levenson, a board member of Citizens Concerned About Jet Noise, called the council’s move “an 11th-hour attempt to paper over 25 years of encroachment.“

The city’s agreement to buy the condo site is a “$15 million give-away,” he said. “The amount of money they’re throwing around today doesn’t come close” to solving the base’s problems, he said. The citizens group favors moving Oceana’s fighter jets and replacing them with a military use less disruptive to the community.

Dan Baxter, president of the Virginia Beach Council of Civic Organizations, expressed concern about the price tag but called it “laudable” that the council has “demonstrated some leadership” to preserve Oceana.

“We have to acknowledge that Oceana is an economic asset,” Baxter said.

Ira Agricola, senior vice president of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce, said the council’s action offers the BRAC Commission “tangible proof” of the city’s support of Oceana.

Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf, who voted against the 2003 condo rezoning, was traveling in Moss, Norway, a sister city to Virginia Beach, and missed Tuesday’s announcement.

In a statement, Oberndorf described the city’s purchase plans as “momentous” and said that it “further solidifies the city’s commitment” to maintaining Oceana.

Councilwoman Reba McClanan, who also opposed the 2003 rezoning, voted to support buying the condo site.