After years of studies and waiting, a federal plan to help rehabilitate the Lynnhaven River is moving forward.
The Senate passed a bill Thursday authorizing a $12 billion package of water projects across the country, including $22.8 million for work in Virginia Beach’s largest waterway.
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#WeLoveShoreDrive 
Restoring the Lynnhaven estuary is very important for many reasons, and I welcome this $22.8M grant (if funded). Despite much interest and efforts at restoring the Lynnhaven, strong area concerns remain about the city’s dredging program. The principle non-profit organizations that need to support SDCC’s concerns have refused to take a position. I ask “Why”? I believe that water quality cannot be improved with extensive dredging of the area’s tidal flats if the owner becomes the chief beneficiary through increased land values for their now “deep water access”. Sediments being washed down the storm drains are a major component of the TMDLs, but somehow I am being told that dredging will support cleaner water, more SAV, and now scallops? After all the work that has been done by so many to restore the oysters to the Lynnhaven, we should consider the impact of tidal flat dredging and what it will accomplish. When that critical level of suspended sediment is reached in a tidal area where dredging is being done, the oysters die. And, why scallops? I don’t think scallops were a major part of the Native American diet in the Lynnhaven. What is really going on, or is this another one of those “we need a study” kind of thing?
I think we can all get together to resolve these issues; the civic organizations, the city, the environmentalists, and the non-profits.
Excellent! Congratulations!