Ever been in a rush and realized that you have forgotten your shopping list when you arrive at the supermarket. Most people will attempt to remember what was needed as you go about your shopping. Arriving home, you will realize that you have forgotten some important items that you thought that you would easily remember. The same “important items” lapse will probably happen if you attempt a speedy preparation from an approaching hurricane and possible evacuation. Lists are really important to help you efficiently remember what you need. Important items like medicine prescriptions, insurance papers, money, forms of identification,  potty can for the car, address book with everyone’s telephone numbers, cellphone charger and phone, and spare keys are just a few items that I can think of off the top of my head. If you are evacuating the area, time is critical,   A list helps in many ways.  Go to the SDCC website and check CASPER, our 27 page preparation guide. It will take some of the pressure off you to figure out all that you will need to do and bring.  Hope for the BEST.  This could be a tough year.

Virginia Beach City officials would like to find the legal owner of a large sum of money which was recently found near the Marina Shores Marina. Usually, when large sums of money are found, the amount will not be mentioned so as to make proper identification of the owner easier, but in this case, the Deputy City Manager, Mr. Hansen mentioned the amount of $400,000 during the videotaped city presentation to City Council on 15 March.

Such a large sum of money being found could cause one to wonder as to what sort of business the owner was involved and as to whether it was legal or not. The City Attorney has been contacted to answer this question and to speed the return of the money. Anyone with legal reason to claim this money should contact the City Attorney at (757) 385-4303.

What would you think if a city project had 100,000 cubic yards of smelly non-beach grade spoils dredged from other parts of the Lynnhaven Basin barged over towards your part of the Long Creek area and then transferred from barge to dump truck to be hauled out through your residential roads, south down N. Greatneck Road over to the Oceana area. If this was going to be just a month or two a year, that would be one thing, but this will be continuous for 16 years. The City’s Deputy City Manager, Mr. David Hansen says that this will benefit us with better water flow in the basin and increased property taxes for those properties that will now have deep water access. The city estimates that 2500+ property owners could benefit from having their tidal areas dredged to deep water depths. But, what about all the rest of the people who who don’t live on the water or would benefit from this program? How do the other residents of Virginia Beach benefit from this project? I don’t see it either. But, we will just pay for it. If you would like to learn more about how this project will impact you and for excellent source of information on this project, go to http://www.longcreekwetlands.com. Please sign the petition.

The regularly scheduled monthly meeting for SDCC will be held 23 May, not 30 May due to the observance of Memorial Day. We will have a presentation on the new Point Chesapeake complex at where the former Duck Inn was located.

After listening to several city presentations on the proposed dredge spoils project and after reviewing the Robin Hood Woods proposal (available for viewing at VBGov.com, word search “SSD”), I believe that there are some major missing components to the city’s project.  Deputy City Manager, Dave Hansen and Water Resources Engineer, Mr. Phillip Roehrs presented the  project’s overview at the March BAC and the SDCC meetings.  According to the plan, there will be five transfer sites throughout the Lynnhaven basin where dredge spoils will be offloaded from barges and then transferred to dump trucks to be taken to a spoils dump area near Oceana..  Residents who want there areas dredged will pay into a city “Special Service District” (SSD) fund created by those residents paying higher taxes on their property for a certain period.  So, what’s missing in the city’s proposal?

Safety management.  Placing commercial barges throughout the basin, on Long Creek, offloading at Crab Creek or by the Marina Shores proposed transfer site could present a boater congestion problem.  Who will monitor the safety of these operations?  Who will have that responsibility?  The city?  The contractor?  The Police or the Coast Guard?

Scope of the project.  The city’s presentation for just one site, Robin Hood Forrest states that phase 1 will dredge over 12,500 cubic yards of materiel from that area alone. If a tandem wheel dump truck can load 10 cubic yards of materiel, how many dump trucks will it take?  How long will it take 1,250 dump trucks to transfer the spoils to the dump site?  And that amount of spoils is only for one area, not including the other areas throughout the basin.  This project will be reviewed at four years (go/no go?), but is projected to have three cycles out to 16 years. Then, the cycles could start again. This could be a very big project.

Environmental issues.  What will major mechanical dredging do to the water quality of the Lynnhaven basin?  What will be the impact on the oyster beds, fish, crabs, and the swimmers?  Mr. Roehrs stated that the project would improve the water quality. So many people have worked so hard to rebuild the oyster beds and our water quality, it would be a mistake to destroy these efforts for the benefit of maybe just 2500 home owners (number given in Robin Hood Forest brief).

Work hours.  Mr. Hansen stated that the City Council would determine the work hours for the projects, but with so much materiel to be dredged and trucked, how can that be accomplished with just a Monday-Friday 0730-sunset schedule?

Impact on Traffic.  If N. Great Neck Road will be an exit route for the dump trucks coming from Crab Creek and the proposed Marina Shores Marina dredge spoils transfer site, how will the trucks impact morning and afternoon school traffic for the three schools (John B. Dey, Great Neck Middle, and Cox HS)?  What about impact during the construction of the new Lesner Bridge.  Traffic will already be slowed by construction, what will the dump trucks contribute?

Special Service District (SSD).  How will the SSD work for the resident who wants his property dredged, the neighbors who DON’T want their property dredged, and for the taxpayer who will inevitably get involved if there are cost overruns? Who will be responsible for the project’s expense?

Who’s spoils are who’s? If spoils are dredged from one area, but the transfer site for that area is not ready yet, where will those spoils go?  Probably go to somebody else’s transfer site?  Many people believe that if the spoils came from one area, they should be hauled from that area. Otherwise, somebody else’s spoils could become your spoils.  What would be the incentive to develop other spoil transfer sites if the city could make do with a couple or two?

Perhaps the city should take a step back, hire a reputable consulting firm to find the answers to these questions. The answers to these questions should be made public at for all of our taxpayers to become informed.  The impact on our lives, our safety, and our tax payer’s dollars will be threatened if this project is not conducted with sufficient care, concern and technical oversight.  This project should never be for the benefit of just the few at the expense of the many. I think the tax payers deserve better answers.

Mayor, City Council members and Management Leadership Team will be reviewing the present Leader’s Guide 2009 for any revisions in goals and priorities for the coming years (2009-2024). This document,  available through the city’s website http://www.vbgov.com “Leader’s Guide” Summary Report is important because it forms the basis for the city’s directions during the next decade.  Each member of the city’s government, Mayor, Council member, and Leadership Team individually lists their important goals and priorities for the next decade.  As we have all seen, this city has changed considerable in the past ten year and will continue to change in the next decade. How will change be guided and accomplished?  We do have a say in the directions where we want our city to take. If we do not communicate with our city officials and our elected representatives, how will they come to know and share our ideas for our future?  Come on out to our SDCC monthly meeting, 28 March and hear Councilman Wood.

Saturday night (19 March) at approximately 2:13 AM, this writer was awakened by the sounds of a near-distant siren.  I thought that someone was being stopped for speeding along Shore Drive.  Shortly after the siren stopped, I heard 2 shots quickly followed by 4 to 5 shots.  Although not a firearms expert, but experienced enough, I estimated that it was neither near (I live in Cape Henry Shores area about one-half mile from Shore Drive), nor night maneuvers at FT Story. My wife also heard these shots waking her up. My point? When people hear disturbances such as this, please call the police 9-1-1 number.  The police quickly responded and arrived at our house within 5 minutes.  If you hear shots or see criminal activity, report it.

Mr. David Hansen, Deputy City Manager and Mr. Phil Rohrs City Public Works Engineer provided the BAC attendees with a brief overview of the city’s dredge spoils transfer project proposed for the area just east along Long Creek adjacent to the Marina Shores Marina.  The city is looking to eventually develop several sites in the Lynnhaven basin to transfer these non-beach suitable dredge spoils for disposal at the Oceana borrow pit.  Mr. Rohrs stated that the spoils will be mechanically transferred from barge to dump truck about 80% of the time.  City Council will specify and approve the hours of operations and the hauling schedule. Suitable precautions will be implemented to ensure site and area safety. Many civic associations including SDCC, Cape Story By the Sea, Cape Henry Shores and Bay Island have objected strongly to the proposed dredge transfer operation located next to the marina.  Much discussion followed Mr Hansen’s and Mr. Rohrs’ presentation.  Mrs Lynn Hume presented some particularly succinct points for both city officials to consider including zoning and safety issues.

As we were informed at the regularly scheduled Bayfront Advisory Council (BAC) meeting held this Thursday, 17 March, much is in the works for our area along Long Creek.  Marina Shores Marina is planning on an expansion to the east along Long Creek with the addition of several major floating docks to accommodate larger boats.  We have been told that the original design that had been proposed has been reworked to meet the requirements for the channel  and the estuary directly east of the marina. We are awaiting final design and dates for the required hearings for this project.  This project has the potential to significantly change our current waterway and add a commercial density that may not be in keeping with our neighborhoods’ present level of enjoyment.  As we have not yet seen the final design proposals, we can only guess as to what the new design will entail. The voiced and written objections expressed by many civic organizations including SDCC, Cape Story By the Sea, Bay Island and Cape Henry Shores have been acknowledged by both the city and the Marina Shores Marina owner, Ms. Gail Levine Biggs.  More to come shortly.

Councilman Wood has graciously agreed to come to our next scheduled SDCC meeting to discuss his vision for Shore Drive and Virginia Beach.  Our regular monthly meeting will be held 28 March at 7:30 pm at the Ocean Park Volunteer Rescue Squad station (Shore Drive and E. Stratford Rd.).  This will be a good opportunity for us to exchange ideas and to discuss what our visions are for Shore Drive, our neighborhoods, and Virginia Beach.