The study’s findings carry far-reaching implications that could help shape costly infrastructure improvements in the future.
Proposed solutions would cost between a few hundred thousand dollars to more than $50 million for comprehensive improvements. The study, which is still a draft, looks at possible conditions — and the feasibility of potential fixes — under both 1.5 and 3 feet of sea level rise, focusing on chronic or nuisance flooding and not factoring in possible storm surge events.
Please note: Floatopia did not take place in “Chicks Beach”. It was in Ocean Park.
Large amounts of trash left on beach after ‘Floatopia’ upsets Virginia Beach residents Wtkr.com
“Lots of floats, lots of wood, lots of things to party with. Beer cans and different types of food. Sock were everywhere,” Marino said.
Appalled and disgusted by the trash, long time Virginia Beach resident Melissa Noel posted a video to Facebook to help spread the word of keeping the beaches clean.
10 tons of trash collected after Floatopia event at Chic’s Beach WAVY.com
“All kinds of garbage, trash, bottles, towels, pieces of clothing, mats, cans,” said Drew Lankford, with the City of Virginia Beach Public Works Department.
Video of the trash quickly went viral on social media causing a lot of anger among the community.
“You know, it’s not a whole lot of effort to clean up after yourself,” Lankford said.
‘Floatopia’ beach-goers leave 10 tons of trash at Ocean Park beach 13NewsNow.com
“It was really bad, it was a disaster,” he said. “I think the city management needs to really take a look at Floatopia and what it does to the community, around here.”
10 tons of trash collected from Virginia Beach after Memorial Day event MSN.com
City council member Michael Berlucchi criticized the mess left behind.
“We can do better than this! Let’s work together to keep our City beautiful,” he wrote.
10 tons of trash collected from Virginia Beach after Memorial Day event TheHill.com
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Just one of the many videos on social media.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx97LYnByZ-/?igshid=1w514xgfatsi2
View invitation to attend Outreach meeting.(2 pg PDF)
This spring’s Outreach meeting will be held on Thursday, June 20, 2019 during the regular BAC meeting. The community input will begin shortly after the 3:30pm meeting start time. The meeting will be held at the Virginia Beach Tennis and Country Club, located at 1950 Thomas Bishop Lane (2nd floor meeting room), Virginia Beach, VA, 23454.
Download Bayfront Advisory Commission (BAC) Strategic Plan.(2 pg PDF)
Bayfront Advisory Commission (BAC) Strategic Plan
2018-2019Mission
The mission of the BAC is to review and make recommendations to the City Council regarding public and private projects and issues associated with the Bayfront area, and projects or issues associated with the Bayfront area that the City Council may refer to the Commission.
Committees
Executive – Kal Kassir Chairman
Design – Joe Bovee Chairman
Communications – Scott Ayers Chairman
Transportation – Charles Malbon ChairmanHigh Priority Project Items
Funding Phase IV roadway improvements ( Shady Oaks to west base of Lesner bridge )
Water issues
Drainage/Stormwater
Dewberry/Sea Level Rise Study
City Marina Development
City Wharf/Osprey Park
Pedestrian walkway under bridge (from Vista Circle to Page Avenue)
Sand replenishment
Cape Henry
Ocean Park Beach
Crab Creek
Infill development
Address what the nature of the “Bayfront” should be
Determine future look (preserve commercial, address vacation rentals)
Work with Planning on Comprehensive Plan
Landscape design of Route 13 and Shore Drive interchangeHigh Priority Communication Items
1. Schedule department heads for briefings
2. Reach out to City’s Communication office and Drew Langford, Public Works
3. Make regular City Council connections
4. Renew existing partnerships and seek out new
5. Look for new Commission talent, especially multi age group
6. Focus on marketing “Who is BAC”
7. Review capital projects in Bayfront AreaOngoing Concerns To Be Monitored
Shore Drive roadway improvements phases II,III,IV
Update Shore Drive design guidelines
Beach replenishment
Development review coordination with city staff
Live Oak protection
Beach interpretive signs / bike parking and beach access
Recognition awards
CIP projects – identify and get annual updates
“No Parking” signs clearly defined within neighborhoods
Community signs as developed by BAC
Code revisionsLiaisons, Partnerships and City Staff Support
City Council (liaisons Jim Wood & Louis Jones)
City Attorney
Conventions and Visitors Bureau
Public Works
Parks and Recreation
Planning
First Landing State Park
JEB Little Creek – Fort Story
Planning Commission
Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel Commission
Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Friends of Live Oaks
Hampton Roads Sanitation District Commission
Lynnhaven River NOW
Public Art Foundation
Resort Advisory Commission
Shore Drive Community Coalition
HRT
Virginia Beach Public Schools
Phase IV will dramatically upgrade Shore Drive in Ocean Park.
The City Is Hosting a Series of Sea Level Rise Public Meetings at VBGov.com.
Virginia Beach Public Works has announced a series of public meetings with Old Dominion University in May and June concerning the City’s efforts in developing a comprehensive flooding response plan for sea level rise. Working with Dewberry, Public Works Engineering has been conducting studies and developing long-term plans to combat the growing risks and projected effects of sea level rise throughout the city.
Read May 15, 2019 Subject: Cape Henry Beach Replenishment-Project Update #1 letter (1 pg PDF)
We will be requesting that citizen’s personal property (volleyball courts, catamarans, beach furniture, etc.) be removed from the beach or safely secured and stored in its entirety on top of the dunes (where practical) before the project reaches your area.
View article including some of the proposed plans at Pilotonline.com:
“This is probably the biggest threat that faces our city. We really need to take this seriously,” City Councilwoman Rosemary Wilson said at a meeting Tuesday night. “These are huge, huge numbers. It’s very frightening.”
The city is still months away from deciding how to move forward.
No doubt you are aware the probability of your taxes going up to pay to mitigate for sea level rise is roughly 100%.
“Dewberry” Search results at SDCC.info.
Comprehensive Sea Level Rise and Recurrent Flooding Response Plan at VBGov.com.
June 5, 2019 – Princess Anne High School (Lynnhaven)
We are working with the City to have a Public Hearing located in the Bayfront area.
The same information will be available at each of the 5 public meetings. The presentation at the beginning (approx. 10 minutes) will be focused on the watershed (Atlantic, Lynnhaven, Elizabeth and Southern) will be tailored to the location. The revised dates and locations for the meetings are as follows:
May 29, 2019 – Virginia Aquarium (Atlantic Ocean)
May 30, 2019 – Kempsville High School (Elizabeth River)
June 3, 2019 – Kellam High School (Southern)
June 5, 2019 – Princess Anne High School (Lynnhaven)
June 6, 2019 – Creeds Elementary School (Southern)
From Baylines May 2019 Newsletter:
The Bayfront Shuttle, Hampton Roads Transit’s Route 35, resumes service May 20, running every 30 minutes between Shore Drive and Pleasure House Road and Rudee Inlet. This will be the third year for the bus route that connects the Bayfront with the Oceanfront. Passengers will be able to buy tickets on their mobile device this year by downloading the GOHRT application.
One new tweak to Route 35 will have the shuttles jog north to the Fort Story gate for those passengers who want to visit the Cape Henry Lighthouse and other public attractions on the base, eliminating the need to hike from Shore Drive to the 89th Street gate.
The base runs shuttles from that gate to the lighthouse, which reopened last weekend after a renovation and dune restoration project.
Our ROUTE 35 page at SDCC.info.
View May 2019 Baylines Newsletter
Route 35 shuttle resumes; Light reopens
Ballyhoos makes permit presentation
Bike trail at State Park studied
and more . . .
HOW GREAT WOULD THAT BE !?
The FY 2019-20 budget increases the funds designated for these areas in the six-year Capital Improvement Program (CIP) by 41%.
View article at Pilotonline.com:
Phil Kellam, commissioner of the revenue, said that’s about five times the normal rate of potential improper listings.
A city consultant is looking into every advertisement.
View article at Pilotonline.com:
After the judge’s decision, McFarland said it was too early to decide if he and his client would appeal the ruling.
The FLYING GARBAGE they/we are speaking of are deadly helium balloons that are plastic garbage when they land.
Two new balloon sculptures at the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center are not just works of art. The oversized sea turtle and butterfly are also displaying an ugly picture of balloon debris and its damaging effects on wildlife.
Visit & learn more about the amazing Virginia Aquarium here.
You can learn more about the FLYING GARBAGE at BallonsBlow.org here.
All released balloons, including those falsely marketed as “biodegradable latex,” return to Earth as ugly litter. They kill countless animals and cause dangerous power outages.
Balloons are also a waste of Helium, a finite resource. Balloons can travel thousands of miles and pollute the most remote and pristine places.
CRS ?
The National Flood Insurance Program’s (NFIP) Community Rating System (CRS) is a voluntary incentive program that recognizes and encourages community floodplain management activities that exceed the minimum NFIP requirements.
You may recall we’ve been lobbying for it since 2014. An article on our website here.
You may also have attended one of our meetings with reps from CoVB doing a presentation followed by a Q&A. Check out more posts about CRS on this website here.
The news about CRS at VBGov.com.
The CRS uses a 10-level (or point) scale to evaluate efforts. Each level below 10 receives a 5% discount on flood insurance premiums. The City will join the program as a Class 7 community, which reflects the significant investment being made to mitigate flooding issues throughout the city.
View the PDF of the presentation slides made to City Council.
The PDF includes contact info for the amazing Whitney McNamara if you have questions.
btw – with more work there’s a chance VB might be able to earn a 20% discount.
Started yesterday.
Apparently the City was inspired to replace the honor system with the new required metered parking because of so much abuse including some ignorant users of LBR&BF mouthing off to Parks & Rec staff who work their.
For those who don’t pay, you will be ticketed and may be towed. New box is self explanatory.
New scoop we just learned over the weekend after meeting one of the people whose been working on this.
Thanks to the amazing work Dewberry has done so far studying sea level rise and storm water issues in Virginia Beach, the Brock Environmental Center being located here and the fact the Shore Drive community is at the top of the list of biggest impacts to VB – a new potential solution will be tested here.
The working group will be looking for property owners who can plant trees in the Phase 3 area to help mitigate storm water. The City will also be planting more trees as well.
There’s been a breakthrough in the science of designing trees to increase Photosynthesis and surprisingly it’s palm trees that have the biggest bang for the buck.
You may remember Photosynthesis is one of the functions of a tree that pulls water from the ground – thereby mitigating the increase risk from sea level rise and storm water increasing due to more storms.
You’ll be seeing a palm tree lined Shore Drive once Phase 3 is complete.
It’s too early to know exactly what they’ll look like at this point but the other benefit to the design is the ease of transplanting them to different variations as they’ll have monitoring equilement on them to test the efficiencies of the trees.
Part of the working groups public comment includes gathering input for what would work best for our area including our climate of course.
Note: I’m excited about the testing of new science here. Just not happy it didn’t turn out to be live oaks that will be studied more.
News includes losing funding for Riverwalk walkway, Phase 3 update, Phase 4 being unfunded, Baylake Pines getting speed tables, fireworks and more.
The Virginia Beach Police Department will be hosting a community forum Wednesday, April 10 at 6:30 p.m. at the Law Enforcement Training Academy (411 Integrity Way) to gather public feedback.
It will be used in considering a proposed change to City Code Section 6.5 (animals on the beach and adjacent areas) for the City Council’s consideration. The proposed change would require all dogs to be leashed on City beaches at all times. Other restrictions in the code would remain unaffected.
Editors note: It would be great if fines for unleashed dogs & not cleaning up were aggressively enforced at our VB Parks too.
That’s additional $180 / year.
About 23 percent of the proposed budget would go toward funding stormwater. To compare, in 2017 — the year Hurricane Matthew hit — the city had set aside just 9 percent.
Over the last two years, 33 incidents involving dog bites occurred on the city’s public beaches, and more than half of the aggressors were unleashed dogs, according to data provided by Conti.
#WeLoveShoreDrive 