View article and comments at Pilotonline.com.
The Planning Commission recommended an ordinance to allow short-term rentals and home-sharing anywhere in the city if the owners register and pay occupancy taxes to the Commissioner of Revenue.
Additional requirements for short-term rentals include limiting the number of contracts to two per week, submitting a parking plan to the city to show one space for each bedroom and a cap on the number of guests allowed.
Coverage at WAVY.com about Short Term Rental public hearing at City Council last night.
The city council did not take any action.
A vote is scheduled for later this month, however a bill making its way through the General Assembly is aimed at rolling back regulations to give renters more freedom. House Bill 824, if approved, would supersede any local ordinances. On Tuesday, the House rejected the bill and the Senate requested the bill go back to a committee.
City Council is currently scheduled to vote at their March 20th meeting.
Start here to visit audio link at Google Drive.
Thanks to Mr. Phill Roehrs, P.E. Water Resources Engineer for the City of Virginia Beach Public Works Engineering, for coming out at our February 26th meeting to present and answer questions about the Lesner Municipal Wharf.
Here’s an old photo.
No need to TAKE ACTION Tuesday evening.
If you were planning to attend City Council Open Mic night tomorrow night you can change your plans.
Phase 4, when completed, will bring Shore Drive up to date with sidewalks, bike lanes, etc.
Please be sure to thank City Manager Hansen, the Mayor, Vice Mayor and City Council for doing this!
A Peer Recovery Specialist from the City’s new ‘Opioid Warm Line’ has offered to present information on opioid abuse treatment and its related revive-training opportunity at our CSBT Civic League meeting next Monday night.
Opiate use and accidental overdoses are becoming more and more prevalent in today’s society. Our presenter will share information on what the City is working on, and what we as citizens can to to assist during these crises.
Although this e-mail is sent to the Civic Association members, ALL residents are welcome and encouraged to attend this meeting to find out more about this latest epidemic. Please share this information with your neighbors, friends and others especially, those who have children or know (or are) young adults.
The CSBTS Civic League meeting starts at 7:30pm, on Monday, March 12, at the Virginia Beach Resort Hotel and Conference Center, across from Cape Henry Shopping Center. The special presentation will start at 7:30pm; those who are there only for this are free to leave afterwards, before we begin the official meeting.
Thank you,
Diana/the CSBTS Civic Association Officers
Check out the entire Baylines March ’18 edition. (4 page PDF)
Finishing the Lesner, even if it’s behind schedule, will only benefit the area, Henry said.
“We expect business to increase,” he said. “I know it will help our location and get more people to Shore Drive.”
Screen shot of construction cam from March 2nd ’18 at 11am.
From Tuesday February 27th.
Discussion includes:
Special event permits,
Home Sharing by right,
a Bill moving through Virginia General Assembly that would ban use of Conditional Use Permit(CPU) process for Short Term Rentals,
overlay districts if a community wanted them,
noise concerns,
enforcement,
grand fathering,
parking,
and more.
“Misinformation does not help anybody trying to get anything accomplished.”
~ Mayor Sessoms
Next City Council Workshop/Informal Session discussing this Monday March 6th.
City Council Public Hearing currently planned for March 6th.
City Council vote currently planned for March 20th.
“It doesn’t surprise me because Virginia Beach is a huge destination, and that makes me proud,” said Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms.
Now the mayor and city council members are working on a plan to better regulate those rentals.
(Note: The term “illegal” is disputed by many who have been following the move toward intelligent regulation.)
Join us for a discussion on the integration of two seemingly disconnected fields: Art and Engineering. Learn how the merging of creativity and calculation gives us a new perception of our community. Our distinguished panelists include:
Donald Lipski
Artist of The Canoes at Lesner BridgeChris Wojtowicz
City of Virginia Beach, Project Manager of the Lesner Bridge Replacement ProjectMel Price, Principal, Work Program Architects (WPA)
Moderated by Ron Williams, Virginia Beach Deputy City Manager
View article at Pilotonline.com:
Short-term rentals, according to the proposal, would be similar to home-sharing except the owner wouldn’t be living there. For short-term rentals, additional rules include limiting the number of contracts to two per week, submitting a parking plan to the city to show one space for each bedroom and a cap on the number of guests allowed.
Those rentals must also register with the Commissioner of the Revenue and pay occupancy taxes.
Report including video at 13 News Now.
The wharf was approved on a temporary basis back in 2012, as part of the Lesner Bridge construction. Now, the city wants to keep the wharf permanently.
PLEASURE HOUSE POINT ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIVE ARTIST RESIDENCY REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL / CITY OF VIRGINIA BEACH
Check out the exciting details here ! (8 page PDF)
Artist Opportunities at VBGov.com includes this amazing new opportunity for Ocean Park & PHP.
Great article about Kal in Pilotonline.com:
“There was so much natural beauty and opportunity,” said Kassir, who was born in Iraq. “Virginia Beach has grown up since saw it as a college student, but I’ve always loved this city.”
Some of that passion is found in his volunteerism as chair of the Bayfront Advisory Commission. The group started in 1998 . . .
Please Email City Council now. You will make a difference at OPCL.org
Dear Mayor, Vice Mayor & City Council Members,
I am petitioning you to fund Shore Drive Phase IV immediately.
Specifically:
1. Please find 50% funding for CIP 2.118.000 Shore Drive Corridor Improvements-Phase 4 in 2018.
2. Please fund 100% of Phase 4 by 2019.
Finishing Phase IV now is critical to the health of Virginia Beach. Why?
The City Council commissioned Urban Land Institute Study of Shore Drive in 1996 and City Council Adopted Comprehensive Plan in 1997 state that:
“(Virginia Beach should) Recognize and improve the Shore Drive corridor as a resort gateway community, not a resort destination.”
“Shore Drive also serves as a tourist gateway for those heading to the oceanfront, offering for many their first glimpse of the City of Virginia Beach. Therefore, it is important to make a good first impression.”
City Council previously recognized the importance of this corridor:
1. City Council created the Shore Drive (Bayfront) Advisory Committee . . .
Click to view OPCL.org page.
Opinion/Letter to the editor.
From an unedited email to us:
Hearing about the millions of dollars being discussed for the various proposed projects at the Beach astounds me. Why not devote some energy as well as funds to finish the horrible mess known as Shore Drive. The Lesner Bridge project is likely over 1 year behind schedule and much over budget. Shore Drive has to my knowledge never been completely resurfaced. The median strips east of the bridge have never been landscaped, sidewalks appear and disappear randomly and bike paths are non existent. Potholes remain untouched for years and after recent storms who knows when repairs will begin.
I see the major problem as the lack of representation from this area on city council. There is no one on the council that lives in this area. The Lesner Bridge splits our community into two zip codes and we have no one on city council that lives, works and transits this area on a daily basis. Bridge lighting works sporadically, trash on sidewalks on the bridge and sand and orange cones make it bicycle and pedestrian unfriendly.
One of the most traveled access points to the Beach deserves better as do the thousands of taxpayers. New roads, sidewalks and bike paths cover the oceanfront and the south side but sadly Shore Dr gets no attention at all.
Don Allen
Virginia Beach
Check out the entire Baylines February ’18 Edition (5 pg PDF)
The Bayfront Advisory Commission: How it all began
In early 1997, a group of small business owners on Shore Drive in the Bayfront area of Virginia Beach concluded that attention to growth and development by City staff and leadership is necessary to enhance the quality of life of one of the most desirable section of our city straddling the iconic Chesapeake Bay. . .
View entire article at Pilotonline.com:
In the future, “we don’t want to lose the option to use it as a transfer site for neighborhood dredging,” Roehrs said.
In 1972, the city bought the space – southwest of the bridge and across from a cluster of waterfront seafood restaurants – to stockpile sand for Oceanfront beach replenishment.
#WeLoveShoreDrive 