RESOLUTION PASSES – FEB. 28TH
The Resolution to REMOVE the Maple Street site as a potential dredge spoils transfer site for the neighborhood dredge program was unanimously approved by City Council tonight.
The Resolution at SDCC.info.
From LongCreekWetlands.com.
View article and video at WAVY.com.
You read that right folks, Pleasure House branded oysters!
Read the entire article at Pilotonline.com:
“Can you imagine what’s in there?” he asked.
Ludford doesn’t have to imagine. Like a growing number of commercial oyster farmers in Virginia, he knows exactly what’s inside his brand of bivalve – in Ludford’s case, a plump mouthful of meat that starts with a bracing blast of brine and finishes with a rich oyster flavor and a speckle of sweet.
Yes we can imagine what’s in there Chris!
Imagine how incredible it is that VB Fireman Captain, and waterman from a family who’s done it for generations, has the entrepreneurial spirit to brand and work his lease for Pleasure House oysters right about the time the City of Virginia Beach is poised to protect Pleasure House Point forever.
Photo Credit: Tim Solanic
View Ocean Park drainage improvement public meeting presentation 2-23-12 [32 page PDF.]
Thanks to City Staff & reps from Parsons Brinckerhoff for working on this challenge and for having the presentation on Feb 23rd.
From Bikeways & Trails Advisory Committee:
Shore Drive bike lanes
We are very excited to see progress on one of the Top Priority Infrastructure
Projects in the Bikeways and Trails Plan: bike lanes along Shore Drive, from
the Bayside area to the Oceanfront — generally, the four-mile section
between Fort Story and First Landing State Park. Through the Mayor’s
leadership in meeting with cyclists around the City and working with City
staff, funding was found in the current budgets to make this happen.
Construction is occurring right now, with completion of the eastbound side
expected in March 2012.
Click here for a printable version of the agenda SDCC Agenda Feb 2012
Shore Drive Community Coalition (SDCC) General Meeting
Monday 27 Feb 2012
SDCC General Meeting – Monday, Feb 27, 7:30 – 9:00 pm
Ocean Park Volunteer Rescue Squad Station (Intersection of Shore Drive and East Stratford Rd.)
Call to order
Presentation:
Beaches & Waterways Advisory Commission Final Report to City Council Jan 2012, Impacts on Shore Drive communities
For Important information concerning neighborhood issues, dredge spoil project, Lesner Bridge replacement and Long Creek
http://www.longcreekwetlands.com
Officers’ Reports
President’s Report – David Williams
Vice President’s report-Vacant
Secretary’s Report – Todd Solomon – Minutes of the Nov Meeting
Treasurer’s Report – Carol Collins
Update on issues: City Budget, School Budget, Pleasure House Point
Old Business
New Business
Adjourn
Next SDCC- March 26, 2012
Ocean Park Volunteer Rescue Squad Center
Speaker- To be announced
Please check http://www.sdcc.info for more information on area news and events
From an email posted unedited with permission:
Dear Neighbors,
Sid and I attended Thursday’s Bayfront Advisory Committee meeting. The Assistant
City Manager and City Staff were there to present plans for the Lesner Bridge
replacement AND Building a Permanent Industrial Site at Crab Creek.There are several distinct issues that you should know about:
1. The Lesner Bridge replacement is vital – the City plans to use the Crab Creek
“spoils” site for construction staging for the bridge over the two or so years
it will take for the project. I feel that we as homeowners should accept that.
The Bridge’s condition is currently rated lower than the one in the Midwest that
fell a few years ago. During the construction there will be up to 100 truck
trips daily through the boat ramp and out to Shore Drive via Piedmont Circle and
E. Stratford Rd. There will be a “temporary” barge docking station built for
barging materials to the site.There will be noise and other usual construction
site impact. Beach access via the boat ramp facility will be curtailed during
the construction. Boat launching will remain open. While this is unpleasant, it
seems to be a necessary , but temporary, inconvenience.2.Currently, CLEAN sand from dredging of the Crab Creek Channel occurs once
every year or two, or when weather causes sand movement that requires it to keep
the channel open for boaters. Again, I feel that since we, especially homeowners
with boats on the creek, benefit from this, it is a necessary nuisance. The
city stockpiles this sand on the site for future use for sand replenishment
along the bay or elsewhere in the city.We certainly also benefit when sand is
replenished on our nearby beach.3. THIS IS WHAT WE NEED TO FOCUS ON: The City has renewed its interest (that wefought in 2008) in putting a permanent dredge transfer site with Barge off-loading station at Crab Creek to receive and truck out the MUCK dredged fromneighborhoods such as Witchduck Point, Thoroughgood Manor, Church Point, and Saw Pen Point, who want their channels dug for their boating pleasure, but do notwant the inconvenience of the dredge transfer station in their own backyard.
If this is built, we will experience: barges offloading 40-50 truckloads of
dredge spoils a day, and those 40-50 trucks, averaging THIRTY-FIVE TONS
traveling across the cross-walk between the boat ramp bath house and the
boardwalk to the beach, and out to Shore Drive via Piedmont Circle and E.
Stratford Road. Barges may impede boat traffic in the boat channel. The dredged
muck in this process is thick and foul-smelling, not the clean sand that is
dredged from the Crab Creek channel. Beaches and Waterways Commission has
recommended limiting to 30 trucks per day for no more than two 90-day cycles per
year. It is unclear what the time-of-day restrictions may be for dredge transfer
work. The City said, regarding the Lesner Bridge construction, that time-of-day
work would depend on the contractor proposal…
If the engine noise and beeping you heard during the Crab Creek sand dredging
was troublesome to you, imagine adding the 30 or 50 large trucks per day I
personally found the noise alone to detract from my enjoyment of my porch. I
wonder if those along the creek will be able to use their back decks.4. THIS ALSO DESERVES OUR ATTENTION:
The City Staff of VIrginia Beach now say they will use the future Permanent Dredge Transfer Station for other uses: possible staging for other construction, docking of working barges that currently moor in the Lynnhaven River for oyster reef work, dredges,etc.The City, at Thursday’s meeting expressed assurances that they are sensitive to boaters and fishermen. They expressed no concern for homeowners.
I hope you all will join us in opposing a Permanent Dredge Transfer Station at
Crab Creek. Please email City Council and the Beaches and Waterways Commission and the Bayfront Advisory Committee members with your opposition to the proposed Dredge Transfer Station at Crab Creek.
Use my letter (posted below) if you like.Here are all the email addresses to copy.
Cut and paste these email addresses for sending your letter:
tfraim@masacorp.com,
CMOffice@vbgov.com,
ctycncl@vbgov.com,
David@sdcc.info,
wsessoms@VBgov.com,
lrjones@VBgov.com,
gdavis@vbgov.com,
bdesteph@VBgov.com,
bdyer@VBgov.com,
bhenley@VBgov.com,
juhrin@VBgov.com,
rwilson31@cox.net,
jlwood@VBgov.com,
abarnes@vbgov.com,
kkassir@aol.com,
yiayia223@aol.com,
tanklines@aol.com,
jjma6@aol.com,
joeb@HBAonline.com,
normcarrick@cox.net,
dsparks@wcbeach.comThank you,
Wendy Vaughn
Previously at BoatRampClosing.com in 2008/09 when the plan to allow personal and public unknown dredge spoils and other material be barged to, and trucked from our beloved Lynnhaven Boat Ramp & Beach Facility. That plan was officially killed in April 2009.
### BEGINNING OF SAMPLE LETTER ###
[CHANGE TO APPROPRIATE INFO]> As homeowners in Ocean Park Virginia Beach, adjacent to Crab Creek, we want to express our strong opposition to using Crab Creek for a Permanent Dredge Spoils Transfer Site for the following reasons:
* Operating barges in close proximity to the recreational boating channel at Crab Creek poses dangers to boaters, kayakers, and paddle-boarders. The channel is narrow. The City Boat Ramp at Crab Creek encourages the use of the channel for these recreational activities. This is a conflict.
* Use of dump trucks through the boat ramp parking lot, over the pedestrian crosswalk from the bath houses to the beach, and through the residential neighborhood poses dangers to adults and children, bicyclists, fishermen, and motorists.
* Use of barges in the Lynnhaven Basin creates a danger to the Lesner bridge. Over a year ago a barge did hit the Lesner Bridge.
* Quality of water at the beaches surrounding the Crab Creek sand berm is jeopardized by unloading of spoils. Quality of the sand the City currently reclaims from the channel for use elsewhere is also jeopardized.
* Noise pollution from engines, trucks, and beeping disrupts the quiet in the neighborhood. We currently experience this up to three months a year from the Crab Creek channel dredging. And the noise pollution is late at night and early in the morning. It is not equitable for us to be subject to it for many more months because those who will benefit from the dredging in their neighborhoods do not want the spoils transfer to take place in their neighborhoods.
* Quality of air is jeopardized by diesel equipment and odors from dredge spoils.
* Potential loss of equity in our home is unfair in order to benefit other neighborhoods.
Our position has not changed since we voiced our opposition in 2008 along with the Ocean Park Civic League and many other Ocean Park homeowners.
We ask that you complete the Thalia transfer station before determining the need for additional stations, and that studies be done by an independent third party to evaluate the concerns listed above. We also ask that you review the Ocean Park Civic League objections and citizen response to the 2008 proposal for a spoils transfer station at the Crab Creek site.
The Lynnhaven Boat Ramp at Crab Creek is a clean, safe, quality recreational facility – a Virginia Beach success. Please consider the risk of damaging the Lynnhaven Boat Ramp. And please consider the risk of damage to the quality of life in our neighborhood.
Respectfully,
YOUR NAME
YOUR ADDRESS
### END OF SAMPLE LETTER ###
Read the entire resolution in this PDF [1pg].
The resolution is being scheduled for vote at City Council on Tuesday February 28th.
Or… ask any Shore Drive resident what they love about their home, and our area’s natural beauty will most certainly be at the top of the list.
Sabrina of Ocean Park allowed us to post her words, unedited, below:
Today, I found four discarded fluorescent tubes in one of the beach garbage cans, which says to me that someone didn’t feel like taking them to a landfill (or Home Depot or Lowes) where they could be disposed of properly, but instead carried them out on to the beach to leave them for a crew which is unlikely to be equipped for hazardous waste. It also means they didn’t care if the bulbs got broken, thus allowing the [fluorescence’s] mercury lining to leak onto the sand and wash into the Chesapeake.
The garbage that we allow onto our land and into our waterways is not just ugly, it is deadly. Plastic bags, balloons, and shiny wrappers are a significant choking hazard for marine animals such as dolphins and sea turtles. Ocean birds starve to death every day with stomachs full of undigestible, brightly colored plastic that has built up over time; birds cannot pass this through their systems and ultimately have no room to swallow anything that has nutrition.
Ask an Ocean Park resident what they love about their home, and our area’s natural beauty will be at the top of the list. Perhaps we who purport to appreciate our surroundings could take responsibility for our own waste– and maybe even pick up something that was left behind by someone else.
Sabrina originally wrote this in Ocean Park’s Facebook Group yesterday.
Thank you Sabrina.
Photo Credit: KEVIN J O'HARA
Read entire article in Pilotonline.com:
He climbed into the vehicle through a passenger window, told the women to remain calm and kicked out the windshield to help them out of the vehicle.
Wally lives in Chicks Beach & does a bunch of great volunteer work.
You might have walked on some of his relentless hard work. The sidewalk on Greenwell Rd.
Way to go Wally!
Hooray!
From an email:
IMPORTANT NOTICE: There will be a meeting of the Ocean Park Civic League on February 23rd beginning promptly at 6:00 p.m. at the Ocean Park Rescue Squad Building to address drainage improvements to Ocean Park. Please spread the word to your neighbors who may not be on our email distribution list. Below is the information from the City representative who will be conducting the meeting:
> Dear Mr. Thomas,
>
> I am a Project Manager with the City of Virginia Beach Engineer’s Office. We have recently developed alternative drainage improvement plans for the Ocean Park – South neighborhood and would like to hold a Public Information Meeting at the Ocean Park Rescue Station on Thursday, February 23, 2012 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The purpose of the meeting will be to update the residents about our recent evaluations and receive input from the citizens and Civic League regarding a preferred drainage improvement alternative. Vice Mayor Jones has received a verbal notification of this meeting.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Michael S. Bumbaco, PE
> City of Virginia Beach
> Public Works Engineering/Water Resources
Emphasis ours.
Read entire editorial at Pilotonline.com.
Also – it looks like City Council will be voting in March or April to permanently preserve Pleasure House Point forever.
Read the entire article at Pilotonline.com:
Kal Kassir, Bayfront Advisory Committee president, said that while safety was group members’ No. 1 concern, the resulting view also helps advance their goals.
“This is a gateway corridor to our city,” he said, “and the new footbridge and view of Bayville Farms Park enhances the natural beauty of the area.”
Previous post on this new awesome bridge at SDCC.info.
Pedestrian bridge was one of the recommendations that came out of the Shore Drive Safety Task Force [SDSTF] that you first heard about here.
You can view the PDF of the SDSTF recommendations[PDF] unanimously accepted by City Council in 2006.
Learn more about Shore Drive Topics at VBGov.com.
Thank you for this new awesome bridge! Shore Drive is a little safer because of it.
Hooray!
“We’re very pleased to team up with ParksByNature, the VAFP and Imperial to bring this exciting new smartphone application to the public,” said Joe Elton, state parks director for the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. “This is a cutting-edge 21st century technology brought to the market by a dynamic 21st century public-private partnership.”
The app offers users increased performance and activation speed with multi-tasking capabilities, enhanced user navigation, detailed park maps and an interactive GPS mapping guide for use in areas with little to no mobile reception.
Use the photo waypoint feature to snap a photo and mark and record the coordinates of plant life, animal species or landscape views. Post or share these remarkable finds with family and friends with the click of a button.
Interactive GPS feature for on/offline use
For more adventurous outdoor enthusiasts, try your hand at one of our GeoChallenges, which includes geocache and geoquest activities and games.
This is the City’s Joint Permit Application(JPA) that could impact Maple Street and/or Lynnhaven Inlet Placement site.
The Mayor’s email response:
Dear Empsy:
Thank you for your recent email, on behalf of the Cape Story Civic League, regarding the dredged transfer facility site.
City Council just received the Beaches and Waterways Advisory Commission’s report in response to the tasking we gave them on specific areas of the Neighborhood SSD Dredging Program. We are in the process of reviewing that report, along with staff.
The City’s application to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) for the construction of the mechanically dredged material transfer site has been returned to staff, and until we on City Council make a decision, the application is not active. Public Works Water Resources staff has submitted a renewal permit application to VMRC for maintenance dredging of Long Creek due to shoaling in the channel. This renewal permit application is in the public review stage. On January 20th, City staff provided additional information to VMRC for the application. VMRC requested this information prior to forwarding notification letters to the adjacent property owners about the renewal permit application. We hope residents are not opposed to our keeping the navigation channel open. I believe you may have also been in communication with Mr. Justin Worrell at VMRC and should have been advised this work could be performed by either hydraulic or mechanical dredging.
As to your request that we withdraw our appeal, we believe that the Board of Zoning Appeals’ decision has other ramifications which we need to consider as part of our appeal process. Our City Attorney has kept our options open by filing for an appeal. Our final actions have not yet been determined.
The adjacent parcel to the dredged material holding area is zoned R-7.5. I can ask staff to look at your request that the property to the east of the dredged material holding area be rezoned P-1 and am supportive of this request. A subdivision may be required so that we can continue to use the dredged material holding site for operations referenced above.
I hope this information is helpful. Your input is appreciated. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I may provide any additional assistance.
William D. Sessoms, Jr.
Mayor
City of Virginia Beach
Office of the Mayor
2401 Courthouse Drive, Building 1, Room 234
Virginia Beach, VA 23456
757-385-4581 (MAIN)
757-385-5699 (FAX)
wsessoms@vbgov.com
Empsy Munden is the President of the Cape Story by the Sea Civic League.
More at VBGov.com Neighborhood Channel Dredging.
Virginia Marine Resources Commission.
Read and watch story at WAVY.com:
Police say a woman in Vista Pointe Condos reported that early Wednesday morning she saw a stranger peaking through her window. The woman, who lives on the first floor, had just gotten out of the shower when she saw the man.
Our condolences to her family and friends.
“Judy” made a huge difference in Ocean Park, the Shore Drive community and Virginia Beach and undoubtedly every where she lived.
“Judy’s” obituary at Pilotonline.com:
Among her many activities, she was a member of Ocean Park Civic League, Ocean Park Womens Club, Virginia Beach Council of Civic Organizations, Bayfront Advisory Committee, Retired Officers Wives, member of board of directors of the Francis Land House, was the first women appointed to the Virginia Beach Board of Zoning Appeals and Past Regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Public Works has installed a device similar to this in the Crab Creek out fall storm drain system. The device should help prevent catastrophic tidal flooding from storms like Nor ‘Ida in 2009, over ~$150,000 worth of damage, and Irene in 2011. The pneumatic plug device is a temporary solution. The permanent solution is the plan to move the Crab Creek out fall line to the pump station late in 2012.
You’ve seen the contractor Tri-State cleaning storm drains in Ocean Park around the Ocean Park Baptist Church area.
I was just assured by the contract supervisor for the City of VB that the contract cleaning will be completed, then service requests by home owners will be completed in the next couple weeks. That includes lines on the pump station, and also the Crab Creek out fall line.
They are not only cleaning, but also using the fancy movie camera in the storm drain looking for damage or issues thing too.
#WeLoveShoreDrive 