The next meeting of the Public Voices on Redevelopment Leadership Team will be Wednesday, May 25, 2005 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the same location ? Building 19 at the Municipal Center.  Building 19 faces Courthouse Drive across from City Hall.  There is a large parking lot adjacent to the building.

Please join us on Saturday June 18th at 9am for the Adopt-A-Highway Clean Up with Starbucks.

Check out photos from our last clean up together.

Remember this quote from this earlier article?
“Elminating CIP #2-857, to widen Shore Drive, would be a symbolic jesture from the City to build trust in the community that the intention is not to widen Shore Drive.”

It’s been done by Councilman Jim Wood!

Steve White – Planning Evaluation Coordinator
[encode=swhite@vbgov.com]SWhite@VBGov.com[/encode] [not case sensitive]

You can email Steve before Planning Commission Meetings and he’ll consolidate, coordinate and distribute emails & letters to the Planning Commissioners. Please be sure to write/email him in plenty of time before the approriate meeting date.

Printable Planning Commissioners Contact Info

Attention Steve White:

My husband and I strongly object to having a used car lot at the location of the old Texaco at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. It would be a blight on this beach community. If you or members of the Planning Commission have ever been to a well-planned community, you could envision having buildings and landscaping in good taste as opposed to a used car lot.

The Plannng Commission voted 9-0 to approve the proposed used car lot at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.

Next step – City Council must approve it too before it can be built.

Current list of 2005 paid members to date.
Thank you.

One view of where the proposed used car lot would go.
It’s at the location of the old Texaco at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.

Tom looking carefully in the median.

Thanks to Allen, Steve, Kyra, Chris, Kathleen, Joe, Edwina, June, Tim & Todd for helping with the Starbucks/SDCC Clean-up on Shore Drive this morning! They picked up around 10 bags of litter in a couple hours.

An intriguing idea from Richard Norman about how the city could fund purchasing PHP.

Read the entire article as the city’s response to his idea is posted as well.
[Letter from the Mayor regarding this will also be posted within this Article asap.]

by Marvin Ennis
Shore Drive residents: please copy or write a brief paper letter and send to Corp of Engineers opposing the proposed 76 slip marina in this sensitive Sandbridge area adjacent to the Back Bay Wildlife Refuge..We know what small craft including jet skiis have done to our community.  Please send by April 28 (Thursday).

Are speeding cars a problem in your neighborhood? Your NewsChannel 3’s wants to hear from Hampton Roads residents that are fed up with speeding drivers.

[Saw this story on the web. Thought you might enjoy it.]

A Japanese company and an American company decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race. On the big day the Japanese won by a mile.

[These are not the official minutes from the meeting where engineers from the City discussed studying building a 6-lane Lesner Bridge.]

Some of the highlights of the meeting, particularly the presentation and discussion of the Lesner Bridge, included information that the State and Federal Government would fund building a 6-lane bridge but would not fund rehabilitating the bridge due to it’s current condition.

The contact info for the Engineers responsible for building a 6-lane Lesner Bridge are at the end of this article.

Dear Shore Drive Residents,

Now is the time to make your voice heard?  Based on recent information received at tonight?s SDCC general meeting, there is a very good opportunity to direct some of your hard earned tax dollars back to the Shore Drive area.  Your support is greatly needed to help push for funds to be redirected to the Shore Drive area.  Help bring some of those double-digit increases back to our neighborhood.

Learned this evening at the SDCC meeting, Councilman Jones & Wood have been working behind the scenes with Lynnhaven River 2007 to get Osprey Point Nature Park built.

Notes from Shore Dr. Advisory Commission meeting April 21, 2005.

Discussion started with the Shore Dr. Demonstration Project.  The SDAC expressed satisfaction with the open communications they?ve been having with the city and the progress being made.  The city is in the process of modifying and updating the plans based on feedback from the SDAC and Councilman Jones indicating that he is working on getting the necessary funds in the budget to start the planning and design work.

They also see the study as a sign that the city wants to eventually widen Shore Drive…
But city planners said residents? fears are unfounded.

[Please note: Currently, there is official city documentation that has a right of way for 6-lanes on Shore Drive, plus turning lanes, etc. that is an encroachment on real estate on Shore Drive.]

The title could be about the Hampton Roads, Virginia Beach… even the Shore Drive area.

Demographer William H. Frey says recent retirees seek more mental stimulation and physical activity than older generations. That?s one reason they are more likely to pick nontraditional retirement communities offering universities, recreation and cultural activities.

Notes from Dorinda who attended the SDAC Meeting on April 21st.
Thank you!

After some major behind the scenes scrambling, Public works appeared at the SDAC meeting to do the same presentation for SDAC that they will for SDCC on Monday night.  They reiterated that in spite of the fact that there is a CIP on VBGov.com[page 29 of 59 of .PDF file at this link] for a 6 lane Shore Drive (in addition to the 6 lane bridge) there are no current plans for a six lane bridge.  And they continue to wonder why we don’t trust what they say.

[Please note: the image above is from an official document the city must file as part of the planning process to budget funds for the CIP or Capital Improvement Program. The document is linked to above.]