Read the 7 page ordinance.

The following was received from Chris Neighborhood Watch Coordinator for Cape Henry Shores:

Residents of Cape Henry and Cape Story suffered another power surge today (Thursday, June 10).  As many have suffered damage the last two times, it would be wise to check your electronics and appliances again today.  If you have any damage, please send it to me and i will forward to Dick Robbins who is working on our behalf with Dominion Power. 

Chris W.
Neighborhood Watch Coordinator

Editorial in the Pilot for Friday June 11th:

The vote last week was the fastest and least expensive way to make the four-lane road less deadly, and the council, lately a sharply divided group, was smart to speak in a united voice.

[Note: This Editor believes it is absurd that some people have written that they think this was a negative decision and a 25 MPH Speed Limit is next. Also, when the data is made public, people will see drunks crossing Shore Drive was never the issue.  Speed, driving distracted, poor decision making and more all contributed. Finally – killing the image that Shore Drive is an interstate needed to die. Not more people. If you don’t want to help make Shore Drive safer – go around.]

Dear Vice Mayor Jones and Councilman Wood,

Please accept our thanks for your bold initiative in reducing the speed limit from N. Great Neck Road to Pleasure House Road recently.  We understand that this is not a permanent measure, and that studies must be performed and other safety improvements made to the infrastructure of Shore Drive.  However, your action to implement a speed reduction in the interim has made many feel that at least some effort is being made by the City to improve safety conditions.

We realize that this has been a contentious move, and we would have you to know that for all the negative comments posted online and in the newspaper, we have heard just as many (if not more) positive responses from the residents along the Corridor.  You have both been in public service long enough to know that the “aginners” are typically more vocal than the proponents.

The Shore Drive Community Coalition (SDCC) would like to lodge a formal request that the City Council resurrect the Shore Drive Safety Task Force (SDSTF) which did such fine work from 2005-2006.  We respectfully request that the revitalized SDSTF take the same form as the original.  That is to say, that the appropriate City Staff, representatives from the Bayfront Advisory Committee (BAC), SDCC and representatives from the bicyclist community comprise the panel, under the oversight of a Deputy City Manager.  Other members might be assigned at the discretion of the Deputy City Manager in charge.  I believe that Charles Meyers was the Deputy City Manager assigned this role in the original SDSTF.
Once again, we thank you for the courage and concern you have demonstrated in this matter, and your enduring service in all matters of benefit to the City of Virginia Beach.

Very respectfully,
Grace Moran
President, Shore Drive Community Coalition

More at League of American Bicyclists:

To register for this course, contact:

  Bruce Drees
  Phone: 757-647-3987
  Contact Email:
  Website: http://www.hrcyclist.info

Signup required in advance? Yes
Special signup instructions: Please contact the instructor at to reserve your seat today!

Equipment required: bicycle, bike helmet

Take a minute and click here.

From Mike & Rick:

Ocean Park Friends and Neighbors,

          I hope everyone had a terrific Memorial Day weekend.  Through the weekend we have collected just over $3500.00, cash in hand towards our deposit for the professional fireworks show on the beach this 4th of July.  We need $6000.00 total to put down the deposit for the fireworks by the end of the week.  I know many of you are sitting on the fence, or a taking a wait and see attitude.  I’ve had folks pledge well over the amount we need for our deposit, but I haven’t actually received the money yet.  If you want to see a professional fireworks show on our beach this 4th of July it’s time to act.  Please go to OPCL.org and click on the “Fireworks” tab to donate via Paypal.  We greatly appreciate everyone’s support thus far, there’s no donation that’s too small, every cent helps.  Band with your neighbors and make this grassroots effort a success and honor the founding of our country with a community fireworks show.  If you have any questions about this show, or just want to get more details, don’t hesitate to call or e-mail me.

Thanks again,

Rick Mercadante
President
Ocean Park Civic League
mercadante@cox.net

35!

From Pilotonline.com:

“The slight inconvenience is certainly worth the enhanced safety,” Wood said.

Thanks to every one involved in getting the Lynnhaven Boat Ramp & Beach Facility walkway completed in time for this weekend.

Op-Ed in in Pilot today entitled Slow down on Shore Drive, read & comment at Pilotonline.com:

As long as vehicles use Shore Drive as a highway while throngs of people cross it to get to the beach, restaurants or bars; as long as cars fly past runners and cyclists on the way to the state park; as long as the scenic connection between Chic’s Beach and the Oceanfront continues to be a fully developed community bisected by a speedway, we will continue to see casualties.

City engineers argue that more speed reductions aren’t necessary, that expanding the 35-mph zone to west of the Lesner Bridge wouldn’t keep people safe. But it would give drivers – and pedestrians – more time to adjust to the fact that they’re on a four-lane road in the middle of a commercial and residential district, not on a highway in the country.

Envision Transportation in Hampton Roads:

The Hampton Roads Center for Civic Engagement, in partnership with the City of Virginia Beach has started a new public conversation about transportation possibilities and their far-reaching impacts.

This project combines the power of visual imagery, new means of information distribution, and the extraordinary value of involving the community in imagining its transportation future.
During the process, citizens will have opportunities to outline future choices and express their preferences.

At Pilotonline.com:

Obviously, Shore Drive is not the safest road in Virginia Beach. No road is perfectly safe. Among the city’s major roads, Shore Drive is about average in terms of safety. While the accident rate overall does not show anything unusual, the long history of pedestrian accidents indicates that a closer look needs to be taken.

You can read and comment at each link.
25 mph at night, 45 dayNo more Shore Drive barsNo harm in cutting speed

There are many online resources available which can help you to become better prepared for the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1-November 30.

Check out some of the following sites below for information and recources on hurricane preparedness:

  *  http://www.ready.gov 
  * http://www.ready.virginia.gov
  * http://www.vdem.state.va.us
  * http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

Also,  see the forwarded e-mail below from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM).  May 25-May 31 is Virginia’s Hurricane Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday Week .  For a complete list of emergency preparedness items that fall under the hurricane preparedness sales tax holiday week, go to http://www.ready.virginia.gov/

Thanks everyone,

Jolynn Turner
Emergency Planner
Virginia Beach Dept. of Public Health
4452 Corporation Lane
Virginia Beach, VA 23462
Office:  757-518-2784
Mobile: 757-438-0381
Fax:    757-518-1393

From Mike/Rick:

Ocean Park Friends and Neighbors,

          A lot of you have been wondering what’s going on with the fireworks show for this year.  Our long pole in the tent was getting a barge and a pier to load fireworks.  We got a barge just before the deadline, but we were not able to get a loading dock to load the fireworks on the barge in time to get our Coast Guard Permit.  The Coast Guard requires a minimum of 60 days to file the permit, and we have passed that point.  So for 2010, there will not be a barge fireworks show out in the bay.  We only started this effort in late March of this year, and I’m confident that we will have time to get a barge and loading pier in plenty of time to make this happen for 2011. 

          However, I got confirmation today that here in Ocean Park we could have a beach based Fireworks show.  The permit applications are due to the city by the 3rd of June, so we only have a couple weeks to get the funding together.  We need $10,000.00 to pay for the fireworks and all the required permits, as well as delivery and cleanup.  I have seen an example of what kind of show Applied Pyrotechnics can do for that amount and I think it would make everyone happy.  The widest point of the Ocean Park Beach is by the access at Rockbridge road, so this is where we’ve targeted the show. 

          So here it is.  We have 10 days to come up with $10,000.00.  I have about $500.00 in the bank now, and pledges for $500.00 more.  By June 3rd I have to have the $10,000.00 in hand.  If you want fireworks on our Ocean Park beach this July 4th you need to either go to OPCL.org and donate money using the fireworks link, or drop off a check made out to OPCL fireworks committee at my house at 3920 Shady Oaks drive.  I think we can reach our goal for a beach show this year, but it we don’t, we’ll bank the money and use it towards next year’s barge show.  If we don’t hit our goal and you’d rather have a refund, let me know and I’ll make that happen.  All of you who have told me you want fireworks to happen, it’s time to step up and make this a reality.

            If you have any questions you can contact me using the below info.

Rick Mercadante
President
Ocean Park Civic League
mercadante@cox.net

At Pilotonline.com.

Update from Grace:

In a follow-up phone call with Councilman Jim Wood, we have some clarification on the http://www.sdcc.info billboard posting of this morning.  In point of fact, the company did not submit the request for the ordinance.  Councilman Harry Diezel introduced the request for the ordinance, and the company (Adams Outdoor) was merely the strongest, if not the only, supporter.

There has been a request from Adams to defer the vote indefinitely, but they cannot withdraw it, they can only request the deferral.  As of this moment, the item is still on City Council’s agenda for tomorrow, but it might not come to a vote. 

From an email:

Here is the weekly update on the Beach Access Projects. Overall, the contractor has performed as expected. Delays have been due to material delivery delays and inclement weather. I anticipate, without any further delays, at least 6 of the 9 accesses will be open by 05/28/10.  The projected substantial completion and all opened to the public by 06/04/10.

Kendall Street – Complete and open to the public on 05/18/10

Sandalwood Rd. – 98% complete and open to the public on 05/19/10 – ADA hand railing will be delivered by Monday 05/24/10 and installed immediately. This installation will take about 4 hours

Lynnhaven Marina – 75% complete as progress is going forward – Remaining work to be completed are the decking, handrails and stairway landing & steps. Projected to open to the public 05/26/10.

Ketch Ct. – 25% complete – sidewalk demolition and vinyl sheeting installed

Ocean Shore Ave. – 15% complete – demolition completed and vinyl sheeting to be installed today

Whaler Ct & Spinaker Ct. – Demolition and sheeting to be completed by 05/21/10 and all flowable fill pours are scheduled for 05/24 & 05/25, weather permitting. High early concrete walkways will be poured 05/25 & 05/26.

N. Great Neck Rd. – 85% complete with handrail system remaining. Handrail system to be delivered 05/21 or 05/24. Projected opening date to public 05/24/10

Velzey Ave. – Upon completion of Lynnhaven Marina Access – Velzey will be the last to be constructed – Projected opening date to the public 05/28/10.

Be advised, due to inclement weather on 05/17 & 05/18, we lost 2 days towards construction.

Should you have any questions regarding the above, please contact me.

Very truly yours,

Karl L. Smithson, APM
PW/Operations Mgmt.
385-1540

Drew Lankford
Media and Communications
Department of Public Works
City of Virginia Beach
dlankfor@vbgov.com
(O)  757.385.8062
(C)  757.409.4353

From the Pilotonline.com article including being able to comment and a Poll entitled Should Virginia Beach lower the speed limit to 35 mph along the stretch of Shore Drive where a teacher was hit and killed?

Ten pedestrians have died in the past eight years on the 11-mile road that stretches along the Bay before ending at the Atlantic Ocean.

It’s actually at most a 6 mile section where 10 pedestrians have died.

A safety task force created in 2005 after five pedestrians were killed on Shore Drive will probably be reconstituted.

The Shore Drive Safety Task Force was never dissolved. It’s recommendations where adopted by City Council in 2006, and have not yet been completed.

[L]owering the speed limit would not have a significant impact, because the stopping distance for cars would not change much. (The per-second stopping difference between 45 and 35 mph is about 15 feet.)

According to the Virginia Driver’s Manual, cars on dry level pavement stopping distances are from 35mph – 135 ft, from 45mph – 195 ft and from 55mph – 265 ft.

Update: From Commonwealth of Virginia Legislation:

46.2-880. Tables of speed and stopping distances.

All courts shall take notice of the following tables of speed and stopping distances of motor vehicles, which shall not raise a presumption, in actions in which inquiry thereon is pertinent to the issues: Click to view table.

Back to select quotes from Va Pilot article & feedback:

The challenge from a traffic engineering perspective is to move motorists through the area while making it’s safe for cars and people within the corridor.

“It’s a huge conflict,” Gey said.

In case you haven’t read the entire Shore Drive Safety Task Force Recommendations, located at VBGov.com here, this is a small excerpt:

Central to this evaluation will be the understanding that Shore Drive serves as the sole east-west transportation corridor in the City north of the I-264 / Virginia Beach Boulevard corridor. As such, from a land use perspective, it needs to be considered as a multimodal corridor and not solely as a vehicular corridor. Increased densities of development in the corridor demand that pedestrian amenities are more fully addressed in all aspects of the development process, from the rezoning and conditional use permit stage through to the development plan approval and inspection stage. The goal of improving the level of transportation services for a wide variety of users – pedestrians of all types, cyclists, in-line skaters, varied recreational users, transit users, as well as vehicle operators – and the interrelationships between these various users and land uses in an area characterized as being first and foremost as a resort community and not as a resort destination is suggested. Accordingly, both public and private proposed development criteria need to be evaluated from a multimodal perspective to ensure that the needs of these varied users are addressed. Since increasing roadway capacity in the area has strict limits, given the City Council directive that Shore Drive remain a four lane facility for the foreseeable future, greater emphasis needs to be placed on reducing intra-corridor trip demand, particularly where non- vehicular transit among various uses in the corridor can be promoted and encouraged.

Emphasis mine.

Vice Mayor Louis Jones and Councilman Jim Wood, who represent different sections of Shore Drive, said they would support lowering the speed limit if that’s what residents wanted.

Public Works page includes links to:

Construction drawings are being prepared for storm drainage piping along Poinciana Drive from Maple Street to Sandalwood Road. When the drawings are 60% complete, they will be presented to the public for review and comments. Construction and maintenance are planned for Poinciana Drive and along the Cape Henry Trail in Fall 2011.

Cape Henry – Cape Story Map

Overall Map

Draft: Shore Dr. Area Flooding

Lynnhaven Colony Map

Draft Report Cover

Shore Dr. Flooding West of Lesner Bridge page at VBGov.com should be public soon – the draft report from study how to fix tidal flooding is not quite ready yet according to P/W.

Fixed the link to the City’s Pedestrian Survey Form that we posted back in December 2007 at this post.

Here’s the 4 page PDF to refresh your memory.

Hopefully the results will be available to the public soon.