START HERE TO TAKE THE NEW SURVEY. (opens in new tab)
Some press at 13NewNow story:
Virginia Beach officials outline plans to improve road safety
After many accidents involving pedestrians, the city is working to improve pedestrian safety.
BAC, the Bayfront Advisory Commission meets at OPVRS, the Ocean Park Volunteer Rescue Squad Thursday February 15th at 330pm. Join us!
OPVRS is located at 3769 E Stratford Rd, Virginia Beach, VA 23455.
Enter door opposite Shore Drive.
BAC, the Bayfront Advisory Commission meets at OPVRS, the Ocean Park Volunteer Rescue Squad Thursday February 15th at 330pm. Join us!
OPVRS is located at 3769 E Stratford Rd, Virginia Beach, VA 23455.
Enter door opposite Shore Drive.
Learn about Complete Streets adopted by City at their website.
But Complete Streets adoption are for:
“This policy will ensure that all users are considered during the design and construction of new roadways” you say.
The point?
How is it possible, again, safety for residents & users of Bayfront infrastructure for pedestrian & cycling safety is ignored by the City?!
Hopefully there’ll be an update soon as to:
1. How this could possibly happen?!
1. How will this never happen again?
1. What time is this getting fixed yesterday to improve the safety for pedestrians and cyclists?
This completely unacceptable pedestrian & cyclist “infrastructure” has been blocked for months. Many many human beings depend on a safe area right here every day.
BAC, the Bayfront Advisory Commission meets at OPVRS, the Ocean Park Volunteer Rescue Squad Thursday January 18th at 330pm. Join us!
OPVRS is located at 3769 E Stratford Rd, Virginia Beach, VA 23455.
Enter door opposite Shore Drive.
Councilmember Dr. Ross-Hammond and Councilmember Schulman will host a joint District 4 and District 9 community meeting to update residents on current City projects and issues. Topics of discussion include homelessness, recycling, and neighborhood preservation and zoning enforcement. Attendees will also have an opportunity to have their questions addressed.
My name is Lisa Leidig and I am the president of the Lynnshore Condominium HOA. I am travelling on business and will unfortunately not able to attend the vote on Tuesday. I am speaking on behalf of my community that we oppose the closing of the public beach access at the end of Starfish Road for many reasons:
First: a public right-of-way should only be closed when there is no other alternative. Westminster has admitted that they do have a plan that would not involve closing the access. Since this is the case, this should be an easy decision to make – deny the request. You should not have to decide who is more important – the public or residents of Westminster and who is going to be inconvenienced. The only reason that Westminster wants to close the public beach access is that a handful of people expressed concern about walking through a parking garage. I am sure that Westminster has a contingency plan to protect the residents and prevent public access to their buildings. So is it better to inconvenience the thousands of people that use the Starfish beach access to accommodate a few people by making them walk through a garage? Why is it constantly ok to impact the public and residents but not Westminster?
Second: With the pier remaining, there is a problem when we have persistent northeast winds or a storm off our coast – the winds push the waves up to the point that during the periods around high tide (2 hours before and after) the beach west of the pier is inaccessible due to the water rising and being pushed up past the fencing under the pier. This has happened 5 times this year since September (once this past week) and even resulted in significant dune loss in front of Casa de Playa.
Third: Perception. Closing this access provides the perception that the beach in front of Westminster’s property is now private. I have had conversations with residents of Westminster and they stated that they “couldn’t wait until the beach is private and THOSE people (pointing to fisherman/crabbers) won’t be able to come down here anymore”. WC is also leaving the stairs from the bulkhead to the beach, further cementing the perception that the beach is now private. Surf Rider foundation advocates that public beach access remain public – https://www.surfrider.org/pages/policy-on-beach-access – excerpts such as “Development must not be allowed to interfere with public access”, “The public should be afforded full and fair access to beaches which are public trust resources by minimizing the possibility of impediment including development”, “Should not be burdensome for the potential beachgoer to utilize”.
Fourth: Ben Unkle has said that this new beach access is more convenient to “everyone”. That is simply not true. Anyone that lives on Starfish road – the access is more inconvenient. For anyone riding HRT route 35 which drops off in front of Westminster, this is not more convenient. For anyone wanting to access the beach and are crossing Shore Drive at a crosswalk (there are two – one at Starfish, the other at Great Neck) – this is not convenient. For anyone wanting to sit west of the fishing pier, this is not convenient. Ben Unkle has also said that the beach access bisects Westminster property – while that is now a correct statement, the access was in existance long before they bought the properties. Westminster took a chance by buying these properties with full knowledge of the public access. Do not punish the public for a risky venture made by Westminster.
Fifth: The sidewalk on the south side of Ocean Shore and Starfish Road is almost impassible. It has not been maintained for years and the sidewalk is blocked by shrubs and growth. The City had also just spent public dollars to repair the beach access at Starfish road so those improvements are wasted money if you allow the access to close and be torn up.
In closing – this should be an easy decision to make as Westminster has a plan to work around the public beach access. Deny the request and keep our beach access public and open.
Sincerely,
Lisa Leidig
President, Lynnshore Condominiums
xxxx Starfish Road
757-xxx-xxxx
[T]he City is set to realize about $20MM in proceeds from the sale of easements to Dominion Energy for their Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project, and Staff is recommending that nearly half of those proceeds be appropriated to Shore Drive Phase IV ($6.98MM) and to Pleasure House Road Phase II ($1.36MM) & Shore Drive Phase III ($ 2.24MM).
Please email Mayor & City Council to support this vital funding: citycouncil@vbgov.com
City Council vote is on November 21st 2023.
Pleasure House Road Phase II
View coverage at 13NewsNow.com.
Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles data shows just this year, there were three pedestrian-involved crashes on Shore Drive, one of which ended with a fatality.
“I hope that we actually see some action on these throughout the city… because safety is the biggest priority, I think within all of our communities,” Murphy said.
Please take the Local Road Safety Action Plan SURVEY now!
That blockade to pedestrians & cyclists to safely navigate is at southeast corner of Shore Drive & Pleasure House Road where there is NO contiguous sidewalks on north side of Shore Drive. Minimum of dozens of pedestrians & cyclists commute through this area daily.
PRESENTATIONS/PROJECT BRIEFINGS
1) Skip the Stuff Presentation by Molly Jones and Lexi Bradshaw
2) Update from JLL re: beach access at Westminster Canterbury by Amanda Logsdon
3) Cape Henry Trail update from David Plum
OPVRS = Ocean Park Volunteer Rescue Squad. Please enter at door opposite Shore Drive.
Check out Agenda above!
Many items being discussed including:
Change 1: Route 35 Trolley
⬆️ Greats news!
From Councilman Schulman:
Good afternoon,
You are receiving this message because you are a civic league or HOA president in a neighborhood in close proximity to Shore Drive in District 9.
As you may recall, due to inflation, supply and labor challenges, stormwater requirements, and other factors, the estimated cost to complete the projects in our Capital Improvement Program grew by nearly $180MM as the Council considered the 2023-2024 Budget. Consequently, the Council made the difficult decision to delay/defer several roadway projects, including Shore Drive Phase IV (Marlin Bay Drive to the Lesner Bridge) and Pleasure House Road Phase II (Shore Drive to Lookout Road). Money that was originally budgeted for these projects was redirected to other projects (like Shore Drive Phase III, to the east of the Lesner Bridge) in order to lessen the impact of additional cost escalations, because they were closer-in-time to construction.
Over the last 7 months, I’ve been working with City Staff to impress upon them the importance of these projects to our residents – and I’ve been challenging them to find ways to re-resource these projects so that they do not slip further away from us in both time and projected cost.
Thankfully, the City is set to realize about $20MM in proceeds from the sale of easements to Dominion Energy for their Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project, and Staff is recommending that nearly half of those proceeds be appropriated to Shore Drive Phase IV ($6.98MM) and to Pleasure House Road Phase II ($1.36MM). Although we still have a ways to go to get these projects fully-funded, this is a very significant development because it gets us back on track after the setback we experienced earlier this year. We are also working on some interim pedestrian safety improvements along Shore Drive that are meant to last until Phase IV is constructed. These funds will help with this initiative as well.
The reason I am contacting you is because the appropriation of these sale proceeds requires the passage of an ordinance with the affirmative vote of a majority of the Council. There will be a public hearing about the appropriation of these funds tomorrow night at 6pm during our City Council’s formal session. The Council will vote on the ordinance and the appropriations at our November 21st meeting.
While I do not think we need speakers at the public hearing or for the vote on the 21st, I think it would be extremely helpful if your organizations would consider sending a letter to the Council supporting the ordinance and the appropriations made therein. You can feel free to send a letter on your organization’s letterhead, and you can also encourage your residents to email the Council at citycouncil@vbgov.com to voice their individual support. Additionally, if you have relationships with other members of the Council, I would encourage you to express your support to them as well.
A copy of the public hearing notice, some background information and the ordinance itself are attached for your reference.
If you have any questions, or require additional information, please let me know.
Thank you!
Joash
Joashua F. “Joash” Schulman
VIRGINIA BEACH CITY COUNCIL
District 9 Representative
C: 757-840-1291 | JSchulman@vbgov.com
http://www.virginiabeach.gov
Bldg. 1, Suite 2047
2401 Courthouse Dr. | Virginia Beach, VA 23456
Note: Emphasis ours.
Great Neck Rec Ctr, 11/14, 6-8 p.m.
Princess Anne Rec Ctr, 11/29, 6-8 p.m.
Urban Forest Management Plan Feedback Survey.
CITY COUNCIL INFORMAL AND FORMAL SESSIONS
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2023. JOIN US!
2 items:
Previously Fitch Downgrades Westminster-Canterbury on Chesapeake Bay (VA) Rev Bonds to BB+.
And:
I 1.VACATION OF EASEMENT
20’ public access easement at 2454 Starfish Road
Vote Tuesday on VACATING easement is one step in process before beach walkway can be built.
Note: Wetlands Board unanimously approved this design recently. That approval was Appealed to VMRC. Appeal failed. After WCCB builds this walkway it’s believed their plan is to give it to VB tax payers. Who will pay for it to be maintained and rebuilt?
City Council Agenda November 14 ‘23 (488 page pdf)
City is looking for feedback from YOU about road safety.
Start here to learn more & take the interactive survey.
OPVRS = Ocean Park Volunteer Rescue Squad located at 3769 E Stratford Rd, Virginia Beach, VA 23455.
Please enter door opposite Shore Drive.
Thanks to Hank for the Agenda!
NEW BUSINESS
1) Proposed HRT Transportation Service Plan (TSP) for FY25 – Proposed service
adjustments for Bayfront HRT lines and requested changes for Route 35 Trolley.
The Public Workshops will consist of a short recap presentation on themes developed in the Focus Groups and the Vision Mapping process. We will then proceed to break out into small groups to provide more direct, specific feedback on each of the draft themes. The Vision Map will take the draft themes of balanced growth, sustainability, connectivity, diversity, and wellbeing, and apply them to areas of the city to create a framework of how the city should grow and develop over time. There will be an interactive planning exercise in our small groups.
The workshops will be held at these times and locations:
There is no need to RSVP to these workshops. We estimate this meeting to run about 1.5 to 2 hours. Please pass along the information to your friends, family, neighborhoods, colleagues, youth groups, civic leagues, faith groups, etc.
Here’s where we are so far.
As always, for more information or if you have any outstanding questions, please reach out to me at RacMiller@vbgov.com or Hank Morrison, the Comprehensive Planning Administrator, at JMorrison@vbgov.com.
You are aware about the reality of sea level rise(SLR) correct?
#WeLoveShoreDrive 