Category Archives: Environment

32nd annual Clean the Bay Day(s) info!

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Any help with promoting and getting people to participate would be much appreciated!!

  • Instead of Clean the Bay Day being one day, we are going to have it run for six days (Monday, May 31 to Saturday, June 5). During that time, we are giving participants the option to either do a litter clean-up, plant a native plant, and/or install a rain barrel.
  • Also, during the six days, participants can choose the day, the time, and – if you have permission to be on the property – the location of the litter clean-up.
  • Registration is free and is required to participate. People can register either as an individual participant or join/create a virtual team. Visit www.cbf.org/clean to register now.
  • We are encouraging communities, schools, localities, public officials, or even a group of good friends to create a virtual team. A virtual team picks up litter separately and logs the clean-up numbers under a shared survey link. Once a participant submits their data, we have created an interactive dashboard that shows all of the teams totals in real time. This dashboard will have social sharing capabilities and is an excellent way to drum up some healthy competition when you include #cleanthebayday in your post!
  • We are also holding a Clean the Bay Your Way Photo and Video Contest. The contest is free to enter and all you have to do is submit a photo or video is the data collection survey when you have completed your Clean the Bay Your Way activity. Below are the list of prizes.
  • Gift certificate for 25 raw oysters from a Chesapeake Oyster Alliance partner
  • Pair of REI Flexlite Camp Chairs
  • REI Soft Sided Pack-Away Cooler
  • 12-month pass to Virginia State Parks
  • North End Bag Co., The Bank Note Bag.
  • Taste Unlimited Gift Basket


2021 Clean the Bay Day

Social Media Toolkit

Short Link: www.cbf.org/clean

Full Link: www.cbf.org/events/clean-the-bay-day

Sourced* Facebook Link: https://www.cbf.org/events/clean-the-bay-day/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com

Sourced* Twitter Link: https://www.cbf.org/events/clean-the-bay-day/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=t.co

*Sourced links help us better track how people access certain pages on our website. If you’re able to use these links when sharing on your Facebook and Twitter accounts, it will better assist us as we design a social media strategy for this event in the future!

Hashtag for All Platforms: #CleanTheBayDay

Secondary Hashtags: #SaveTheBay #ChesBay

CBF Accounts to Tag:

Facebook: Chesapeake Bay Foundation

Instagram: @chesapeakebayfoundation

Twitter: @chesapeakebay

LinkedIn: Chesapeake Bay Foundation

Photos and Graphics: bit.ly/CTBD21Toolkit

Sample Posts:

Join me/us and Chesapeake Bay Foundation for #CleanTheBayDay, taking place this year from May 31 to June 5!

Clean the Bay YOUR way during this year’s week-long #CleanTheBayDay! Show your support for the Bay by picking up trash, planting a native plant, or installing a rain barrel. Registration is now open: 

Clean up litter, win great prizes, and Save the Bay. Join us May 31 through June 5 to Clean the Bay Your Way.

Join us and thousands of Virginians across the state during the first week of June as we work to make the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers and streams cleaner and healthier! Participate this year from wherever you are in the watershed and connect with our #CleanTheBayDay community online. Registration is now open!

Join us for a socially distant way to #SaveTheBay! We’reworking with Chesapeake Bay Foundation for #CleanTheBayDay, taking place this year as a six-day virtual event.

We’re proud to participate in #CleanTheBayDay this year from May 31 to June 5! Visit cbf.org/clean to find out how you can get involved, too!

Clean 💧 = happy 🐟 🌱 🦀

Join us and Chesapeake Bay Foundation to clean Virginia’s rivers, streams, and the Chesapeake Bay!

Thirty-three years strong, #CleanTheBayDay is a true Virginian tradition—join us anytime during the week of May 31 to do something great for the Bay. And don’t forget to share your progress online!

In 2019, you helped remove roughly 45,000 pounds of debris from the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers and streams. Think you can help us clean up even more this year?

#CleanTheBayDay is just a few weeks away! Have you registered yet?

You don’t want to miss out on this Virginia tradition. Join us and Chesapeake Bay Foundation virtually from May 31 to June 5 for #CleanTheBayDay!

When we come together—even virtually—we can #SaveTheBay! Join us and Chesapeake Bay Foundation from May 31 to June 5 for #CleanTheBayDay and participate from your own location in the watershed!

The #ChesBay needs you. Join us during the week of May 31 for an annual Virginia-wide cleanup to stop trash from polluting our waterways and the Bay! 

Did you forget to register for #CleanTheBayDay? That’s OK, there’s still time to sign up and we’d love to have you join us for this year’s virtual event!

“What exciting outcomes can students get if they’re not in a traditional learning environment?”

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Exciting coverage of environmental education in OCEAN PARK on PHP!

“I am certain you recall the significant destruction left in the wake of the 2019 Floatopia event that elicited substantial lawlessness and resulted in extensive beach debris – literally tons of debris was scattered across our beach and in the Bay for residents and City workers to clean.”

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May 23, 2021

The Honorable Robert M. “Bobby” Dyer, Mayor
2401 Courthouse Drive,
City Hall Building #1, Room 281, Municipal Center
Virginia Beach, VA 23456

RE: Floatopia, Memorial Day 2021

Dear Mayor Dyer:

I am writing you with immediate and great concern. The Ocean Park bayfront community has once again been targeted as the location for the unsanctioned Floatopia event on Sunday, May 30, 2021. The event coordinators, Matthew David and Stephen Hobbs, are specifically targeting the Lesner Bridge channel and eastern Ocean Park beach. This concern is evidenced in the below social media posts.

https://www.facebook.com/events/502077557583511/?active_tab=discussion
https://www.facebook.com/stephen.hobbs.12/posts/4109547002422470

I am certain you recall the significant destruction left in the wake of the 2019 Floatopia event that elicited substantial lawlessness and resulted in extensive beach debris – literally tons of debris was scattered across our beach and in the Bay for residents and City workers to clean. It was so destructive that it garnered attention from both national and international media. Attached are notes taken from the emergency Ocean Park Civic League meeting in the aftermath of the 2019 Floatopia, which many of you may have attended.

Mayor Dyer, We cannot allow this event to occur on our beaches again!

We, as a community in Ocean Park, are wholly opposed to this event and the terrible impact it had on our small community, as well as the terrible environmental impact left in its wake (beach and bay debris left behind to pollute our land and beaches and the untold impact on countless native species of fish, birds and other native animals).

Memorial Day weekend is just a few days away, and time is of the essence! With such a short window of time to act to prevent the Floatopia organizer(s) from unleashing another international debacle on our community again, our residents require immediate communication from you regarding the City’s plan to prevent a repeat of the 2019 disaster. Please respond with details as soon as possible and we will share your response with our residents.

Very respectfully,

Daniel Murphy
Ocean Park Civic League President
president@opcl.org

Cc:James Wood, Vice Mayor/Councilmember, Lynnhaven District #5
Louis Jones, Councilmember, Bayside District #4
Patrick A. Duhaney, City Manager
Paul W. Neudigate, Police Chief
Captain Jeffery Wilkerson, Commanding Officer 3rd Precinct
Mark Shea, Comprehensive Planning Coordinator, Bayfront Advisory Commission
Phil Davenport, Chairman, Bayfront Advisory Commission
Todd Solomon, Shore Drive Community Coalition
Chief, Prevention Department, Commander Dean Horton, Sr., U.S. Coast Guard
Frank Rabena, Vice President, Virginia Pilot Association

PREVIOUSLY: EMERGENCY MEETING Over 200 people attended including the Mayor, 2 Councilmen, City Manager, Public Works Director, 3rd Precinct Captain, Deputy Fire Chief, Deputy City Manager & other leadership.

Over 200 people attended including the Mayor, 2 Councilmen, City Manager, Public Works Director, 3rd Precinct Captain, Deputy Fire Chief, Deputy City Manager & other leadership from CoVB.

National & local coverage of FLOATOPIA trashing Ocean Park including videos & photos

You have questions about SeeClickFix abrupt switch to VB Works? We don’t have answers.

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We’ve been patiently waiting for feedback about the abrupt switch that happened last week. We’ve reached out to several people & added a Request using the Guest feature of VB Works and haven’t heard back yet.

A few of our questions are:

Will SeeClickFix Account be automatically migrated to VB Works?

Will custom maps created in SeeClickFix be automatically migrated to VB Works?

Will current open SeeClickFix issues be automatically migrated to VB Works?

What should SeeClickFix users do and when?

Will your office put out guidance about the switch?

We also have some questions about Privacy as the new company behind VB Works – Incapsulate, which is a subsidiary of Sales Force, asks for what appears to be an enormous amount of information to use VB Works. We could find no info about ThreeOneOneCapsule.

We’ve also asked about the details for each item Sales Force is requesting to use the VB Works app system.

We sincerely hope VB Works becomes as popular as SeeClickFix was!

Recent screenshot within the last week since SeeClickFix was stopped being used.
Screenshot of VB Works moments before this post.

If you have any feedback about the switch, please let us know!

May 24th 730 OPVRS SDCC Meeting save the date!

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We’ll be safely meeting in Ocean Park Volunteer Rescue Squad May 24th at 730pm.

Join us!

Brad Vanderwarker & team from Public Works Stormwater Engineering will be providing an update on what’s happening east of Lesner Bridge.

They’ll be answering your questions too,

Join us! More details to follow.

Curious about Phase 3? It’s start has apparently been pushed back to late 2022 and Phase 4 has also been pushed back several years.

“More Virginians could receive discounts soon on flood insurance as part of an expansion of a little-known federal program. The Community Rating System, or CRS, reduces peoples’ flood insurance premiums if they live in cities that take steps to mitigate flooding.”

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Learn more at WHRO.org.

People in less vulnerable areas receive limited discounts. Residents who are not required to have flood insurance but still do are not eligible for any discount.

Starting in October, that will change. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which oversees the rating system, says all policy holders in a locality will receive the maximum flood insurance discount regardless of their flood risk or type of policy.

LAWSUIT against VIRGINIA BEACH CITY COUNCIL APRIL 29 2021 re: WCCB

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Ocean Shore Condominium Association v. Virginia Beach City Council

Case # CL20006718-00

April 29 Thursday 2:15PM

Virginia Beach Circuit Court

Previously: Multiple Shore Drive Condominium Associations has organized a GoFundMe FUNDRAISER & LAWSUIT vs City of Virginia Beach & WCCB to stop precedent setting high rise in Shore Drive community subjectively approved by 5 City Council members

WCCB Category at SDCC.info here.

Ocean Park fingers crossed on track to get sand from CBBT in August 2022

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BAC Presentation for sand starts ~ 15 minutes in. Screenshots of slide show below. All aerials taken at low tide. Pretty cover of Ocean Park taken after sand restoration in 2013. LBR&BF currently has about 50,000 cu yards. Maple Street 15,000 cu yards.

Commonwealth of Virginia Selects Dewberry to Assist in Developing Coastal Resilience Master Plan

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View entire press release.

Among its many achievements in the coastal adaptation and protection space, the Dewberry team has played a significant role in developing the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Master Plans, and was the lead consultant on the City of Virginia Beach’s recently completed Sea Level Wise planning project.

“Three miles of coastline — from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel to east of the Lesner Bridge — will be replenished, possibly starting in November.”

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Hooray!

Learn more at Pilotonline.

“Up to $9 million is available in Virginia Beach’s coastal programs capital improvement fund to pay for it, said Dan Adams, who manages the program.”

“The curriculum is focused on hands-on experiments and solving real environmental problems, meant to put students in the world around them every single day, Freeman said.”

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In new environmental studies program, Virginia Beach students get a hands-on experience at Pilotonline.com.

“This isn’t a school. This is not at a school setting,” Freeman said. “It’s sort of redefining what a classroom looks like.”

To say we’re excited about this unique learning experience that we’ve been working on making happen since 2003 would be a profound understatement!

The first time the idea was written up in The Virginian-Pilot.

Public Works – Stormwater Engineering has scheduled a virtual open house meeting for the Lake Bradford / Chubb Lake (CIP 7-053) project on Thursday, November 12, 2020 between 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

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Email update:

Folks/Bradford-Chubb Project Followers: 

The City of Virginia Beach’s Public Works – Stormwater Engineering has scheduled a virtual open house meeting for the Lake Bradford / Chubb Lake (CIP 7-053) project on Thursday, November 12, 2020 between 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.  For information to join the meeting virtually, please visit the project website: http://www.vbgov.com/LakeBradford.

Due to the Covid-19 public health crisis this meeting will not be held in-person and instead we will utilize a virtual platform to host this meeting and continue providing project updates and introduce the upcoming construction projects.

As most of you know, we held an open house/public meeting in November 2019 to hear from residents in the area regarding their flooding concerns and to assist in developing a program of drainage improvements.  We received valuable input and feedback from the community and are looking forward to our continued coordination.

Since we met last November, the City and RK&K have made progress on the drainage study and develop a concept of improvements to help mitigate flooding.  This concept requires further analysis and the drainage study is anticipated to be completed by the end of next summer.

This will be an informal open house public meeting and will begin with a 30 minute presentation providing an update on the Lake Bradford/Chubb Lake Drainage Study as well as introduce the upcoming Lake Pleasure House Outfall and Lake Bradford Dredging construction projects.  Public Works representatives from the City of Virginia Beach will be available to answer questions via the virtual platform following the presentation.

After the presentation, we request attendees complete an online survey to provide feedback on the presentation as well as any comments or concerns for the upcoming construction projects.  A link to this online survey will be provided on the project website.  Our previous survey was very successful and provided valuable input on flooding concerns in the area.

Again, we want to thank each and every one of you who have participated in some way:  attending the meeting, marking maps, taking the survey, emailing us your thoughts and comments, and all the other ways you have contributed.  We feel strongly that this can be a very successful project with your suggestions and feedback.  

Please contact us at lakebradford@vbgov.com with your comments and questions.  Also, go to our website at http://www.vbgov.com/lakebradford for updated information. 

If you have any pictures of flooding, please email them to stormpics@vbgov.com.  Please include the location, date, and time the picture was taken.

Again, thank you for your participation in this project and we look forward to continue working with all of you.  Please stay safe during this difficult time.

 

Matthew Richardson, Project Manager

Lake Bradford / Chubb Lake Drainage Study (CIP #7-053).

Public Works – Engineering

757-385 -4131

“There were many more people who were interested in participating in the action but as a practical matter, the number of clients needs to be manageable and these 4 Petitioners are very representative of those adversely effected [sic] by Westminster Canterbury’s approved expansion,” Lauer wrote.

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First coverage at 13NewsNow.com:

In the last six days, a GoFundMe launched to raise money for the petitioners has raised more than $13,000.

Visit GoFundMe FUNDRAISING page.

Multiple Shore Drive Condominium Associations has organized a GoFundMe FUNDRAISER & LAWSUIT vs City of Virginia Beach & WCCB to stop precedent setting high rise in Shore Drive community subjectively approved by 5 City Council members

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Westminster Canterbury Expansion-Stop City Council GoFundMe FUNDRAISER link:

Virginia Beach City Council has approved plans to allow a 22 story building expansion of Westminster Canterbury. This will create  a structure rivaling Town Center and potentially supporting other high rise development in the Bayfront neighborhoods along Shore Drive.  This precedent setting decision was based solely on the opinions of 5 Council Members and not based on quantifiable City codes or requirements. 

VIEW LAWSUIT v. VIRGINIA BEACH CITY COUNCIL, CITY of VIRGINIA BEACH, WESTMINSTER-CANTERBURY on Chesapeake Bay ( 29 page PDF )

Over $11,000 has been raised in just a couple days.

Join us & many others who don’t want to see the Shore Drive community & potentially other areas of Virginia Beach have an explosion of density & high rises due to this arbitrary decision made by 5 people.

Westminster Canterbury Expansion-Stop City Council GoFundMe FUNDRAISER link:

Virginia Beach City Council has approved plans to allow a 22 story building expansion of Westminster Canterbury. This will create  a structure rivaling Town Center and potentially supporting other high rise development in the Bayfront neighborhoods along Shore Drive.  This precedent setting decision was based solely on the opinions of 5 Council Members and not based on quantifiable City codes or requirements. 

“Between now and when the first shovel hits the ground, we’re in ‘let’s stop this thing as it stands’ mode”

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Story including video at 13NewsNow Ali Weatherton report.

Mayor Bobby Dyer said his goal is to form a group with community members and the developer to talk about the plans and to keep everyone in the loop.

That’s great news Mayor!

That group being formed now would only makes sense if City Council voted to RECONSIDER.

Horse leaving the barn already & all that.

Bay Vista on Shore Drive in Ocean Park was RECONSIDERED in 2003.

“Mass, density” & “precedent setting” were several items RECONSIDERED by a thoughtful City Council once they learned more.

Councilmember Sabrina Wooten said, “Thank you for your inquiry. Please note that I have not been briefed on this matter in detail. I am not aware that the vote was ruled or determined to be unfair in any way. Thank you for your kind attention to this matter.”

We’d love your reply Councilmembers:

Council Members Berlucchi and Wooten should explain their reasons for support. Since the approval of the WC expansion was based solely on Council opinion, all the members provided explanation for their votes except Council members Berlucchi and Wooten.  A decision that changes the future of the Bayfont demands that they explain why they ignored the community’s concerns and voted in favor of the project.

SDCC asks City Council to Reconsider Vote on Westminster Canterbury High Rise High Density Development

PRECEDENT SETTING CITY COUNCIL MEETING, TESTIMONY & VOTE VIDEO ON WCCB IS LIVE

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VOTE!

“Under question is the 250-foot height of the proposed tower, which is taller than would typically be allowed for senior living housing. Planning Director Bobby Tajan has said that the council has the option to waive height requirements through the conditional use permit process.”

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View article at Pilotonline.com:

“We don’t want a Town Center on Shore Drive,” Solomon said. “Once developers know they can get council to buckle, the developers will start lining up to build high rises on Shore Drive.”

Briefing about beach replenishment using sand dredged from CBBT channel

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Briefing includes delay of sand for Ocean Park & no mention of using sand from Lynnhaven Boat Ramp stock pile which is located there to be used for emergency beach replenishment work according to City Staff in Public Works.

View briefing slides that will be presented to City Council tomorrow.

“It’s so tiny that it’s going to immediately diffuse into the environment. And plastics last, depending on the plastic, hundreds or thousands of years. That’s why we say it’s effectively permanent”

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View WAVY.com for story.

“It was horrible. It was all bunched into all of the grasses, getting into the water. Just clearly a detriment to the animals around here. So, it was upsetting, to say the least.”

REWARD TO FIND PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE INFO HERE