The City’s public PR disaster over this project continues.
Full version of District 9 public meeting.
The shortened version missing 35 minutes recently shared.
The lack of attention to detail and continued PR disaster about this project starting in October ‘25 is truly astonishing.
Questions still remain unanswered such as why were only $30,520 worth of saplings planted – less than mulch for said saplings – vs staff recommended $1,562,665 for tree canopy replacement?
Note: City Council can choose to accept, fine tune or ignore staff recommendations when seeking guidance about Ordinances they Adopt.
A RESOLUTION ADOPTING A REFORESTATION POLICY passed unanimously by City Council and was Adopted May 19 2020.
Strongly encourage you to watch the entire public meeting & in particular the Q&A which starts about 40 minutes in.
A comment: Zero live oak lumber was preserved. Public Works Director LJ Hansen misspoke about that. There were also another number of glaring errors in the presentation & answers in the Q&A. These errors are also on the public record based on FOIA documentation. Still remarkable the lack of detail about this highly controversial project & PR disaster.
Applicant & Property Owner: Shore Drive Area Properties, LLC
Planning Commission Public Hearing: June 10, 2026
City Council District: District 9 (Schulman)
Select screenshots from application.
Still fascinating how City gives only 6 days instead of 30 to review submitted Planning Commission applications.
Public Comments
A sign-up sheet for those interested in speaking in person on proposed applications is available in the Council Chamber prior to each Planning Commission meeting.
Those in need of reasonable accommodation due to a disability should also call the Planning Department prior to the meeting. People who are hearing impaired can contact Virginia Relay at 711 for TDD service.
An opportunity to transplant live oak trees, The City Tree, which may be destroyed for Westminister Canterbury new parking garage to these proposed condos. Homes with mature tree canopy typically sell for 3% to 15% more than similar properties without tree cover.
Councilmember Schulman will host a District 9 community meeting on Monday, June 8, to update residents on Pleasure House Point. The agenda will include a progress update presentation with time for questions and a general Q&A session with the council member. The meeting will be 6-8 p.m. at Williams Farm Recreation Center.
Note: Councilman Schulman at last Bayfront Advisory Commission Meeting (BAC) when asked if he had any updates on City Staff Recommendations driven by the RESOLUTION ADOPTING A REFORESTATION POLICY UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED MARCH 11 2020 by City Council he mentioned city staff would answer the question why the recommended $1,562,655 for Pleasure House Point (PHP) 5,214 trees – tree canopy destruction in March ‘25 – has been replaced so far by 703 trees & according to public records the contract shows $30,520. 1/50th of staff recommendations.
Additional note: It is up to City Council whether they choose to follow, fine tune or ignore staff recommendations.
Google Earth satellite images above. The destroyed $353,874 of annual economic value is publicly available information calculated by the City.
The over $1,000,000 worth of wetlands grasses & shrubs planted look great in person btw!
“Can you imagine if there were six duplexes, with six foot privacy fences, on pilings, how much that would change the nature of the park,” she said in a Wednesday afternoon interview.
City leaders plan to use a combination of grant funding and open space money to help cover the cost of the acquisition, including $300,000 in approved grants.
AS SPECTACULAR AS THIS IS THERE’S STILL WORK TO BE DONE!
Encourage City Council & sign & share the PETITION to preserve the parcels that are along the walkway from Marlin Bay to Brock Environmental Center.
The tree canopy.
Our vital tree canopy. 5,214 trees were destroyed last year for the planned Wetlands Mitigation Bank. Currently $30,520 has been invested in 703 saplings to replace the 5,214 trees. Many find this completely unacceptable and it violates the spirit and a City Ordinance adopted years ago.
City Council UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED a RESOLUTION ADOPTING A REFORESTATION POLICY which according to staff recommendations the City should invest $1,562,655 in our vital tree canopy.
The following update was provided by the City’s Public Works Department. The spreadsheet identifies all of the current projects in the Bayfront Area. Updates are identified in RED.
In Tree City USA, the PHP WMB plantings are complete including the 703 saplings listed in contract as $30,520. Less than the tree mulch cost of $34,240.
About WCCB “[m]entioned in [Thursday’s BAC] meeting that the City will not be accepting the beach access ramp from the private developer until it is made ADA compliant. Once the ramp is ADA compliant, the City will accept the ramp and take over maintenance.”
He said he knows the lawsuit against federal officials may be an uphill battle, but he also wants to send a message.
“If we cannot get them to stop what they’re doing, at least we are going to put up some resistance to any future thoughts about taking out the rest of this park,” he said.
Katherine Hafner / WHRO News The site of the controversial wetlands project at Pleasure House Point in Virginia Beach, where the city cleared thousands of trees earlier this year. As seen Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025.
The mission of the Bayfront Advisory Commission(BAC) is to review and make recommendations to the City Council regarding public and private projects and issues associated with the Bayfront area.
The duties of the Stormwater Management Implementation Advisory Group shall be to:
Further review the topic of stormwater management and its impact and consequences on land use and redevelopment issues.
Identify whether there are any opportunities, advantages, or disadvantages to strengthening regulation alignment and specificity based on the City’s varied drainage basins, and a property’s land use and zoning characteristics.
Formalize a cost-sharing program relative to stormwater infrastructure and policy to include developing criteria for cost-sharing eligibility.
Determine whether there are any opportunities to …
Please add this email, the following data & reports to the record for the proposed Pleasure House Point Wetlands Mitigation Bank in Virginia Beach.
“The release of the 2025 U.S. State of the Birds report was announced today at the 90th annual North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference in Louisville, Kentucky.”
“The downward trends in the 2025 State of the Birds report are screaming for all sectors to act with resolve to invest in recovering this important American resource.”
PLEASE – ensure this proposed project is based on the most current & accurate data, uses at minimum industry best practices preferably above industry minimums – (does 3 partial samples of the material outside of proposed work area meet the industry standard “95% confidence level”?) and the most accurate science for this novel experiment proposed in a vital bird habitat.
SUBJECT: City of Virginia Beach Public Works VMRC #2024-2851 The application for permit, referenced above, will be heard by the Marine Resources Commission at their public hearing scheduled for Tuesday, February 25, 2025, beginning at 9:30 a.m., at 380 Fenwick Road, Building 96, Fort Monroe, Virginia.
CITY OF VIRGINIA BEACH, #24-2851 requests authorization to mechanically dredge a 20-foot wide by 63-foot long subtidal area to a maximum depth of minus two (-2) feet mean low water within Pleasure House Creek to create a shallow water channel necessary to provide the hydrological connection to the proposed municipal Pleasure House Point Mitigation Bank in Virginia Beach. This project is protested by nearby property owners.
We apologize for the delay sharing these. We were offered them weeks ago and finally received them, from a FOIA request we chose to make, this afternoon.
They are also available on paper in Brock Environmental Center 3663 Marlin Bay Drive.
We believe the “purpose & need” of this fast moving project could be violating the spirit of “avoid, minimize, mitigate” in general. Therefore, we humbly request a Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessment and a Phase 2 Environmental Site Assessment are completed before approving the Nationwide 27 Permit.
“Please provide the list of projects that have required the city to buy wetland mitigation credits since the bond referendum passed November 2, 2021 and how many wetland mitigation credits are required now for future projects.” From 11/21/2021 to To 12/23/2024. Your request was forwarded to Public Works. I have been advised that they do not have a list in response to your request. Source: FOIA Request response January 13 2025
Three(3) samples of material was presented at City Council public hearing which was acknowledged by the Public Works Director – a piece of pavement, concrete with gravel & an unknown petrochemical material all presumably dumped on the spoils site – Pleasure House Point in the area Wetlands Mitigation Bank is proposed – in the 1970s. Was material being tested before dumped? After it was dumped? Video of City Council public hearing January 7th 2025 is provided here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D_T1v0rI3A
As you know, the Brock Environmental Center and Macon & Joan Brock Classroom campus is literally feet away from this project. Pre-schoolers thru senior citizens routinely spend time there. Meetings with visitors from national & international governments & NGOs also are held routinely. However, this project rolls out. It’ll certainly garner national news. Over 140,000 people have visited the campus since it opened.
In property acquisitions, it is customary for due diligence investigation(s) to be completed before a fee simple property transfer is finalized. It seems reasonable that such an investigation would have reported the obvious; materials of generally unknown origin were dumped on the PHP property as far back as the 1970’s.
These findings would have been followed up with Phase II soil and/or groundwater sampling and testing to screen for regulated substances (hazardous and petroleum constituents). If the investigations were completed, they should be made available to evaluate the potential effects on the proposed PHPWMB project.
Of principal concern is the transport of these dredge materials to the City’s Oceana disposal site, especially if they remain untested. Once removed from PHP, the material becomes a waste, and is subject to VDEQ regulations for transport and disposal. Secondly, possible exposures to regulated substances may result when construction workers are exposed to any contaminated soil, dust, and groundwater. Especially with workers involved in the planting process where hand work is proposed, and the incidence of physical contact with regulated materials may result.
Additionally, considerations for the sampling, testing and handling of regulated materials should be included in the project plans and specifications for the PHPWMB project. This information should be made available for public review and comment.
Therefore, we humbly request a Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessment and a Phase 2 Environmental Site Assessment are completed before approving the Nationwide 27 Permit.
What will be the “reasonably foreseeable effect” if the environmental site assessments haven’t successfully been completed for a spoils site used in the 1970s?
Thursday, January 16, 2025 3:30 P.M. Ocean Park Fire and Rescue Squad Building 3769 E. Stratford Road. Enter door opposite Shore Drive.
The mission of the Bayfront Advisory Commission is to review and make recommendations to the City Council regarding public and private projects and issues associated with the Bayfront area.
ITEM: CITY OF VIRGINIA BEACH AGENDA ITEM An Ordinance to Transfer Funds Within the Capital Improvement Program for the Pleasure House Point Mitigation Bank, to Provide Limitations upon the Use of Mitigation Credits Created by the Pleasure House Point Mitigation Project, and to Provide for Efforts to Reduce Tree Loss MEETING DATE: January 7, 2025 Background: Capital Project 100304, ” Pleasure House Point Mitigation Bank”
Please note: at the time of this post, currently proposed wetland mitigation bank details of the “90% design”, water budget and other info are still not available on official website.
Things learned last night: tidal wetland bank credits are available to purchase, 60,000 cubic yards (about 6,000 dump trucks) of fill will be removed, over 5,200 trees including live oaks over dozens & dozens of years old will be destroyed (number of dump trucks to move destroyed trees unknown).
Email your questions or concerns to: phpwetlands@vbgov.com
#WeLoveShoreDrive 