City staff had originally recommended the Lynnhaven Boat Ramp, but nearby residents and boaters were opposed to that site because of concern over truck traffic.

…and concern over an incredible amount of safety conflicts including barge strike on the Lesner Bridge, enormous safety conflicts at the LBR&BF, in the water, etc.

Thank you City Council!

Read & comment at Pilotonline.com.

The following was recently posted at Tidal Fish, a well known, and heavily used website, & web forum  for the fishing & boating community.

Word is we’ve had our first incident with these nets. The incident that occurred was not with some dumb drunk idiot recreational boater but with a USGC 25’ boat. Apparently the USCG boat was running at night and ran smack into the poles of one of these nets. There was damage to the boat but I don’t know if anyone was hurt. The word I heard is that the poles didn’t show up on their radar. I heard the coasties were very upset about this and were making phone calls to find out who allowed these nets to placed in such a highly traveled area.

I hope nobody was hurt in this incident but am glad to see that the first incident occurred with professional boaters. This goes to show just how dangerous these nets really are. I’m sure that if these nets are allowed to remain after this incident that something will be done because of this. At the very least I would expect that they will be required to have lights placed on them.

I’ll say it again, if these nets are left as is someone is going to die.”

… and they have sent up there concerns to higher authority for Federal interdiction to remove “Hazard to Navigation”. [Their] approach is that Federal Authority in regards to “Hazards to navigation” [supersedes] state jurisdiction, therefore obstructions can be ordered removed by feds. One big factor for USCG authority is the proximity of nets to “Major” shipping channel.

[Note: this incident was confirmed to be accurate before posting.]

Monday June 15th $5 donation to support the Ocean Park Volunteer Fire & Rescue Sailors Meet and Greet

More at CapeStory.org.

Good morning everyone,

      The 1st Platoon of the 241st Seaport Operations Company is scheduled to return to Fort Story Monday around 9 a.m. from its 15-month deployment to Iraq. The ceremony is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. at the Forty Story Gym, and I hope you and your organizations will be able to attend. The buses should be coming down Shore Drive sometime between 9 and 9:30 a.m.

      Thank you for showing your support for our troops by putting up the “Welcome Home” signs and American flags. It adds a special touch to these Soldiers’ long- anticipated homecoming.

      If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Thank you for all you do for Fort Story, our troops and their families.

Best,
Monica

Monica Miller Rodgers
Fort Eustis Command Information Officer/Fort Story Public Affairs
757-878-4920 Fort Eustis Office
757-878-4928 Fort Eustis Fax
757-422-7101 Ext. 225 Fort Story Office
757-422-7706 Fort Story Fax
monica.millerrodgers@us.army.mil
Please tell us how we are doing!

Integral to the success and vitality of any city are the homes and neighborhoods in which its citizens live. Vibrant neighborhoods with well-maintained homes are connected to good jobs, good schools, and lead to a high quality of life.

Link at VBGov.com.

SDCC’s meeting this month will feature a presentation by Staci Martin, District Program Specialist for Virginia State Parks headquartered out of First Landing.  She manages visitor experience—visitor experience is education programs, signage, information kiosks, public relations—anything that would enhance someone’s experience at the parks.  She’s been with the parks for five years. View flier. [1pg PDF]

She will be giving us some special inside information about what a treasure we have in First Landing State Park (known to long-time residents as Seashore State Park.) 

For a preview, you could visit this site but it won’t give you the full picture only an insider knows.  Please, won’t you join us at 7:30 p.m., Monday, June 29, 2009, at the Ocean Park Volunteer Fire & Rescue Station.

No one’s been hit, but the City Council figured it was a matter of time. And there’s no interest in beefing up the enforcement for jaywalking, because the city wants Town Center to be pedestrian-friendly.
Read entire article at Pilotonline.com.

From Cape Story Neighborhood Watch:

“Elora was returned to us this afternoon. Thanks so much everyone!
Cherrie”

From Cape Story Neighborhood Watch:

I am missing my female long haired kitty.  She’s about three years old, 6 pounds, black with a white chest. She’s very shy but answers to “Elora” (as much as any cat answers to their name). She was last seen on Friday night at our home on Hatton Street.  My five year-old granddaughter is very worried as this is more her cat than mine.

If anyone sees her, please call me!

Cherrie H.
412-4025

Please see that attached Exhibit A showing the approximate locations for the proposed pedestrian crossing warning signs with solar powered flashing lights.

Previously at SDCC.info.

If you were opposed to the Northern alignment of the Lesner Bridge replacement, the news was bad. Unless a miracle happens, future residents of 3556 will be seeing headlights in their living rooms. The City still plans to meet privately with the residents of the condominium building, but Deputy Manager acknowledged that the decision to go North was etched in stone, or nearly so.

If you were one of the many residents of Cape Henry Shores or Cape Story by the Sea who wants to see the speed limit lowered on Shore Drive to 35 mph from Ft. Story to N. Great Neck Road, there is still hope. Mr. Robert Gey of Public Works Traffic Division gave a short study on what the City feels it needs to do to address this problem. He revealed that the City was already planning to install 8 solar-powered pedestrian signs with flashing lights attached, 4 in each direction, between First Landing State Park and the Lesner Bridge. He also noted that State codes require that a traffic study precede any change, and that Public Works planned a traffic study for this stretch in July, with results by September.

In a rebuttal presentation, David Williams, of Cape Henry Shores noted that there had already been two studies, one in 2005 for the Shore Drive Safety Task Force review, and one in 2006, for which the City could provide no information. He noted that over the past 20 years, residents had been asking for relief from this risk, and showed a number of slides demonstrating that the danger was exacerbated by a curve some 700’ from the intersection, which allowed only about 4 seconds of reaction time (assuming a 50 mph speed of the oncoming vehicle) in exiting from Kendall Drive, which is the only ingress/egress for over 180 households.

Mr. Jason Cosby, Director of Public Works for the City, asked to meet with the interested parties at the site and to further discuss possible actions to reduce the risk. A number of attendees were eager to volunteer, as the neighborhoods of Cape Henry Shores and Cape Story by the Sea feel that another summer at risk while awaiting the results of another study, is just one summer too many. At Mr. Cosby’s suggestion, a committee will be formed to continue working on the speed/safety issues at Kendall and Shore Drive. The committee would meet at the site and also continue to meet and implement improvements.

“The bottom line is the negative impacts on the northern alignment is so much less than the southern alignment,” Jones said. “We just had to make a choice.”
Read and comment at Pilotonline.com article.

Check out the site.
Learn even more at ReadyVirginia.gov.

We sent it Friday May 15th ‘09 10:19am EST.

Click here for a printable one page agenda.  SDCC_Agenda_5-18-09.pdf

Shore Drive Community Coalition (SDCC) General Meeting Agenda
Monday May 18, 2009

SDCC General Meeting – Monday May 18th, 7:30pm to 9:00pm
Ocean Park Volunteer Rescue Squad Hall (parking in back, on side streets and across Shore Drive)

Program/Presentation – Part I:  Deputy City Manager Dave Hansen will address how the decision was made to apply a Northern alignment to the design of the Lesner Bridge replacement.  A brief question and answer period will follow.

Part II:  Virginia Beach Public Works Department will address the safety concerns of Shore Drive residents regarding the intersection of Shore Drive and Kendall Drive.  A question and answer period will follow.

The general agenda for the evening will be:
Officer’s Reports – Brief Reports
Secretary – Todd
Treasurer’s Report – Leslie
Vice President & President –Introductory Remarks

Old Business
Please visit http://www.sdcc.info for status on issues of interest.  Reports to attendees will be limited to those items which have an update since the previous meeting.  Topics covered may include:

Indigo Dunes Project
Pound Pole Fishing Nets
Beach Replenishment
Bike Path Safety

New Business
Lynnhaven River NOW symposium review – Event held on May 11th.  Over a dozen speakers presented a lot of great information.  Army Corps Lynnhaven Project may be one SDCC members should take interest in.  Check out http://www.LRNOW.org for more.
VB Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT) – Meeting held on May 14th, there may be some items SDCC can help support.
Neighborhood Signs – Cape Story by the Sea has asked BAC to create standard neighborhood signs for the Bayfront communities.  They would be similar to Norfolk, but with a Bayfront theme.  SDCC may be asked to endorse this plan.

Next Meeting:  June 29, 2009:  What’s fun to do at First Landing State Park.  Please check
                                  http://www.sdcc.info for details as they become available.

The New Lesner Bridge: North vs. South

The plan advances. The replacement to the existing Lesner Bridge will have either a Northern alignment or a Southern. Either way, someone (or several someones) will be unhappy. Deputy City Manager Dave Hansen will be here to give us the City’s best thinking on the subject and to listen to comments on this issue.

…and…

MESSAGE TO THE CITY
: Safety first!!! at Shore Drive & Kendall

Traffic studies are only a guideline. Special problems require special solutions. This intersection east of N. Great Neck Road represents the potential for a tragic (or rather ANOTHER tragic) casualty on Shore Drive, which has seen more than its share of fatalities. The City’s Public Works (Traffic) Department is sending representatives to discuss this threat and possible solutions. We need for all of you to come and make known your concerns.

Ocean Park Volunteer Fire & Rescue Station
(Intersection of Shore Drive and E. Stratford Road)
7:30 p.m. Monday, May 18, 2009*

*Note:  One week early, due to Memorial Day holiday.

Laura, who works here and blogs about her trip here sez:

If you’ve seen “Slumdog Millionaire”, you have seen a piece of what I’d like to share with you.  July 2008 took this Cape Story resident (and a few others from our small neighborhood) to one of the world’s poorest countries, Nicaragua , to see some sights I would never have imagined, and would probably have previously said I’d prefer to not EVER see.  But along this adventure and with peeks at extreme poverty, came some big surprises.

From an email:

Hi Friends and Family:

This is still hard for me.  I’ve had it on the top of my “to do” list for over a month.  But time is running out.

Today, I’m asking if any of you would consider sponsoring my 2nd trip to the orphanage in Nicaragua in early July.  This year, it’s almost certain that Ryan (my almost 15 yr old) is going too.  (Dad just wants the swine flu issue to not be a concern.) 

So, we need to raise $2,700 (half of which is a donation straight to the orphanage).  We already have about $240 from a garage sale I had plus a gracious friend’s donation (thank you, Jan!).  $2,460 to go, needed by June 15th.

First, Santiago … a boy who lives inside the city dump of Managua, La Chureca.Read more.

From Laura’s blog:
I’ve heard from many others, that some have difficulty understanding why we would travel all the way to Nicaragua, and not really DO anything?  What did you build?  What did you repair?  What did you DO when you were down there.
This was a relational trip.  There are several churches who come to Casa Bernabe orphanage and DO.  Our trip was not about doing, but about being.  Being a friend, a smile, a hug, a laugh to the children who live there 24/7.
Stories from the trip [in 2008]

Please consider donating online at Chip.com.

More ways to donate if you can:

Or, you may send a check (tax-deductible) payable to “SBCC”, and mail it to me: 2134 Bayberry Street, Virginia Beach, VA 23451.  Or, you may mail a check directly to ORPHANETwork, if you’d like to remain anonymous, at 1500 N. Great Neck Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23454 *BUT* in order for this to be credited to our trip (and not just be a donation to ORPHANetwork … which still would be great), you’ll need to write that in the memo section (something like “donation to L. Baity’s July mission trip”).

Thanks to all who can help Laura!
Tim

Update at Pilotonline.com:

Authorities have decided not to charge the woman whose sport utility vehicle struck and killed a bicyclist on Shore Drive last month.

And:

“I don’t see how she did not see him,” he said. “I don’t understand that.”

Previously at SDCC.info.

More at Pilotonline.com article.

A speed limit analysis showed that 18,068 vehicles used that stretch of road daily in mid-April and were traveling at an average speed of 63 mph, the city says. Police counted 249 crashes with 60 injuries and four fatalities from 2006 to 2008.

Previously [Please note: this is an old page and “internal links do not work]:

over 1,576 accidents since 2000

over 10,944 moving violations since 2000

From an email:
City Council at it’s informal session today recommended to proceed with plans for the Lesner Bridge based on the northern alignment and the under grounding of Virginia Power lines.  Likewise, staff recommendation was to incorporate the northern alignment.

Learn more, ask questions at next SDCC Meeting May 18th.
[Watch this site, & the eNewsletter for location of meeting as it is most likely not at the Rescue Squad.]