The Design Subcommittee of the Bayfront Advisory Committee will meet at 8 a.m., Tues., Aug. 14, at the First Landing State Park Trail Center Conference Room.

You can attend, but not speak.
More at VBGov.com.

The VMRC decision is vexing on a couple of levels. First, it is a slap at the ordinary citizens who make the Commonwealth’s tough decisions.

And…

The developer protested, bringing in their high-powered attorney, John W. Daniel II of Troutman Saunders, former Virginia Secretary of the Environment.

Read Skip’s entire article at Port Folio Weekly.

Excerpts:

There were clear, and legal, guidelines that the Wetlands Board followed in making their decision.

This isn?t about a small complaining group of residents, on Shore Drive. It is about our city, our image, and what we want to pass on to future generations.

Please support your voting public and appeal the VMRC decision on Indigo Dunes.  The Virginia Beach Wetlands Board made the correct decision based on the 3 criteria one must prove to destroy wetlands.

From CBCL: …appeals the VMRC’s decision to enure that local boards have the ability to make decisions about local projects.
Read the Chesapeake Beach Civic League Letter. [1pg PDF]

Learn more:
Request for City of Virginia Beach to appeal the VMRC decision made July 25, 2007
NoIndigoDunes.com.

Check out the rankings of over a dozen bridges including the Lesner Bridge that handes ~39,000 vehicles today.
Graphic & article at Pilotonline.com.

Please email City Council to let them know you agree:
[encode=CMOffice@vbgov.com,NoIndigoDunes@gmail.com]Email City Council to encourage them to appeal the VMRC Decision![/encode]

[Note: It’s been clearly stated many times, there is no support for Indigo Dunes on City Council. This email is to encourage them to appeal the VMRC decision.]

Letter sent from SDCC:

August 1, 2007

Madame Mayor and City Council Members
2401 Courthouse Dr.
Municipal Center, Bldg. 1
Virginia Beach, VA 23456

Re:    Request for City of Virginia Beach to appeal the VMRC decision made July 25, 2007.

Dear Madame Mayor and City Council Members,

On behalf of the Shore Drive Community Coalition, we respectfully request that City Council direct the City’s Legal Department to appeal the Virginia Marine Resource Commission’s decision of July 25, 2007 to overturn the Wetlands Board denial of the Indigo Dunes project.

The City of Virginia Beach needs to show Virginia State Legislators and the public that it supports the Wetlands Board decision to deny the unnecessary destruction of over 1-1/2 acres of existing wetlands.

The residents of Shore Drive thank you for your attention to this very important issue.

Sincerely,

Todd R. Solomon
Shore Drive Community Coalition, President

Please email City Council to let them know you agree:
[encode=CMOffice@vbgov.com,NoIndigoDunes@gmail.com]Email City Council to encourage them to appeal the VMRC Decision![/encode]

[Note: It’s been clearly stated many times, there is no support for Indigo Dunes on City Council. This email is to encourage them to appeal the VMRC decision.]

Please join VBCCO on Wednesday, August 8th at the Virginia Beach Central Library for a our general meeting.  Member organizations will have an opportunity to talk about issues, concerns or positive news that is affecting their neighborhood.

There is no charge to attend, and the meeting is open to the public.

Open Mic Night 7pm, Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Virginia Beach Central Library
4100 Virginia Beach Blvd in the Auditorium.

Join us for semi-clean, friendly, fun! [Seriously.]

When: Saturday, August 4th from 9am to 11am.
Where: ‘Our’ Starbucks at the Lesner Bridge. Meet around the side.
Why: ‘Cuz you’re cool, you care, and you want to meet some like minded neighbors.
Even ‘make it a date.’
[Try this: Hey, want to meet at the Starbucks for a clean up this Saturday morning? See how easy it’d be to find a like minded person!] You can even us this thingie: LetsMeetatStarbucks.com.

Free drink to the first 30 people!

Latest Clean up.

…soon to be a tradition.

That’s how the CCO has started to promote the event.

Read on the check out this illuminating idea!

Oh, mercy! Developers have once again staked a claim in Virginia Beach. Sandler & Sons will destroy 1.5 acres of wetlands and squeeze more than 1,000 homes on a little over 60 acres….

And…

The message is clear: Put your name on a performing arts center in the center of Virginia Beach?s Town Center and you can build houses anywhere you want, regardless of the impact on traffic.

Go here to read their entire letters, & to add your comments.
How to submit your Letter to the Editor.

Two audio files are available for listening, & downloading/saving at VMRC’s website.

According to info provided from a FOIA request, no permits have been issued.

Response from City. [1pg PDF]

But commission member Kyle Schick said he was unimpressed by the wetlands on the site. The entire property used to be marsh but was filled in with dredged sand from Lynnhaven Inlet by city, state and federal governments many years ago. As a result, very little of it is in its natural state.

Schick described the property as a man-made “dysfunctional ecosystem… This property needs a lot of help.”

Mr. Shick, a resident of Colonial Beach, VA was apparently unaware of the oysters living in the very wetlands he voted to destroy. The gentleman from the state agency also felt it was appropriate to substitute his judgment for the judgment of our local City board.
Read & comment on article at Pilotonline.com.

IMHO this is one of the most interesting yards in our quirky neighborhood.

His home is near HK’s.
Read entire article in Pilotonline.com.

Please don’t litter!!!

Thanks Liz!

?He was the best,? Stan Curtis said. ?You couldn?t ask for anything better as a friend or as a father.?
Read article about your Baylake Pines neighbor at Pilotonline.com.

Shore Drive Community Coalition (SDCC)- General Meeting

Monday July 30, 2007

7:30pm to 9:00pm

Ocean Park Fire & Rescue Hall

In spite of the appellant?s allegations, based on our review of the record, staff cannot conclude that the Board failed to fulfill its responsibilities, or that the substantial rights of the applicant were prejudiced by a procedural error by the Board in hearing this matter. Accordingly, staff believes that this decision is well within the powers granted to the locality by Chapter 13 of Section 28.2 of the Code of Virginia and recommends that the May 21, 2007 decision of the Virginia Beach Wetlands Board be upheld.

The recently obtained Legal Brief, or Memorandum as it’s referred to here,  has jeopardized a fair Appeal Hearing according to the Virginia Beach City Attorney Office.

###

VIRGINIA:

VIRGINIA MARINE RESOURCES COMMISSION

SANDLER AT INDIGO BAY, LLC

Applicant

v. No. VB07-300 NVW

WETLANDS BOARD

OF THE CITY OF VIRGINIA BEACH

MOTION IN OPPOSITION

The Wetlands Board of the City of Virginia Beach (?Board?) opposes the inclusion of the applicant?s ?Memorandum in Support of Appeal? in the agenda package of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (?VMRC?) for the foregoing reasons:

1. The inclusion of such memoranda is not the ordinary course of business for VMRC staff. Memoranda are not routinely submitted by applicants or Boards to argue their case prior to the actual public hearing. As such, the inclusion of this Memorandum in the agenda packet unfairly prejudices the VMRC in favor of the arguments of the applicant, as they have been allowed a forum that was not allowed to the Wetlands Board or other opposition to the application.

The Board can submit their arguments in writing at this time, but they will not be included in the agenda package, as were those of the applicant. The Wetlands Board was not given an opportunity to also have their arguments before the VMRC prior to the hearing and in the agenda packet. This practice encourages the ex parte communication of the applicant, while unfairly prejudicing the rights of the Board to a fair and impartial hearing on the record from below. It is clearly against public policy to encourage such behavior. This unfair advantage given to the applicant by VMRC staff has prejudiced the entire VMRC proceedings.

2. The inclusion of the Memorandum in the agenda package also unfairly gives the impression to the Commissioners that the VMRC staff agrees with and endorses the information found in the Memorandum. Again, giving an unfair advantage to the applicants in a process that should be neutral and fair.

3. The Memorandum also opens the record from the Wetlands Board without authority and without a vote of the Commission as required by the process in Virginia Code Section 28.2-1312. The opening of the record was also done in an ex parte manner without allowing the Wetlands Board and others to object to its inclusion, robbing the Commission of the opportunity to impartially make a reasoned and fair decision as to its relevance and importance. The Commission, not VMRC staff, has the power to include other information not available at the Wetlands Board hearing. Thus, before this hearing begins the procedures of the VMRC have already been compromised.

Therefore, the Board requests that the Memorandum be stricken from the record and that no Commissioner who has read the Memorandum participate in the VMRC proceedings on this application.

________________________________

Of Counsel

B. Kay Wilson

Counsel for the Wetlands Board

2401 Courthouse Drive

Virginia Beach, Virginia 23456

(757) 385-4531

(757) 385-5687 fax

CERTIFICATE

I hereby certify that a true copy of the foregoing Motion in Opposition was mailed, regular mail, this 20th day of July, 2007 to John Daniel II, TROUTMAN SANDERS, 1001 Haxall Point, P. O. Box 1122, Richmond, Virginia 23218-1122 and R. J. Nutter, II, TROUTMAN SANDERS, 222 Central Park Avenue, Suite 2000, Virginia Beach, Virginia 23462.

_____________________________

B. Kay Wilson

1

###

[Some formatting lost from original document by posting it, unedited, as it is presented above.]

The argument Sandler at Indigo Bay, recently known as Indigo Dunes, will be making at the VMRC Appeal Hearing is available.

Sandler at Indigo Bay Legal Brief submitted by Troutman Sanders LLP [18pg PDF]

The entire transcripts for the ~5 hours of testimony is available.

Read it here. [ 105pg PDF ]