Indigo Dunes has asked for the December 18th Wetlands Board Hearing to be deferred.

Letter to Planning Director asking for deferal. [1 page PDF]

Dear Bayfront Area Residents,

The time has come for the first of many public hearings that will be required for approval of Indigo Dunes, the proposed development at Pleasure House Point in Ocean Park. 

The first public hearing regarding this project is scheduled to take place at the Wetlands Board on Monday Dec. 18th at 9:30am in City Council Chambers. 

The Wetlands Board is a 7-member body, appointed by the City Council, responsible for the review of requests for permits for the use alteration or development of wetlands, coastal primary sand dunes and beaches. The Board also reviews violations of these regulations and has the option to assess civil charges and/or order restoration of the site.

The proposed Indigo Dunes project fails the following 2 major regulation sections that the Wetlands Board has jurisdiction over.

  1) The proposed development is not water dependent.  Meaning, it’s main purpose is not strictly dependent on water access.  An example of a water dependent project would be a marina.   

  2) The proposed development does not display a legitimate hardship to allow filling in and mitigating existing site wetlands.  The sole purpose of filling in wetlands is to create the necessary acreage to fit 1096 new residents. 

ACTION SECTION

There is an excellent chance that this project could be denied at this meeting, but it will take everyone’s help to make it happen.  You can not afford to sit idle.  Get involved.  Everyone needs to do one or more of the following actions:

  *(Greatest Impact)  Attend the Dec. 18th Wetlands board meeting.  You don’t have to speak.  Just stand in opposition when acknowledged.  If you need a ride to the meeting, a 55 passenger bus is being provided on a first come first serve basis and will depart the Ocean Park Fire Station at 8:30am.  Please contact Liz Dyer edyer1@cox.net if you need a ride. 

  *(2nd Greatest Impact) Send an email to the City Planners Mr. Wayne Couch at wcouch@vbgov.com and Ms. Carolyn Smith at caksmith@vbgov.com .  Tell them why you don’t want this proposed development.  The email needs to be sent before 4:00pm on Friday Dec. 15th.  This way City Staff can make copies and deliver them to the Wetlands Board Committee Members. 

  *Visit http://www.noindigodunes.com and purchase some items or make a donation to help the fundraising efforts to stop this development.

  * I would also like to thank the thousands of residents that have taken the time to sign a hard copy or electronic version of the No Indigo Dunes petition.  If you haven’t done so, please visit http://www.noindigodunes.com and sign up today.

Sincerely,

Todd Solomon
President, Shore Drive Community Coalition

Thanks to Craig R. Corey for submitting his Letter to the Editor which was also recently published in the Beacon.

To the Editor:

Several weeks ago, a local firefighter and EMT was tragically killed on
Shore Drive.  An elderly driver cut in front of him while she was making
a left turn from Shore onto Jack Frost Road.  This accident occurred at
an unprotected intersection just outside of Gate 4 of the Little Creek
Amphibious Naval Base, and highlights several problems that the city and Navy have failed to address with respect to safety along Shore Drive.

[Submit your letter to the Editor]

Thanks to the City’s Waterfront Operations Department, in particular Dave Compton & also our Vice Mayor Jones for inspiring Bayvista to rebuild the partially destroyed primary sand dune on their property.

[Photo hosted by Flickr.com]

June Barrett-McDaniels has written to Planning in opposition to Bayvista’s proposal to close a City’s ‘paper street’ to make it private parking.

Do you think City property should be acquired for private parking?

Please read on to view her letter. We encourage you to write your own.

Submit your Letter to The Editor of the Virginia-Pilot, The Beacon and to SDCC.

SDCC will in all likelyhood post it.

[encode=dennis.hartig@pilotonline.com?Subject=Letter to Editor]Email to Dennis Hartig[/encode] – Editorial Page Editor.
[encode=victoria.hecht@pilotonline.com?Subject=Letter to Editor]Email to Victoria Hecht[/encode] – Beacon Editor.
[encode=letters@pilotonline.com?Subject=Letter to bLetters]Email bLetters[/encode] – a new Bletters project by the Virginian-Pilot.
[encode=tim@sdcc.info?Subject=Letter to Editor]Email Tim[/encode] – SDCC.info Editor.

Press Release from the City explaining recent improvements to Shore Drive.

More Police Officers:  Thanks to a grant from the state, 375 more hours of police time will be devoted to enforcing traffic laws along Shore Drive.  Additional patrols began in early November.

Read entire Press Release.

…it has been determined by our technical advisors that there are numerous inconsistencies throughout the document which make the review and interpretation of the facts presented very confusing.

Read on to check out the document we’ve sent to the Virginia Marine Resource Commission & City’s Wetlands Board.

The partners, Starbucks employees, have donated various items to create a basket valued at $175 to raise funds for the Joy Fund.

Make a donation of $5 for a chance to win it!

Visit Starbucks at the Lesner Bridge to check out what’s inside.

Safety improvements to Shore Drive and retiree health care got the most attention. Henley suggested spending $3.5 million on Shore Drive and $3.26 million for future health care costs.
Read entire article at Pilotonline.com.

Looks like VBGov.com has changed in a big way.

Seems it’s still being worked on as a lot of links are dead right now.

Unfortunately the News Feeds and Useful Links we had for VBGov.com has also changed so they are dead as well. We’ll fix them as soon as we can.

Looks like they’ve finally chosen to use Google as their search engine so at least that change will have an enourmous positive affect on the usability of the site.

Charlie sent me this when he heard of it…Thank you Charlie!

Xerox has developed a website that gives you an opportunity to mail, for free, a postcard to our service men & women over seas.

No matter what you think of the politics, this sounds like a terrific way to thank those who really deserve our support.
Check out the website.

[Note: I personally haven’t tried out the site yet.]

ICE – In Case of Emergency                                
                                                 
A recent article from the Toronto Star, “the ICE idea”, is catching on and
it is a very simple, yet important method of contact for you or a loved  
one in case of an emergency.                             
                                                 
As cell phones are carried by the majority of the population, all you need
to do is program the number of a contact person or persons and store the
name as “ICE”. 

You may have heard of a new Subcommittee recently started by the City.

Their charge is to make recommendations on how the city can improve water quality.

Their comprehensive up to date website is located at VBGov.com here: Gree Ribbon Committee.

You’ve surely seen the growing number of NoIndigoDunes.com signs around town.

You can help fund the opposition to Indigo Dunes by donating outright, also by purchasing decals, bumper stickers, yard signs by [encode=SAVEShoreDrive@AOL.com]emailing[/encode].

During the Thanksgiving Nor’easter, my kayak was washed off the dunes at the Walke Street access along with several others.

Councilman Bob Dyer said the city’s ability to take on more debt is limited, and other projects, such as improving Shore Drive, dealing with flood-prone neighborhoods…
Read entire article about a proposed Dome project at the Ocean Front.

According to the Pilot article, a man from Bayville Road attacked a woman in First Landing State Park & was driven off when 2 other women came to help.

Please be aware of your surroundings when walking alone in the park!

Just a reminder that Lynnhaven River 2007’s final Public Meeting for the year will be held Thursday, December 7, 2006, 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m., at the Dockside Inn at 3311 Shore Drive, Virginia Beach.  Light breakfast refreshments and beverages provided.

We will be unveiling the 2006 State of the River Report at this meeting.  All welcome!

Laura Baity, Administrative Assistant
LYNNHAVEN River 2007

telephone:          (757) 962-5398
fax:                  (757) 422-9815
address:            PO Box 584,  Virginia Beach, VA 23451
email:              [encode=lbaity@lynnhaven2007.com]Email Laura[/encode]
visit our web site:  LynnhavenRiver2007.org

The Virginia Beach Wetlands Board will hold a Public Meeting on December 11, 2006 at 9:00 a.m.  at the City of Virginia Beach Pump Station, located at 3661 E. Stratford Road, Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Along with having a Closed Session if they feel it’s needed, & Old Business…New Business includes a site walk of Pleasure House Point with discussion. The public is invited to attend.