Councilmember Chris Taylor will host a town hall meeting on Thursday May 18th at 6:00pm to update residents on current city projects & issues that impact District 8. City representatives will attend to discuss topics such as recruitment needs, EMS & volunteer squads, election system updates, traffic safety & more.
The meeting will be held in Rooms 1 & 2 of the Great Neck Recreation Center. Click here for a map to the center https://goo.gl/maps/KRmhPfTd8kaoNWGw8
This is an opportunity for residents to have a say in policy development and decision-making. City Council has requested that residents be provided an opportunity to provide their input as to how they want to elect their City representatives.
The online survey hosted by the Cooper Center for Public Service is now available. It is open to Virginia Beach residents through Friday, May 26.
To request a hard copy of the survey, contact Community Engagement Strategist Nancy Bloom, nbloom@vbgov.com, 757-385-6279. Surveys received by May 26 will be provided to CCPS for inclusion in their report.
The community listening session meetings concluded on Monday, April 3. Each meeting was live-streamed and recorded and can be viewed on demand on the “Past Meetings” tab.
Thanks for update about moving sand from Lynnhaven Boat Ramp to Cape Henry Beach!
Regarding work hours and days per week, the contractor is allowed to work between 7:30am and 4:30pm Monday through Friday as per the City contract. Salmons will be working these hours and will be allowed, as necessary, to extend the work hours to 7:00am to 5:00pm. Should Salmons request to work on a Saturday, our office will take serious consideration as to how this request will affect the use of the Lynnhaven Municipal Boat Ramp, expected traffic along the Lesner Bridge corridor and on Cape Henry Beach. If the weather forecast for a given Saturday is for a non-boating/non-beach day (i.e., due to rainy weather or rough seas), then we will consider allowing Salmons to work. Salmons will not be working on Memorial Day weekend (i.e., Saturday through Monday) or on the July 4th holiday. Salmons may work up to a half day on Friday, May 26th.
Salmons has been notified to take all necessary precautions to protect the public from the project site during sand placement operations. Salmons is using orange construction fence to cordon off the work areas and the truck haul corridor along the beach. There will be openings in the construction fence to allow residence to access the beach in the areas where the contractor is not working. Signs will be posted at the openings cautioning the public that the beach is a construction zone. The contractor has been notified to have flaggers and other safety personnel at the Jade St beach access and on the beach to protect the public.
Public Works Engineering is excited as I know the Cape Henry Beach community are to begin the truck haul in a safe and expedient fashion.
There was fear the bayfront community wouldn’t receive the funding for this too but we got it!
Route 35 Bayfront – The frequency will be modified to operate every 60-minutes. Route 35 will not provide service to Parks Avenue/19th Street. Service will be streamlined along Pacific Avenue. Route 35 will service the Edgar Cayce A.R.E on 67th St.
Hopefully HRT will market Route 35 as it seems most people have no idea this terrific service exists.
Equitable safety improvements for cyclists & pedestrians like contiguous sidewalks & bike lanes are coming to Shore Drive!
Read the news here where Vice Mayor Jones was quoted:
“I think the council is committed to getting the improvements done[.]”
* Remember when the powers that be tried making Shore Drive 6 LANES in the 90s?!
Remarkably, the then named Shore Drive Advisory Committee(SDAC) heard the presentation from the Shore Drive Safety Task Force at their April 20th 2006 meeting.
Highlights:
Here is the entire report from the Shore Drive Safety Task Force from April 20 2006. [LOL CITY OF VB BROKE THAT LINK. AGAIN. CUZ NEW WEBSITE. 🤡]
SHORE DRIVE SAFETY TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS ADOPTED BY CITY COUNCIL 2006. (PDF open in new tab)
SDAC, now named the Bayfront Advisory Commission(BAC) has their public meeting today at 330pm at the Ocean Park Volunteer Rescue Squad where they will be grappling with the news of yet another PROPOSED delay in upgrading circa 1950s infrastructure in the “Gateway to the OceanFront & Virginia Beach” while the OceanFront continuously receives virtually infinite money for almost every idea proposed there.
Coverage of Shore Drive by WTKR’s Angela Bohon.
“Decades long controversy”
PUBLIC COMMENT on PROPOSED BUDGET TOMORROW
“Residents wishing to make comments during the hearings must register with the City Clerk’s Office by calling 757-385-4303 prior to 5 p.m. on the day of the hearing. If participating virtually, please also register via WebEx.”
Start here for PROPOSED Budget.
Thanks to Hank for Agenda!
First 27 minutes 30 seconds is discussion about why no presentation.
~ 27 minutes 35 seconds starts “Budget Reduction Options”.
~ 2 hours 53 minutes starts Presentation for Proposed CIP for Transportation Section including Phase 4 Deferred/Delay. Lower your expectations accordingly.
All you people who came out against 6 lane Shore Drive have delayed 2 miles of contiguous sidewalks in the 2nd most densely populated area in VB for 30 years.
The Gateway to Virginia Beach, which is located on the Chesapeake Bay, has now become a high priority on par with the Oceanfront.
Woo hoo!
This is an opportunity for residents to have a say in policy development and decision-making. City Council has requested that residents be provided an opportunity to provide their input as to how they want to elect their City representatives.
Community Meetings are the first step of the process. There will be 12 meetings over a 10 day period for citizens to learn how we reached the current voting structure and have the opportunity to provide feedback and future recommendations.
Meetings will be held in person and virtually. The list of meetings is shown in the image below.
If you plan to attend a meeting, it is recommended that you register online at the following link. You can also learn more about the additional steps being taken as part of this community engagement effort there.
Not to bury the lede:
Shore Drive is a major east-west arterial in the northern portion of the City. The existing roadway carries 38,800 vehicles per day with a current capacity of 36,900 vehicles per day. Without this project, the roadway will continue to experience vehicular, bicyclist, and pedestrian safety incidents, and restrict traffic volume due to inadequate stormwater drainage.
🟢 The City Manager’s Proposed City Budget at VBGOV.com.
A few highlights of Proposed City Budget include:
Economic & Tourism Development
EV-22-0001 $200,000
Shore Drive Study Update
This project provides an update to the Shore Drive Corridor Plan (2000) and the Shore Drive Corridor Design Guidelines (2002). Flood mitigation strategies from the Joint Land Use Study (JLUS) for JEB Little Creek and JEB Fort Story (2019) as well as the bond referendum projects will be integrated into the update creating a broader, more comprehensive Shore Drive Plan. The Bayfront Advisory Commission will be utilized as a steering committee for the development of the update, public input, coordination, and engagement with the local community. The updated plan/guidelines will include: determination of existing conditions; development of a community wide public input survey; identification of issues and opportunities; development of specific land use recommendations by corridor segment; and development of architectural/landscaping/signage/public infrastructure guidelines.
To bury the other lede:
By the way, with this current proposal YOUR real estate taxes will probably jump over 10% based on recent new assessments.
Congratulations OPVRS!
Ocean Park Volunteer Rescue Squad is proud to announce that it has earned the Candid (formerly Guidestar) Platinum Transparency rating for the year of 2023. This puts OPVRS in the top 0.1% of nonprofits globally.
Check the news on their blog. Start here to DONATE.
Thanks to Hank for Agenda & Draft Minutes.
Edit: New Business addition “presentation from Monty Heath, who represents a group that raises awareness of veterans with PTSD and other sustained disabilities”.
The link for the new still being improved Capital Improvement Project (CIP) dashboard.
Be gentle though as it appears the new CIP Dashboard isn’t fully operational yet.
Here’s a link to a previous CIP Project Dashboard page: https://cipstatus.vbgov.com/ProjectDetail.aspx?id=4361.
Thanks to Hank for getting the info from Dan Adams!
Staff is hammering out final scheduling details on some pending Bay Beach projects, here is the skinny:
Cape Henry Beach – A truck haul is planned to haul the sand stockpile form the Lynnhaven Dredge Material Management area to west end of Cape Henry Beach by truck. Approximately 70,000 yards of sand will be placed along the beach starting at the Point Chesapeake Gazebo. Dune reconstruction will occur in front of the high-rise condos where dune erosion has been most severe. Bids have been received and contract execution is underway. Public Notices will be sent out in the coming days with specific project start and schedule information. Work should start around mid-March and run through late May. The Jade St. beach access will be closed and/or restricted during this work.
A larger placement of approximately 150,000-200,000 cubic yards of sand along Cape Henry Beach is planned to occur Winter 23/24 as part of the USACE dredging of the Lynnhaven Federal Channel. This will be hydraulic (pipeline)dredging and placement. This project is schedule to advertise for bids fall of this and be awarded and executed in early 2024.
Chesapeake Beach Restoration – This project is for the renourishment of Chesapeake Beach from Little Creek Amphibious Base to Baylake Beach. The first nourishment was completed in May 2018 placing approximately 350,000 cubic yards of sand from a nearshore shoal to reconstruct a severely eroded beach and dune system. A renourishment is anticipated every 4-5 years to re-establish the design template and add advance maintenance sand for anticipated erosion. This first re-nourishment cycle will utilize the same sand source as the initial respiration project in 2018 and will be placed hydraulically(pipeline). The renourishment project will be advertised for bids this spring. To incentivize the number of interested bidders, a period of performance of 300 days is provided to allow contractors sufficient time to schedule and plan the work. The actual duration of the project should be closer to 4-8 weeks. The exact construction schedule will be determined after bids are received. A public information meeting and communication to the neighborhood and civic leagues will occur. Current status: Plans are 100% complete, final staff review and Q/C is underway. Bid dates will be established in the next week or two.
Ocean Park Beach –A contract is being prepared for dune grass and sand fence installation as follow on to compliment the beach restoration work completed last spring. This work will occur in March. The next placement and source of sand for Ocean Park will most likely be the next cycle of dredging of the Lynnhaven Federal channel in 3-4 years. Method of sand transport is hydraulic(pipeline).
Please let us know if BAC has any other questions at this time. We will include them on any public notices issued for the pending Cape Henry truck haul and Chesapeake Beach project.
Thanks to Hank for the agenda.
PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS
1) Encroachments discussion with Mr. LJ Hansen, Director of Public Works
#WeLoveShoreDrive 