It’s cool!
Walking, strolling, riding, running west of the Lesner Bridge on the south side of Shore Drive – if you head back into the PHP side of Ocean Park – can all be done on a multi-use path all the way to Independence Blvd. Thanks!
When Shore Drive Corridor Improvements Phase IV in Ocean Park is completed, surely there’ll be continuous multi-use paths on both the northbound and southbound sides of Shore Drive.
Read the entire article and comments at the Pilotonline.com:
Council members, without committing to the city’s share of the funding, expressed support for the plan and to continuing the revival of the city’s largest waterway, on the mend after decades of pollution, over development and other abuses.
Excerpt from one comment:
Perhaps the restoration of Pleasure House Point is a part of this plan and all can be combined. Hopefully the citizens will be able to see this plan on the City’s website.
From Cape Story NE email:
“I just received confirmation that a vehicle was stolen during the night Sat. Jan 7 from the 2300 block of Oak St. Someone was visiting a resident there and unfortunately she left her keys in the car.”
Around Clipper Bay area in Ocean Park, and from Cape Story‘s neighborhood watch email list:
Another car break in on Oak St (2200) block on Saturday night (Jan 7). Also heard from another resident that the police were going door-to-door Sunday night on Oak St. asking residents if anyone had had similar experiences and they also stayed parked on the street for at least a few hours.
Reminder, please report any and all incidents to the police. If they are not reported, the police will not know this is going on. Also, I repeat, LOCK YOUR CAR DOORS.
Please remember to call 911 if you see a crime in action and call 385-5000, option 1, to report crimes after they have occurred or to report any suspicious activity. Also, please call or email the NW Coordinator so crime reports and suspicious activities can be shared with all of our residents.
Our condolences to his family, friends, and associates.
More at SavePHP.org:
$1 million grant will add 82 acres to Virginia Beach’s park and open space system
The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, partnering with the City of Virginia Beach and the Trust for Public Land, will use this grant and non-federal match of $540,000 to acquire and preserve one of Hampton Roads’ largest undeveloped waterfront properties.
From their driveway on Pendleton.
FYI, from an email to Cape Story’s neighborhood watch coordinator:
We had an individual that was jumping on a gentleman on the King Fisher Trail. The person has psychological issues and was arrested on Friday shortly after the incident. I spoke with this person on Tuesday because we had a report of an individual touching/grabbing men when they went by her along Cape Henry Trail. No one wished to press charges so the individual was told to leave the park for the day. The park will seek a court order banning this individual from park property when her court day arrives. This was an isolated incident and dealt with swiftly.
Let me know if I may be of further assistance.
Bruce
Who is Bruce?
Bruce is Bruce Widener the Park Ranger at First Landing State Park. He receives all of my NW emails and is really sensitive about what is said about any trouble in the park.
Virginia Beach City Council will hold a public hearing 6 PM, Jan 10, 2012 to hear from citizens on the proposed $109M Hyatt Hotel where the city proposes to pay $67M up front in a public-private partnership with the developer, Armada Hoffler. A City Council vote on the proposal is scheduled for 24 January.
Read and comment at Pilotonline.com:
As part of the deal, the city agreed to several conditions to mitigate those concerns, including promises to cease operations during student dismissal and to restrict dump trucks from crossing in front of the school.
SDCC members,
Please note the following announcement.
David Williams
SDCC Pres.
Lynnhaven Strategic Growth Area Plan
Public meeting for the Lynnhaven SGA Master Plan on Wednesday, December 14 at 6:30 p.m. in the Lynnhaven Elementary School cafeteria.
The Lynnhaven Strategic Growth Area (SGA) is one of 8 SGAs designated in the 2009 Comprehensive Plan (see http://www.ourfuturevb.com). It is comprised of 458 acres centered along Virginia Beach Boulevard and its intersections with the main north-south arterials, Lynnhaven Parkway and Great Neck Road/London Bridge Road. Interstate 264 bisects the SGA from east to west, as does the former Norfolk-Southern railway corridor. The eastern branch of the Lynnhaven River also bisects the SGA from north to south. The SGA is characterized primarily by public/semi-public, retail/commercial, and institutional uses that contrast in type, intensity and quality of land uses. Additional uses include industrial and residential, and a small portion of the SGA is undeveloped. The entire area is a high noise zone and two areas are in accident potential zones.
This gateway to the Great Neck peninsula exhibits an excessive number of nonconforming signs, overhead utilities, roadway access points and building and site designs. Much of this is due to the London Bridge area being one of the oldest commercial areas in the City, and its retrofit with a modern roadway system has improved function more than appearance.
Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has allocated 2009 federal stimulus funding (ARRA) for a project to provide access to and from the west at I-264 and Great Neck/London Bridge Roads.
The 2009 Comprehensive Plan contains the following general land use recommendations for this area:
Consistent with Air Installation Compatibility Use Zones (AICUZ) provisions, property located in the northern vicinity of the Lynnhaven Parkway/I-264 interchange and along Virginia Beach Boulevard are suitable for a higher intensity of compact, mixed uses including offices, institutions and limited additional retail compatible with the Joint Land Use Study. The appropriate planning principles of Transit-Oriented Development to include compatible non-residential uses should be applied to this area.
Due to AICUZ restrictions, residential or hotel uses are not recommended.
Incorporate Transit-Oriented Development around planned transit stations.
Before Wells Fargo took over ownership of the property last year, developers had planned to build a large waterfront development known as Indigo Dunes. TPL intends to buy the property from Wells Fargo and sell most of the land to the Virginia Beach Parks and Recreation Department for open space preservation and public access to the Lynnhaven River.
“It’s gratifying to see the progress we’ve made toward preserving this unique property,” said Virginia Beach Mayor William D. Sessoms, Jr. “I thank Dominion Virginia Power and the Dominion Foundation for their generosity, and for joining this partnership to save the largest piece of undeveloped waterfront property on the Lynnhaven.”
Pleasure House Point. Critical habitat for wildlife, you & future generations!
Update: In Biz Buzz at Pilotonline.com.
Plans to build a dredge spoils transfer station in a residential neighborhood off Long Creek appear to be on hold.
The Beaches and Waterways Commission, an advisory group to the City Council, voted Thursday to recommended an alternative site.
John Lyver of Virginia Beach was last seen about 5:30 p.m. at the shopping center in the 2900 block of Shore Drive, a police news release said.
Mr. Fraim:
The Beaches & Waterways Advisory Committee was directed by City Council Resolution to study 4 areas and conduct at least one public forum for residents to ask questions and present opinions. I submit that this has NOT been accomplished by the B&WAC, and therefor, the committee has not completed their tasking.
VA Law “Virginia Freedom of Information Act” 2.2-3700 A states in part…”Unless a public body or its officers or employees specifically elect to exercise an exemption provided by this chapter or any other statute, every meeting shall be open to the public and all public records shall be available for inspection and copying upon request. All public records and meetings shall be presumed open, unless an exemption is properly invoked.
Any exemption from public access to records or meetings shall be narrowly construed and no record shall be withheld….
This chapter shall not be construed to discourage the free discussion by government officials or employees of public matters with the citizens of the Commonwealth.
I submit that as citizens who were present at scheduled B&WAC meetings were not provided either free discussions or with documentation that presents committee members received; concerned residents were not permitted to speak in most cases, and when they did speak, their comments and questions were ignored or not sufficiently recorded in the minutes, that the B&WAC chairman operated committee business beyond the scope and intent of the Commonwealth of Virginia law. As such, I submit that the B&WAC Recommendations Report as currently submitted is incomplete, unfairly biased, inaccurate and not ready for City Council review at this time.
I believe the City Council Resolution tasking of the B&WAC members and the timeframe given to accomplish the requisite studies to determine sufficient facts was insufficient. Given mounting public concern and scrutiny, your committee was placed in a very difficult position without sufficient resources to accomplish the required impact studies (Traffic, Safety, Impact on Neighborhoods, Structural Engineering of nearby buildings and homes, and environmental). Without sufficient impact studies, the B&WAC recommendations are limited in factual basis.
I fully support the recommendation of the Committee to remove Maple Street as a mechanical dredge spoils transfer site based upon its physical unsuitability, potential costly and continuing structural damage to nearby homes, negative impact on traffic, negative impact on nearby home valuations, safety concerns for this narrow section of Long Creek, and environmental concerns for the nearby estuary’s ecosystems.
Some specific wording of the Recommendations report concerns me, specifically;
(7,8) …the Neighborhood Dredging SSD Program (NDSSDP) has been based on well conceived funding sources…..
Comment: If private parties are allowed to contract and dispose of their dredge spoils at a city constructed facility, how will the city be reimbursed for the portions that would have been paid for under the SSD contract? The City could cut the spur channel, and for neighborhoods which could not achieve 80% agreement for an SSD or chose not to seek an SSD agreement, how will the city be reimbursed for its publicly financed portion? Will publicly procured barges as part of the SSD operate concurrently with private barges and then seek common access at the transfer site? Therefor, the SSD program and process are suspect financially.
(40-45) When developing the Comprehensive Beach Management Program….resulted in serious concerns for the negative impacts on the resident’s quality of life.
Comment: The comparison between the Comprehensive Beach Management Program and NDP with mechanical transfer of non-beach grade sand and the infrastructure to support its spoils transport is not comparable to the temporary hydraulic transfer of beach grade sand to be placed on public beaches. These NDP spoils (sludge) are mechanically transferred and not beach grade. The NDP is a 16+ year program, not a temporary program occurring once every three or four years for a couple of months.
(60-61) The DMTS can be located and constructed in these areas so as to have a minimal impact on the surrounding neighborhood.
Comment: This statement is without basis. Without adequate safety impact study, traffic impact study, environmental impact or engineering studies to assess potential property damage from nearby heavy dump truck traffic, this statement cannot be made.
(104-112) Adverse impacts. No mention is made of structural damage to houses, foundations, and roads that would occur from heavily loaded dump trucks over a sustained period of years. Vibration damage will occur and its potential impact should be evaluated and considered into the Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM)costs of the NDP. Should city general funds pay for road and structural repairs or neighborhoods using the transfer site?
(108) Mention is made of …surface vibrations occurs when digging sand from the holding area.
Comment: Holding areas for the storage and de-watering of dredge spoils (non-beach grade) would not meet EPA or DEQ standards.
(300-302) Council adopts a policy which provides for permitted use of the DMTS sites by the public for dredging by entities or individuals other than the city.
Comment: What will be the City’s cost recovery mechanism for private use of a public transfer site? How will damages occurred by privately contracted dump trucks hauling private spoils be corrected? Would private parties be permitted to use DMTS beyond the SSD 16 year timeframe? The private sector use of the public transfer site beyond SSD cost recovery or mitigation expenses should be strictly limited by City Council if permitted at all.
(394-396) …recommends that use of Long Creek and Crab Creek DMTS be restricted from operations for anytime greater than 60 consecutive workable days during any three year cycle.
Comment: This statement is worthless as it would permit continuous operations for 59 workable days, a cessation of one workable day, and then recommencing another 59 workable day cycle. Transfer sites should be limited to specific total days for the year based on SSD requirements. If no extra days were available for private dredging transfers, perhaps those neighborhoods should have joined an SSD and contributed to cost recovery to the General fund.
Much to consider in a few days.
Sincerely,
David M. Williams
President, Shore Drive Community Coalition
Tom Fraim email excerpt – “Final comments from the public will be set for noon on December 6th and we will incorporate constructive comments for the real FINAL REPORT TO COUNCIL at 5:00PM on December 8th in the City Manager’s conference room. I expect the meeting to take less than 10 minutes. We will not take additional public comment and with the exception of approving the minutes of the last meeting, we will not have an agenda. The approved Report to Council on the Neighborhood Dredging SSD Program will be posted on the City Website on December 9th while it is being properly constructed with maps, engineering reports, cover sheet, index, binding … etc.
As you will read in the report, we interpret the instructions from Council to direct us to find additional site options that would have less impact on the neighborhoods and does not give us the option of eliminating sites selected prior to their approval of the program. We cannot eliminate Maple Street from future consideration, but we are asking Council to do exactly that … “
Read the draft final report here 11_28_DRAFT_FINAL
Items in the report that may be of particular intrest:
All residents in the Bayfront area are encouraged to comment on this report. Please send all comments to the following email addresses:
Tom Fraim, B&WAC Chairman – tfraim@masacorp.com
Jim Spore, City Manager – CMOffice@vbgov.com
City Council – ctycncl@vbgov.com
David Williams, Shore Drive Community Coalition President – David@sdcc.info
The Beaches and Waterways Advisory Committee (B&WAC) is finalizing their Recommendations Report that will be completed on 15 December and according to the B&WAC chairman, Mr. Fraim, it will then be presented to City Manager Spore for his consideration. At the B&WAC meeting held 17 November, Chairman Fraim stated that the City Manager will then determine what to do with the report and when to present it to City Council, the elected representatives for whom Mr. Spore supposedly works. As directed in the City Council resolution of 14 June, the B&WAC report was supposed to be a comprehensive study “complete and accurate”. It has not been either complete nor accurate in my opinion. For a city project costing tens of millions of dollars over 16 years, you would think that more public scrutiny beyond the Lynnhaven waterways area would have been forthcoming. I do not think the Virginian Pilot nor the Beacon have given the project the balanced coverage that it needed. Many residents do not even know what it is all about as if the project will not affect them. This project could potentially cost $100 million over 16 years with an estimated 1/3 coming from the General Fund. This project is NOT a “pay as you go” project, or revenue neutral. But, what is going to happen when this AAA rated City of Virginia Beach runs into a deficit problem in next year’s budget cycle and raising city tax rates comes into the discussion? Residents will look for wasteful city spending and areas to cut. Does a major city project like the Neighborhood Dredging Program benefiting only an estimated 2,500 property owners in a city of 460,000 at the BIG expense of the tax payers look like a candidate? People will probably still know little about this project because it has not popped up on their radar. Maybe Mr. Spore will wait for an opportune time to present the Neighborhood Dredging Program project to City Council after the tax increase has been debated and approved. I am hoping that City Council will call for the Beaches and Waterways Advisory report, read it carefully, look at the numbers and the impacts on the neighborhoods, and come to the conclusion that it is neither complete nor accurate. Therefore, how can it be approved?
David Williams
President, SDCC
Presented by:
First Landing State Park
Boy Scout Troop 79
The Disabled American Veterans
Veteran’s Day November 11, 2011 2:30 P.M.
At the picnic shelter on the “trail” side of the park
First Landing state park
2500 Shore drive, Virginia Beach, VA 23451
Thanks for sharing Ken.
From an email:
A Citizen Information Meeting for CIP 2-117, Shore Drive Phase III will be held on Wednesday, November 30, 2011, at John B. Dey Elementary School from 5:00 pm until 7:00 pm. The school is located at 1900 North Great Neck Road in Virginia Beach, VA, 23454. This meeting will be an open forum; no formal presentation will be given.
Shore Drive Phase III begins at Vista Circle, near the eastern end of the Lesner Bridge, and extends eastward through the Great Neck Road intersection and terminates at Croix Drive. In general, this project will improve vehicular and pedestrian traffic flow and safety in the roadway and intersections; improve storm drainage; include a multi-use trail and on-street bike lanes; and enhance the corridor with aesthetic elements such as landscaping and lighting.
Feel free to forward to anyone who has been left off of the invite list, and please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Thanks!
Toni Alger, P.E.
Senior Project Manager
City of Virginia Beach – Public Works Engineering
2405 Courthouse Drive, 3rd Floor
Virginia Beach, VA 23456-9031
Office: 757-385-8746
TAlger@vbgov.com
Also posted in our Calendar.
Call me naive maybe, but I was taught in public school and spent my college and military years believing in our Democracy. Even after egregious and impeachable acts of Richard Nixon, LCol Oliver North, and J. Edgar Hoover, and unnamed others who have hacked into our rights, our freedoms have prevailed somewhat intact.
The politicians of that “ill-clique” up in Washington seemed removed from who we are and how we live our daily lives in a city like Virginia Beach.
I am reminded that all politics are local. The violations of our trust and confidence do not always occur just from Washington. Some of our citizens have experienced a trampling of their rights from our city staff and city appointed “Advisory” committees. Any violations of our Constitutional rights should be directly challenged and corrected.
Should citizens be prevented from speaking at scheduled open forums or from asking the city questions concerning the safety of public projects that involve our neighborhoods? Should the city’s Public Works Department be the safety monitor and enforcer for those projects? Should a neighborhood’s rights be mauled to enable a “good ol’gal” private business expansion? Should a neighborhood be pulped from dump truck traffic just to support one private party who would commercially benefit? Mr. Fraim has so stated. Ask Thomas Fraim, Chairman of the Beaches and Waterways Advisory Committee about open and transparent city staff meetings or free and open public committee meetings.
This Veteran’s Day, consider all those who have fought for our freedoms and our very Constitution. Consider this, if Hitler’s Third Reich had defeated us in WWII, or if Stalin’s communists had won the Cold War, would our rights and our freedoms continue today? So, why should we accept any trampling on our rights, back door politics, special deals, lack of transparency, and egregious acts from some city staff members?
Will the Mayor and City Council arrive at an honorable course of action that recognizes the mounting and significant citizen opposition to the Neighborhood Dredge (Spoils) Program? Will city staff acknowledge the numerous serious flaws and lack of sufficient studies that exist in the Neighborhood Dredge (Spoils) Program? We citizens will watch closely while some in City Council deliberate their fate and our given rights.
#WeLoveShoreDrive 