SDCC Agenda for February 27th Monday meeting at OPVRS
Click here for a printable version of the agenda SDCC Agenda Feb 2012
Shore Drive Community Coalition (SDCC) General Meeting
Monday 27 Feb 2012
SDCC General Meeting – Monday, Feb 27, 7:30 – 9:00 pm
Ocean Park Volunteer Rescue Squad Station (Intersection of Shore Drive and East Stratford Rd.)
Call to order
Presentation:
Beaches & Waterways Advisory Commission Final Report to City Council Jan 2012, Impacts on Shore Drive communities
For Important information concerning neighborhood issues, dredge spoil project, Lesner Bridge replacement and Long Creek
www.SDCC.info
www.longcreekwetlands.com
www.VBGov.com
Officers’ Reports
President’s Report – David Williams
Vice President’s report-Vacant
Secretary’s Report – Todd Solomon – Minutes of the Nov Meeting
Treasurer’s Report – Carol Collins
Update on issues: City Budget, School Budget, Pleasure House Point
Old Business
New Business
Adjourn
Next SDCC- March 26, 2012
Ocean Park Volunteer Rescue Squad Center
Speaker- To be announced
Please check www.sdcc.info for more information on area news and events
“The Assistant City Manager and City Staff were there to present plans for the Lesner Bridge replacement AND Building a Permanent Industrial Site at Crab Creek.”
From an email posted unedited with permission:
Dear Neighbors,
Sid and I attended Thursday’s Bayfront Advisory Committee meeting. The Assistant
City Manager and City Staff were there to present plans for the Lesner Bridge
replacement AND Building a Permanent Industrial Site at Crab Creek.There are several distinct issues that you should know about:
1. The Lesner Bridge replacement is vital – the City plans to use the Crab Creek
“spoils” site for construction staging for the bridge over the two or so years
it will take for the project. I feel that we as homeowners should accept that.
The Bridge’s condition is currently rated lower than the one in the Midwest that
fell a few years ago. During the construction there will be up to 100 truck
trips daily through the boat ramp and out to Shore Drive via Piedmont Circle and
E. Stratford Rd. There will be a “temporary” barge docking station built for
barging materials to the site.There will be noise and other usual construction
site impact. Beach access via the boat ramp facility will be curtailed during
the construction. Boat launching will remain open. While this is unpleasant, it
seems to be a necessary , but temporary, inconvenience.2.Currently, CLEAN sand from dredging of the Crab Creek Channel occurs once
every year or two, or when weather causes sand movement that requires it to keep
the channel open for boaters. Again, I feel that since we, especially homeowners
with boats on the creek, benefit from this, it is a necessary nuisance. The
city stockpiles this sand on the site for future use for sand replenishment
along the bay or elsewhere in the city.We certainly also benefit when sand is
replenished on our nearby beach.3. THIS IS WHAT WE NEED TO FOCUS ON: The City has renewed its interest (that wefought in 2008) in putting a permanent dredge transfer site with Barge off-loading station at Crab Creek to receive and truck out the MUCK dredged fromneighborhoods such as Witchduck Point, Thoroughgood Manor, Church Point, and Saw Pen Point, who want their channels dug for their boating pleasure, but do notwant the inconvenience of the dredge transfer station in their own backyard.
If this is built, we will experience: barges offloading 40-50 truckloads of
dredge spoils a day, and those 40-50 trucks, averaging THIRTY-FIVE TONS
traveling across the cross-walk between the boat ramp bath house and the
boardwalk to the beach, and out to Shore Drive via Piedmont Circle and E.
Stratford Road. Barges may impede boat traffic in the boat channel. The dredged
muck in this process is thick and foul-smelling, not the clean sand that is
dredged from the Crab Creek channel. Beaches and Waterways Commission has
recommended limiting to 30 trucks per day for no more than two 90-day cycles per
year. It is unclear what the time-of-day restrictions may be for dredge transfer
work. The City said, regarding the Lesner Bridge construction, that time-of-day
work would depend on the contractor proposal…
If the engine noise and beeping you heard during the Crab Creek sand dredging
was troublesome to you, imagine adding the 30 or 50 large trucks per day I
personally found the noise alone to detract from my enjoyment of my porch. I
wonder if those along the creek will be able to use their back decks.4. THIS ALSO DESERVES OUR ATTENTION:
The City Staff of VIrginia Beach now say they will use the future Permanent Dredge Transfer Station for other uses: possible staging for other construction, docking of working barges that currently moor in the Lynnhaven River for oyster reef work, dredges,etc.The City, at Thursday’s meeting expressed assurances that they are sensitive to boaters and fishermen. They expressed no concern for homeowners.
I hope you all will join us in opposing a Permanent Dredge Transfer Station at
Crab Creek. Please email City Council and the Beaches and Waterways Commission and the Bayfront Advisory Committee members with your opposition to the proposed Dredge Transfer Station at Crab Creek.
Use my letter (posted below) if you like.Here are all the email addresses to copy.
Cut and paste these email addresses for sending your letter:
tfraim@masacorp.com,
CMOffice@vbgov.com,
ctycncl@vbgov.com,
David@sdcc.info,
wsessoms@VBgov.com,
lrjones@VBgov.com,
gdavis@vbgov.com,
bdesteph@VBgov.com,
bdyer@VBgov.com,
bhenley@VBgov.com,
juhrin@VBgov.com,
rwilson31@cox.net,
jlwood@VBgov.com,
abarnes@vbgov.com,
kkassir@aol.com,
yiayia223@aol.com,
tanklines@aol.com,
jjma6@aol.com,
joeb@HBAonline.com,
normcarrick@cox.net,
dsparks@wcbeach.comThank you,
Wendy Vaughn
Previously at BoatRampClosing.com in 2008/09 when the plan to allow personal and public unknown dredge spoils and other material be barged to, and trucked from our beloved Lynnhaven Boat Ramp & Beach Facility. That plan was officially killed in April 2009.
An example letter to send to City Council, Bayfront Advisory Committee and Beaches & Waterways Commission and click-able email link:
### BEGINNING OF SAMPLE LETTER ###
-
Mr. Mayor and Honorable Council Members, Members of Beaches and Waterways Commission, Members of the Bayfront Advisory Committee:
[CHANGE TO APPROPRIATE INFO]> As homeowners in Ocean Park Virginia Beach, adjacent to Crab Creek, we want to express our strong opposition to using Crab Creek for a Permanent Dredge Spoils Transfer Site for the following reasons:
* Operating barges in close proximity to the recreational boating channel at Crab Creek poses dangers to boaters, kayakers, and paddle-boarders. The channel is narrow. The City Boat Ramp at Crab Creek encourages the use of the channel for these recreational activities. This is a conflict.
* Use of dump trucks through the boat ramp parking lot, over the pedestrian crosswalk from the bath houses to the beach, and through the residential neighborhood poses dangers to adults and children, bicyclists, fishermen, and motorists.
* Use of barges in the Lynnhaven Basin creates a danger to the Lesner bridge. Over a year ago a barge did hit the Lesner Bridge.
* Quality of water at the beaches surrounding the Crab Creek sand berm is jeopardized by unloading of spoils. Quality of the sand the City currently reclaims from the channel for use elsewhere is also jeopardized.
* Noise pollution from engines, trucks, and beeping disrupts the quiet in the neighborhood. We currently experience this up to three months a year from the Crab Creek channel dredging. And the noise pollution is late at night and early in the morning. It is not equitable for us to be subject to it for many more months because those who will benefit from the dredging in their neighborhoods do not want the spoils transfer to take place in their neighborhoods.
* Quality of air is jeopardized by diesel equipment and odors from dredge spoils.
* Potential loss of equity in our home is unfair in order to benefit other neighborhoods.
Our position has not changed since we voiced our opposition in 2008 along with the Ocean Park Civic League and many other Ocean Park homeowners.
We ask that you complete the Thalia transfer station before determining the need for additional stations, and that studies be done by an independent third party to evaluate the concerns listed above. We also ask that you review the Ocean Park Civic League objections and citizen response to the 2008 proposal for a spoils transfer station at the Crab Creek site.
The Lynnhaven Boat Ramp at Crab Creek is a clean, safe, quality recreational facility – a Virginia Beach success. Please consider the risk of damaging the Lynnhaven Boat Ramp. And please consider the risk of damage to the quality of life in our neighborhood.
Respectfully,
YOUR NAME
YOUR ADDRESS
### END OF SAMPLE LETTER ###
Read the entire resolution in this PDF [1pg].
The resolution is being scheduled for vote at City Council on Tuesday February 28th.
“Ask an Ocean Park resident what they love about their home, and our area’s natural beauty will be at the top of the list.”
Or… ask any Shore Drive resident what they love about their home, and our area’s natural beauty will most certainly be at the top of the list.
Sabrina of Ocean Park allowed us to post her words, unedited, below:
Today, I found four discarded fluorescent tubes in one of the beach garbage cans, which says to me that someone didn’t feel like taking them to a landfill (or Home Depot or Lowes) where they could be disposed of properly, but instead carried them out on to the beach to leave them for a crew which is unlikely to be equipped for hazardous waste. It also means they didn’t care if the bulbs got broken, thus allowing the [fluorescence's] mercury lining to leak onto the sand and wash into the Chesapeake.
The garbage that we allow onto our land and into our waterways is not just ugly, it is deadly. Plastic bags, balloons, and shiny wrappers are a significant choking hazard for marine animals such as dolphins and sea turtles. Ocean birds starve to death every day with stomachs full of undigestible, brightly colored plastic that has built up over time; birds cannot pass this through their systems and ultimately have no room to swallow anything that has nutrition.
Ask an Ocean Park resident what they love about their home, and our area’s natural beauty will be at the top of the list. Perhaps we who purport to appreciate our surroundings could take responsibility for our own waste– and maybe even pick up something that was left behind by someone else.
Sabrina originally wrote this in Ocean Park’s Facebook Group yesterday.
Thank you Sabrina.
Photo Credit: KEVIN J O'HARA
Photo taken in your unknown backyard, Pleasure House Point.
Way to go Wally! Life Saving Award winner!
Read entire article in Pilotonline.com:
He climbed into the vehicle through a passenger window, told the women to remain calm and kicked out the windshield to help them out of the vehicle.
Wally lives in Chicks Beach & does a bunch of great volunteer work.
You might have walked on some of his relentless hard work. The sidewalk on Greenwell Rd.
Way to go Wally!
Great Neck Ramps for 264 will open on Feb 8th 2012
Hooray!
Public Works Public Information Meeting in Ocean Park re:storm water improvements on southside
From an email:
IMPORTANT NOTICE: There will be a meeting of the Ocean Park Civic League on February 23rd beginning promptly at 6:00 p.m. at the Ocean Park Rescue Squad Building to address drainage improvements to Ocean Park. Please spread the word to your neighbors who may not be on our email distribution list. Below is the information from the City representative who will be conducting the meeting:
> Dear Mr. Thomas,
>
> I am a Project Manager with the City of Virginia Beach Engineer’s Office. We have recently developed alternative drainage improvement plans for the Ocean Park – South neighborhood and would like to hold a Public Information Meeting at the Ocean Park Rescue Station on Thursday, February 23, 2012 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The purpose of the meeting will be to update the residents about our recent evaluations and receive input from the citizens and Civic League regarding a preferred drainage improvement alternative. Vice Mayor Jones has received a verbal notification of this meeting.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Michael S. Bumbaco, PE
> City of Virginia Beach
> Public Works Engineering/Water Resources
Emphasis ours.
Read entire editorial at Pilotonline.com.
Also – it looks like City Council will be voting in March or April to permanently preserve Pleasure House Point forever.
VMRC Joint Permit Application for Long Creek Dredging
On 30 January, the VMRC sent a letter to notify the residents along Long Creek of a Joint Permit Application #11-1830 concerning maintenance dredging. The commission requests protests to their application to be submitted within 15 days of the date of the memorandum (done by 14 February) if you wish to express your concerns with this project. The Permit letter and project drawings should be available on the VMRC website (www.mrc.virginia.gov) and will soon be made available on the www.SDCC.info site. I have attached my reply to this posting.
February 2, 2012
Mr. Justin D. Worrell, Environmental Engineer
Virginia Marine Resource Commission
2600 Washington Avenue
Newport News, VA 23607Re: Joint Permit Application #11-1830, Long Creek Maintenance Dredging
Dear Mr. Worrell:
I thank you for giving our residents the opportunity to comment on the proposed maintenance dredging permit for Long Creek. One of our residents asked me the purpose of this notification as she has never received one before in the 37 years of living here. As she was not able to decipher the attached drawings, she asked how she could make an informed decision on this permit without sufficient information. I acknowledged her concerns. Is your letter of 30 January to serve as sufficient information or will public hearings be held?
On my review of the permit, I too have strong concerns. Many of the residents and boaters using Long Creek acknowledge that periodic maintenance dredging is needed every 4-5 years, but we question the scope of this project. As I have attended the majority of the Beaches and Waterways Advisory Committee meeting related to the Neighborhood Dredge (Spoils) Program for the Lynnhaven basin, I am very aware of the strong mistrust that many have of the city’s true motives concerning the proposed dredging of the Lynnhaven Basin, and Long Creek, and in particular, the use of Maple Street and Crab Creek areas as permanent mechanical transfer sites.
Concerning Long Creek and this permit, we are concerned with lack of thoroughness related to the city’s planning, the lack of sufficient studies related to traffic, safety, and the impact on the neighborhoods mainly involved. We have strong concerns about the quality of the dredged material, whether beach grade or unusable spoils, and the stated need for the permit’s mechanical dredging. We vehemently oppose any use of the Maple Street containment area for anything other than hydraulically transferred beach grade sand as non-beach grade sand would have detrimental environmental impact on both the adjacent preservation area and the water quality of Long Creek, one of our prime fishing areas.
We are requesting that the Joint Permit #11-1830 be sent back to the city of Virginia Beach to more adequately address our citizens’ concerns. Until such time as these concerns can be substantially met, we cannot support this permit.Sincerely,
David M. Williams
President, Shore Drive Community Coalition
2104 West Admiral Drive
Virginia Beach, VA 234521(757) 481-1668
New multi-use path bridge at Lake Joyce in the Beacon
Read the entire article at Pilotonline.com:
Kal Kassir, Bayfront Advisory Committee president, said that while safety was group members’ No. 1 concern, the resulting view also helps advance their goals.
“This is a gateway corridor to our city,” he said, “and the new footbridge and view of Bayville Farms Park enhances the natural beauty of the area.”
Previous post on this new awesome bridge at SDCC.info.
Pedestrian bridge was one of the recommendations that came out of the Shore Drive Safety Task Force [SDSTF] that you first heard about here.
You can view the PDF of the SDSTF recommendations[PDF] unanimously accepted by City Council in 2006.
Learn more about Shore Drive Topics at VBGov.com.
Thank you for this new awesome bridge! Shore Drive is a little safer because of it.
