Virginia Beach faces pushback on plan to fill lake with dredged material
VIRGINIA BEACH — A public works plan to fill a bowl-shaped borrow pit with material dredged from navigational channels and stormwater projects has met resistance from the city's Planning Commission, neighbors and wildlife groups who are concerned about the environmental impacts.
The City Council is scheduled to vote on modifications to a conditional use permit for the Oceana borrow pit on Tuesday, though a vote could be deferred, according to Councilman Worth Remick, who represents the district.
Excavation of the former sand pit at 560 Oceana Blvd. was completed in 2016, and it has become a lake. The city acquired the 19.5-acre site in 2017, and Department of Public Works wants to fill the lake with silt, clay and sand from dredging operations, specifically from navigation channels in the Lynnhaven River basin and stormwater projects.
This is the second time the city has sought to fill the lake. In 2018, the council requested studies of the groundwater and stormwater runoff, according to L.J. Hansen, director of public works.
'What've we learned about it is that it sits isolated from the drinking water system,' Hansen told the City Council last week. 'It's not the same water that people are drawing their drinking waters from.'
The land is zoned light industrial. Three monitoring wells were recently installed and the city is awaiting lab results on the water characteristics, Hansen said. The dredged materials will be tested for contaminants including petroleum and metals.
The city has been using another borrow pit called Whitehurst about 2,000 feet to the north of Oceana site for dredged material since 2012, but it's reaching capacity. Virginia Beach is required to test water quality and material before disposal at Whitehurst, according to a public notice from the Army Corps of Engineers, Norfolk District.
In April, the Planning Commission unanimously denied the Oceana application with one abstention, citing concerns about contaminants leaching into the soil and the need for a berm to protect surrounding properties from flooding.
The city's need for a site to dump material has grown over recent years as neighborhood navigational dredging projects are ongoing and citywide stormwater lake and canal dredging ramped up after Hurricane Matthew, Hansen said.
During peak operations 32 trucks per day will service the Oceana site, and it will take 8 to 10 years to fill it.
Private dumping sites could be available, but they would be 20 miles away and will cost more to ship and dispose of material, Hansen said. Hauling the material farther could increase the disposal cost by 180%, City Manager Patrick Duhaney said at the meeting. As a result, the city would likely scale back neighborhood dredging and raise the special service district tax that some residents incur to pay for it, he said.
'This does have a lot of ramifications if we move in a different direction,' Duhaney said.
Earlier this year, Planning Commissioner George Alcaraz met with an adjacent property manager and property owners and heard their concerns about potential flooding if the pit is filled.
The city plans to build an embankment around part of the lake, and water in the lake will drain off over time, James White, coastal administrator for public works, told the Planning Commission. White described the lake as bowl-shaped, and the deepest part is about 20 feet.
Alcaraz said he had several unanswered questions that prompted him to recommend denial of the application.
'Each dump truck will be tested. If it's bad, then where does it go?' he said.
Hansen told the City Council that water could be filtered and discharged from the pit into area creeks as another measure to prevent it from overflowing onto surrounding properties.
Sean Forsyth, owner of Simply Storage on Birdneck Road, located behind the borrow pit, said his property already floods during significant rain.
'The water just rolls downhill, and it looks like a river sometimes coming through my property,' he said.
Forsyth expects it will only get worse if the city fills the lake.
'It acts as a catch basin even though it wasn't designed that way,' he said. 'If you take any of that capacity, it's the tipping point.'
Aimee Rhodes, president of Back Bay Guild at Atlantic Wildfowl Heritage Museum and the former chair and a current member of Surfrider Foundation, said both organizations are worried about environmental impacts from dumping material into the borrow pit.
'It's bad form to look at it as dollar signs rather than the people's health,' she said.
The local Back Bay Chapter of the Delta Waterfowl Foundation had previously installed wood duck boxes at the site to provide nesting habitats. The group has launched a petition against the city's application. It had 159 signatures on Monday.
Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Yahoo
Moses Lake Christian Academy sends graduates forth with prayers, blessings
Jun. 12—MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Christian Academy marked a significant milestone May 31 as the Class of 2025 celebrated its graduation ceremony, featuring seven accomplished students. The event, held at the academy's auditorium, was attended by parents, faculty and friends, all coming together to celebrate the hard work and dedication of these young graduates. The ceremony opened with a heartfelt message from Valedictorian Brandon Swinger, who reflected on the trials and tribulations that shaped their high school experience. "Life is hard, so every day I pray that God makes me harder," he quoted the class motto, emphasizing resilience and the importance of faith amidst challenges. He further encouraged his peers to embrace their potential. "You can either be the civilian or you can be the hero who sacrifices everything to credit those around him," he said. Swinger shared anecdotes about popular heroes like Peter Parker, drawing parallels between their struggles and the challenges faced by students in their academic journeys. "Be like Peter, do the things you're afraid to do," he urged, inspiring his classmates to pursue their aspirations boldly. Following Swinger's address, Tyler Tadema, the senior class advisor, offered blessings and reflections on each graduate's character. "Jennika, you are a woman of grace. I bless you. God is able to make all grace abound to you," he said, acknowledging the unique contributions of each student to the academy community. His sentiments were echoed throughout the event, with every graduate receiving personal words of encouragement. In his speech, Kayden Edwards highlighted the importance of continuous growth beyond graduation. "The road ahead is uncertain. We might feel overwhelmed, but we can lean on that promise for most of our lives," he said, referencing Matthew 28:20, which reassures believers of Christ's constant presence. The keynote address featured Mark Bassett, who underscored the values integral to the academy's mission. "Your journey is just beginning, and the questions you face are significant. Seek to be a shepherd, a servant, and to understand suffering in your path," he said. The ceremony concluded with the formal awarding of diplomas, marking not just an end but the beginning of a new chapter for the Class of 2025. "Congratulations, Class of 2025," the administration announced as the graduates turned their tassels from right to left.
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Yahoo
‘Legalizing pigs': Tacoma to change city code to address animal overpopulation
Tacoma soon will implement changes to the city's municipal code to better address animal overpopulation, an issue that some say has overburdened organizations like the Humane Society of Tacoma and Pierce County. The changes include higher fees for the licensing of certain pets and a new definition for 'community cats' – neighborhood cats that are cared for by the community but don't necessarily count as strays. The code update also includes changes that affect more nontraditional pets, including one that essentially legalizes domestic pig ownership so long as the pigs are licensed, spayed or neutered, microchipped and weigh under 100 pounds. Council member John Hines, who put forward the ordinance to the City Council, said he wanted to do so after hearing from Humane Society staff that the city code on animals is outdated. He said the series of code changes that the City Council first discussed at its June 3 meeting sought to simultaneously address the outdated language while also combating animal overpopulation. According to the city, complaints to Tacoma's 311 system related to animal issues have skyrocketed in recent years – reaching 1,467 between 2024 and 2025, compared to the 758 it received between 2022 and 2023. The proposed changes also come after the council in 2023 passed a ban on declawing. 'This is an important issue, people care about it a lot,' Hines told The News Tribune. 'We can do this and also take on some bigger issues in our city at the same time.' He said the new community cats designation will help ease the workload for Tacoma's animal control and the Humane Society. Residents often call animal control to pick up neighborhood cats and take them to the Humane Society – but sometimes, those cats are feral or semi-feral cats that are being cared for by neighbors. They just don't always have one owner or live indoors. The changes to the Tacoma Municipal Code would also repeal a section of the code on 'hogs.' Hines said the distinction between hogs and pigs is unclear, but the city generally has understood hogs to be pigs that weigh over 200 pounds that are raised for slaughter. Until the council gave its approval to the changes at its June 10 meeting, the code stated that keeping a hog in Tacoma was a 'public nuisance,' and people who did so would be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of a $1,000 fine or up to 90 days of imprisonment. Hines said the strict punishment is likely a holdover from a decades-old policy that doesn't quite fit in 2025 when many people own potbellied or 'teacup' pigs. Pigs have recently made headlines in Tacoma – in 2024, Tacoma police officers gave chase to a small pig that trespassed through Tacoma's Eastside neighborhood. 'I want to say that I really wanted to ban pigs, because this is a city, it's not a farm, it's not Pierce County that has larger land areas,' Council member Sarah Rumbaugh said at the June 3 meeting. 'The reason I agreed to it is that people have potbellied pigs. That's a thing and they have them as pets.' The changes also include higher annual license fees for dogs and cats – it will soon cost $40 to license an altered dog and $175 for an unaltered dog, up from the $30 and $65, respectively. Licensing altered cats will now cost $30 and unaltered cats will cost $175, up from $20 and $65, respectively. The new ordinance also sets an annual license fee for indoor pigs at $40. The increased fees will help fund the city's Trap-Neuter-Return program for community cats, to help address the city's animal overpopulation. It also includes stricter requirements for pets to be microchipped and spayed or neutered, to prevent further animal overpopulation and to ensure that lost pets can be returned to their owners. Local Humane Society chief executive officer Leslie Dalzell called the changes 'thoughtful,' saying they will help reduce unnecessary shelter intake and ensure that the Humane Society can focus its efforts on helping animals 'truly in need.' 'Together, these changes reflect the city of Tacoma's continued leadership in progressive animal welfare policy and our shared commitment to treating every animal as an individual,' Dalzell told The News Tribune in an email. The city won't begin enforcing the increased fees until Sept. 1 to give the public time to become aware of the change and to pay the fees at a lower rate before they go up. Hines said the educational component that comes with the new fees is more the city's focus over strictly enforcing them – the changes are aiming to ensure that lost pets can be found and cared for. The city soon will begin to inform the Humane Society and local veterinarians of the changes who then can help inform pet owners, he said. 'If animals are licensed and microchipped, then if they are lost, it'll be easy to get them back to their owners. So there's a benefit to owners to have your animals licensed and microchipped,' Hines said. When the council gave its final approval June 10, the ordinance included an amendment that provided flexibility to the ownership of ducks and other fowl. The city code previously stated that residents can own a minimum maximum of six baby chicks, rabbits, ducklings or other fowl, but it didn't allow for people to buy fewer than six animals to replace them in the event that some pass away. 'By changing the code to allow you to purchase the number that gets you back to six actually honors the original intent of the rules [from] back in 1958,' Hines said at the meeting.
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Yahoo
Conservation director responds to concerns raised by local businesses
WESTFIELD — Conservation Director Anna Meassick said people are confused about the city's new wetlands protection ordinance that was approved by the City Council in May, and the rules and regulations that will apply to the local ordinance that are currently in draft form and inviting comments until July 7. 'There is a deep misunderstanding of what we're trying to do,' Meassick said. Meassick and Wetlands Compliance Officer Julia Hampton were in their office on June 10 putting together a complete set of documents relating to the new ordinance, including agendas, minutes, peer review conversations and notes in response to a public records request. The Conservation Commission meeting that had been scheduled that evening was cancelled due to a lack of quorum. She said in 2022, the Conservation Commission first started talking about making minor corrections to the local ordinance, but it was put on hold. She said the language in the previous ordinance was very 'gray,' and there were no rules and regulations on how to apply it to such areas as the 50-foot no disturb zone. 'When alteration is absolutely unavoidable is the only time you can do work in the no disturb zone' was added in 2022 to the previous ordinance. She said public feedback at the time was, 'if absolutely unavoidable, don't do the project,' Meassick said, adding, 'We can't just say no with no legal justification. We needed to make it less gray without being prohibitive.' Meassick said it's about setting standards to do the work. 'If you can meet the standards, you can do the work. The local ordinance didn't set the standards.' She said at the same time in 2022, the paragraph about the Commission setting the rules and regulations, which she said is common to all local ordinances, had been deleted. Asked why change the local ordinance, Meassick said the state Wetlands Protection Act doesn't protect all resource areas, such as vernal pools, which are only protected if they fall within a resource area. She said under the Home Rule Authority, cities can set rules and regulations that are stronger than those of the WPA. Intermittent streams, vernal pools, isolated wetlands, ephemeral pools, and land subject to flooding if smaller than a certain amount of square feet are not protected under the WPA, but local protections around them are common across the Commonwealth. She said Westfield always protected vernal pools, for example. 'Most important in the new ordinance is establishing a 100-foot buffer zone as its own resource area,' Meassick said. 'It's not that it's all protected. We can set rules and regulations to go with it that aren't already in the act.' She said the state has a 100-foot buffer zone, but it is not considered a resource area, so currently Westfield reviews projects in buffer zones by how they impact the resource areas they are protecting. Meassick said the Conservation Commission has been working on rewriting the new local ordinance since June 2023, and the item was listed on every agenda until it was completed. It then went to the City Council for review in the Legislative & Ordinance Committee for four months, which went over the ordinance line by line. Prior to going to the City Council, Meassick sat in a peer review for five months with Tighe & Bond. 'I worked with Tighe & Bond once a week for three hours over the course of five months before even giving it to the mayor,' Meassick said. She said before the peer review with Tighe and Bond, the ordinance was written by the commission, including now retired longtime members David Doe and James Murphy. 'Anything I do is at the direction of the commission,' Meassick said. The City Council had a public hearing on the new ordinance at the end of April with no public feedback. It was approved by the council on May 1 and signed into law on May 6. 'The revision of the ordinance was on the agenda for two years. There was plenty of opportunity for public feedback. Suddenly, there is a huge problem regarding intermittent streams,' Meassick said. She said intermittent streams are not protected by the state WPA, but are protected in many local ordinances. Regarding the charge that the ordinance would regulate a stormwater swale, she said it does not. 'The definition of a stream says it has to flow from a resource area,' she said, adding that in the draft rules and regulations, it specifically states that intermittent streams do not apply to stormwater swales. 'The ordinance that is currently approved is not very different from the previous city ordinance,' Meassick said. She said the only resource area that was added to the previous ordinance was 200 feet from intermittent streams. She said there is confusion from the public about the 200-foot protection area, and the department wants public feedback on how the draft regulations that are currently proposed will impact people. 'If something is truly undoubtedly a hardship, we want to modify that,' she said. Another claim is that the city added a new, separate permitting system. Meassick said they didn't add a permit, but created a local version of the state permit in order to streamline and add clarity to the process. 'One of the things I felt was the most important was to add an administrative approval process. Under the former local ordinance, it didn't exempt projects that were usually exempt under the state act. We created an administrative approval process to streamline it so people who want to do minor projects, such as fencing, cutting a tree or pathways, don't have to go through the local permit process anymore, which they would have had to do under the old ordinance. Instead, Julie or I can just sign off on it, Meassick said. 'We're trying to make it easier and clearer for the public on what they have to do because we haven't had regulations before. The previous local ordinance had no regulations — there was no clear way to apply it locally,' she said. 'Just saying no was bad. You need to justify it somehow.' Meassick said the rules and regulations are the 'nitty gritty' of the ordinance, giving the example of the state's WPA, which is seven pages, and its rules and regulations, which is hundreds of pages. She said they are two separate documents. Meassick said the Conservation Department is seeking constructive feedback. Why would it be a burden, how will it negatively impact projects, instead of inflammatory comments such as catastrophic for our business. 'What we want to know is how,' she said, adding, 'The majority would be more appreciated as constructive criticism. We appreciate their feedback.' The public comment section for the rules and regulations of the Wetlands Protection Ordinance may be found at Meassick said she has only had one comment submitted to date. 'There is nothing wrong with the way the ordinance is written. The ordinance sets the baseline,' Meassick said. She said the wording is typical and was compared to 21 other communities in the state. They also extensively referenced the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions handbook, guidance and literature by law, and modified it to fit Westfield. 'Our ordinance is science-based. It does not undermine property rights, due process and fairness. Yet again, we would greatly appreciate someone showing us how it does those things,' Meassick said. She also encouraged people to apply for projects at this time so the Conservation Commission can review their projects under the new ordinance, and give them feedback. 'The goal is never to be prohibitive, it's to regulate and protect our resources,' Meassick said. Read the original article on MassLive.
