20-05-2025
VB waterfront property owners learn about ordinance changes
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — If you own property along the Chesapeake Bay, the Lynnhaven River or its tributaries, changes are coming that may affect your property.
The key part of the new ordinance is the Resource Protection Area, a key component of the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area. The state's Department of Environmental Quality requires the RPA to be a 100-foot buffer measured from the edge of applicable wetlands or waterbodies.
Right now, city code requires an additional variable width buffer, measured on certain properties starting from the top of the slope leading to wetlands. This buffer will now be measured from the wetlands or waterline under the updated regulations. This adjustment means that on some properties, the area considered a protected buffer zone, if applicable, will shrink to the state-required 100-foot buffer, potentially affecting land use, development and property rights.
This is all being done to help keep chemicals out of the Chesapeake Bay and slow down water before it gets out to the Bay.
What this means for some residents, essentially, is that these changes could impact how you build and what you're able to build.
'The ownership is not changing,' said environmental coordinator Hannah Sabo. 'The changes to this ordinance are specifically regulatory, so [it tells you] how you can build within that buffer area, but it does not change who owns the property. It does not change, really, the developmental rights on that property.'
These changes won't go into effect until later this year once council formally accepts them. If you missed Monday night's meeting, you can attend another meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Great Neck Recreation Center on Shorehaven Drive.
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