LBR Activity Report: July 4th Weekend

Latest Report from the Parks and Recreation Department concerning the activity at the Lynnhaven Boat Ramp over the holiday weekend.

“Overall, the holiday weekend was busy but was managed well by all staff. We had a total of 535 launches over the 3 days.”

“Friday, July 4 –  207 total launches, car parking was filled at 9:30am and continued to busy throughout the day. When staff left at 9pm there were still a lot of vehicles in car parking and a lot of trailers still in the trailer lot. The assumption is that with the nice marine forecast several people were out on boats watching the oceanfront and Cavalier hotel fireworks. We did use the overflow parking lot for about 50 trailers. We did not have to close using the barricades at any time.

Saturday, July 5 – 209 total launches, car parking was full from 9:25 am until around 9:00pm. The overflow was used for 54 vehicles with trailers.  

Sunday, July 6 – 119 total launches, car parking was full from 11am – closing. The overflow trailer lot was not used.” 

“Parks and Recreation partnered with Va. Beach Police, and Emergency Management and added Garda World security personnel to the Lynnhaven Boat Ramp holiday operations. We had a DCJS armed security guard with a marked SUV onsite from 8:00pm to 2:00am on Friday and Saturday night. Security personnel were tasked with providing a presence in cooperation with the police department to address any potential security concerns over the weekend. This was very successful. Security personnel were able to keep regular vehicles out of the trailer parking lot and helped to defuse a situation between two boaters returning to the ramp. They were able to manage the situation very professionally and called the police to assist.” 

” Sunday July 6^th – VBPD had their mobile command vehicle onsite for the Chicks Beach Fireworks.”

Incidents to report:

• “Friday approximately 9:00pm – Garda security intervened and called police for an incident involving two people at the ramp. One person accused another person of moving his vehicle.  

• Saturday at about 1:45pm, VBPD, EMS and the fire department showed up to facility as response to a call of a child being swept into the current under the bridge. No injuries reported.

• Review of video data from Friday until Monday morning showed a lot of cars after hours until after midnight each night but no apparent loitering in the parking lots.  Onsite security did a great job keeping non-trailered vehicles out of the trailer lot.

• Parking Enforcement – 31 citations were written from July4th – July 7^th. 340 total citations since April 1.“

“Lastly, on the morning of Tuesday, July 8 at 12:04am, the police Real Time Crime Center was monitoring the boat ramp cameras and saw a white mustang doing a donut in the trailer lot. A zone unit was called by the RTCC staff, and he responded in time to stop the vehicle. Summonses for Reckless Driving and Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor issued to the driver of the vehicle. This is a great example of how positive the cameras are at this site.”