Today is FINAL DAY: Input for the Future of VB:
Postponed: Ocean Park Baptist Church Restoration Meetings/ Update
The committee formed by the Ocean Park Civic League has postponed meeting to review the rezoning and Conditional Use Permit (CUP) application for Assembly Use of the Ocean Park Baptist Church. The project will go before the Planning Commission on August 14 so the committee will meet closer to that time to be certain they have the latest information. Last week Mr. Dubay presented the project to the Bayfront Advisory Commission. He addressed known concerns: hours of operation, noise/parking/traffic management strategies, and the proffers that have been volunteered for the Conditional Rezoning. If there are other concerns that the committee should consider, please contact President Danny Murphy.
On a warm Tuesday evening, Derek and Hayden Dubay presented information about their OP Baptist Church restoration project at an Open House Meeting held at the church with the Church Trustees in attendance. The DuBays presented additional information about parking, noise, the constraints they will put in place on the events to be held there and also provided more background about why they undertook this project. They related their efforts to find a church or a school that could operate under current zoning but for most cost would be prohibitive. Since that option is not viable, they are planning a small event venue. The meeting was well attended and many concerns were voiced and discussed.
Did You Know? What Does it Take?
Many people aren’t aware of just how much is involved in making the fireworks happen. (99% is done by Jill Doczi-our Fireworks Wizard). Here is a list of what has to happen:
- United States Coast Guard permit
- Virginia Beach Fire Marshal permit
- Virginia Beach Special Events permit
- Secure contract with approved pyrotechnic company
- Locate and secure contract for a barge
- Locate and secure contract for a tug
- Part of the special event permit requires you notify and/or make arrangements with fire marshal’s office, rescue, third precinct (including traffic and marine police).
- Permit requires you provide notice to all neighbors and show proof of how that was accomplished. (Fliers, email, social media, etc.)
- Permit requires proof of insurance.
- Permit requires a description of a trash plan, a parking plan, an increment weather plan and an emergency aid plan.
- Fielding questions from the general public. Monitor social media to correct misconceptions.
- Contacting all major news outlets to remind them this is a neighborhood event not a city funded event to be advertised to the general public as another option to Mount Trashmore or the Oceanfront
- Permit requires an evacuation plan.
- Order up-to-date signage announcing the event for each beach access and place/retrieve signs the day of the event.
- AND everything involved in getting donations:
-Order fundraising envelopes.
-Print and hand cut the small informational fliers for the envelopes. Stuff and count the envelopes for each street.
-Organize volunteers for each street to distribute envelopes.
-Utilize social media to encourage donations and keep the community up to date about the event.
Mark your calendars! Movie Nights on the Beach are planned for July 13, August 10 and Sept. 21!
Did you know? From our meeting….
We learned a lot about the work of Lynnhaven River Now. from Karen Forget, Executive Director. While their work has a lot in common with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, they are solely focused on restoring Virginia Beach waters. In 2002 when they were founded, no oysters or fish could be eaten from the Lynnhaven due to bacteria levels. The change today is huge. Karen talked about what LRN offers to homeowners and neighborhoods to safeguard and enhance the waters we all enjoy.
- Sustainable Yards Program. You can contact LRN and they will come to your house and walk your yard with you to give you suggestions on resolving drainage issues and conserving waters.
- 130 gallon rain barrels that cost $500 can be provided to eligible homeowners for $100.
- Waterway Cleanups Single use plastics pose a particular threat to ocean life.
In the business part of the meeting, President Danny Murphy had updates:
- Lynnhaven Boat Ramp: he will meet June 12 with head honchos.
- Ocean Park Baptist Church Renovation/ Restoration: possible change in new zoning request
- FIREWORKS: DONATE NOW: less than a month to go!! Jill says money raising campaign starts in earnest now and donation envelopes going out. Baylake Pines is our partner in this effort and for the second year, Chic’s Beach has committed to also raise funds.
Parade Sponsors?
Are you a business owner in Ocean Park or who lives in Ocean Park or nearby? We are looking for sponsors for a July 4th Parade! There has been a tradition of a neighborhood 4th of July Walk for a long time. We would like to make this a legit event so we can include everyone but there are considerable costs for the city permit and the police needed for public safety. We need to raise $800 to be able to have a parade. Time is short but if you would like to help make this dream a reality: please contact : president@opcl.org.
Contributions from anyone are welcome!!
Do you know what a Pearl Home is? “PEARL HOMES are places where people care about our community and our environment and want to do what they can to live responsibly and help protect our resources. So much of the progress we have made in restoring our waterways is a result of the great work our residents are doing to change their practices and adopt more sustainable behaviors.” If you can check off just 15 actions: you can have a Pearl Home too! If we get 30% of the homes in Ocean Park, we would become Pearl Neighborhood which considering we have PHP right here, would be great! So if you do things like recycle, turn off unused lights, use LED bulbs, only run full washing machine loads, etc: you are on your way to being a Pearl Home and supporting our waterways! Application here!
Fireworks History Part 2!
From our Fireworks master Jill Doczi comes the second installment of how the Independence Day Fireworks funded by individual contributions came about:
“July 2011: Our first authorized show in 2010, organized by our Ocean Park Civic League president, Rick Mercadante, was a huge hit. In his words,“We started the summer by celebrating our nation’s birth with a fantastic fireworks display that exceeded all expectations. I was proud of the way our neighborhood came together in a grassroots effort to make this happen. What a great country to live in, and even better,what a great neighborhood we live in.“
Rick’s accomplishment set the ball in motion for our new, safer tradition, and it did indeed accomplish the goal of curbing the night-long illegal fireworks along our beach. However, at the end of his commitment to our country, he received his final call — to Djibouti. Before he left, Rick asked me to take on his project. If someone didn’t keep it rolling, we wouldn’t have a fireworks celebration of our country’s independence anymore on our beach.
As a child, fireworks seemed magical to me. The anticipation of the explosions followed by the surprise of colorful displays were a once-a-year treat in Roanoke if we were lucky enough to have someone drive us downtown, find parking, squeeze into bleachers with thousands of others and watch our city display over a football field. At the time Rick asked me, I had small children who had only ever known the un-hassled Independence Day tradition of walking down to the beach with family and friends to watch fireworks with reflections on the water and the sound of waves as the backdrop to our “Ooooos” and “Ahhhhhs.” I wanted them to grow up with those memories. I agreed with hesitation. Little did we know, this would be a learning year.”
The Story Behind the Ocean Park Fireworks: Part 1!
Please donate! Jill Doczi tells the story of how our fireworks show came about:
In the past, neighbors celebrated the day of our nation’s independence starting at sundown and continuing into the early morning hours with their own fireworks on the beaches. From Little Creek Amphibious Base to First Landing State Park, we had a stunning array of light and sound from everything between small sparklers and thousands-of-dollars mini-shows, all illegal, but impressive as a whole for a community.
Over the years, the word spread, and people from outside the community flocked to participate. Sometimes those people showed up a little under-the-influence, excited to share their self-taught pyrotechnic skills. Sometimes they didn’t care as much about the safety of neighbors and sometimes they didn’t have the skills they thought they did — resulting errant shots into dry dune grass, onto roofs and into crowds. Hundreds of fireworks shooting in all directions up and down the beach did start to resemble a war movie.
In 2009, we experienced the Great Fireworks Crackdown. Due to some serious safety issues from the previous year, the city launched a very militant effort to stop the illegal use of fireworks on the Fourth of July along the Shore Drive beaches. In addition to increased beach patrols, they staged police and fire marshal staff at every access entrance. They checked coolers, bags and buggies for explosives and meted out severe penalties. It worked. Fireworks celebrations of Independence Day appeared to have ended on our beaches.
The community realized that maybe it had gotten out-of-hand and unsafe, but we weren’t willing to give up the tradition. How could we celebrate our country in the same patriotic way that centuries of Americans before us have, while not setting each other and our neighborhoods on fire?
In 2010, our then civic league president, Rick Mercadante, proposed we raise funds for a professional show. The city agreed. Word-of-mouth and a loan from the civic league launched our first authorized fireworks show in July 2010.
Did You Know? Zoning Vocabulary
The current zoning is residential and the parcel was platted originally into 4 lots. Meaning if the church were sold and the religious CUP were removed a developer could, without rezoning, build 4 duplex (8 units) there assuming all other requirements could be met.
Here are some terms that factor in the discussion about the Ocean Park Baptist Church restoration project.
- What is R5D Zoning? The underlying zoning the Church operates under is R5D with a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for religious use. R5D Zoning Definiton: “The R-5D Residential Duplex District is created in recognition of the existence of developed areas where single-family and semidetached
dwellings exist on lots averaging five thousand (5,000) square feet in area and where duplexes exist on lots of ten thousand (10,000) square feet in area.“ - What is B2 Zoning? The zoning change would be to B2 (business) WITH a Conditional Use Permit restricting its use to the terms of the permit.
- What is a Conditional Use Permit? Conditional Use Permit places restrictions on a general zoning category. Definition: “A conditional use permit is needed in zoning districts where the location, design or configuration of a proposed use could negatively impact neighboring properties. A conditional use permit (CUP) allows use on a property that’s not already allowed by right and requires additional review to ensure the requested use is appropriate for the proposed site. Applications are submitted to Planning & Community Development and then considered by the Planning Commission, which makes a recommendation to the City Council.“
Ocean Park Civic League 