The Virginia Beach Council of Civic Organizations wants to work with the city towards making the planning process more transparent and more responsive. One idea: give neighborhoods earlier input and more opportunity to make their voices heard in the process of development taking place in their vicinity. Please give your input by taking this short survey.

Thank you to all our members for coming out! So great to visit with our neighbors! Thank you to Taste for great food and service! Thanks to our musician Rob Oliver!

As with all our events, they could not happen without all the generous volunteers who make them possible!! Our greeters at the front tables doing their best to keep our records, our wandering raffle money collectors and our great t-shirts sellers all give their time and do their best to make the event a success. Thank you to the Social Committee members and Membership Committee Chair who give their time in planning the events and always looking for ways to improve. We appreciate you sharing your time and your friendliness! Volunteers all- we salute you!

We’ve restocked our sunset design tshirts ($25) with some added colors and now children’s sizes ($20)! We also have hats ($25). We still have some of the new merchandise left which will be at Beach Built on Shore Drive. Thank you to Beach Built (next to Froggies) for their hospitality! Cash or credit card will go directly to the Ocean Park Civic League.

If you receive an email from President Danny Murphy asking for gift card donations, please ignore. The account has been targeted by scammers. You will note that the email is NOT the official email: president@opcl.org. Below are a copies of the scammer emails.

On Saturday from 9-12 April 20th! Organizer Mary Faust will have her delicious warm cornbread and chocolate muffins waiting for you! Come help clean up- gloves, grabbers and trash bags provided! Stroll around the nature area and snag some trash!

What are your top 3 concerns about development guidelines in Ocean Park? The BAC will take up this discussion and needs to hear from you! Email: communication@opcl.org

While the Shore Drive Corridor Plan and the Shore Drive Design Guidelines may be more familiar, the Urban Land Institute study that they were based on is also available. The study was done in 1997 and does contain outdated information. Several suggested developments: Waterman’s Walk, Fisherman’s Village did not prove viable.

“The questions the panel was asked to address were divided into four major topic areas: market potential, development and marketing strategies, planning and design and implementation. The panel was asked to evaluate potential development in the corridor and how these sectors differed from markets in the oceanfront resort area.” The Executive Summary shows that many of today’s issues were already clear then: “The absence of a vision results in unclear plans for the future and a tendency toward hodgepodge development patterns. The city has many of the tools necessary to implement a plan but in the absence of a clear vision it is hard to find the basis for consistent administrative action and strong political will, especially when pressures to accommodate narrow interests are significant. ” Issues listed for the west side of the bridge (Ocean Park) include: Density, Development Standards, Road and Parking Standards, Future development impact on wetlands.” In 30 years not much change.

The final recommendations called for the city to better control development by requiring compliance with environmental regulations , site design criteria and landscape and parking design regulations. The city “should use these tools aggressively to improve the overall quality of development in the area. The city has the capacity to better communicate with developers regarding design issues and show endeavor to work more closely with the development community to achieve better design outcomes. The Bayfront Advisory Board could be instrumental in this effort.” It draws a parallel between the powerful Resort Advisory Committee and the Bayfront Advisory.

As a part of the Comprehensive Plan update, the Shore Drive Corridor Plan will also be updated. The same consultant firm will address the Shore Drive part of the Comprehensive Plan later next year. In the coming months, the BAC will work toward laying a foundation for that work by reviewing the old plan: its vision, goals and purpose and welcomes input from residents. Many opportunities will be planned for public engagement. The Ocean Park community is invited to review the current guiding Shore Dr. documents included in this post and think about needed changes.

Shore Drive Corridor Plan

Shore Drive Design Guidelines

ULI Study

COVB Codes and Ordinances: Article 17 Shore Drive Overlay District

Comments: president@opcl.org

Added to our Social Calendar: Movie Nights on the Beach tentatively: June 15, July 13 and August 10! Holiday Lights Neighborhood Bike Ride Saturday, December 7th!
Next Social Committee Meeting: Monday April 29th 6:00-7:00 pm. Hopefully we can sit outside!

Thursday afternoon, Parks and Rec. are installing multiple speed bumps at the boat ramp entry and in the parking lot. Workers said we almost got speed tables but they are pricey. The workmen were great and showed us the diagram.

Our speaker for the April meeting, Mike Benedetto, President of TFC Recycling gave a great presentation about recycling now and what’s ahead. Did you know that we actually paid more for recycling in 1996 than we do now? This was before China entered the business and brought down prices but they pulled out in 2018. Mr. Benedetto answered lots of questions about what was actually recyclable (labels ok, staples/ tape ok on boxes, bottles need to be clean etc.) He also relayed that he plastics industry often falsely labels their products with a 1 or 2 symbol so folks think they can recycle the item but only plastic bottles currently are recyclable. For details go to: Virginiabeach.gov/trash-recycling/recycling-information

Mr. Benedetto relayed that the results of the City survey about preferences showed an overwhelming support for continuing the recycling program but the City Council needs to hear from residents during the Budget Comment Period. Go to Speak Up VB to comment on the budget.