President Danny Murphy recently participated an onsite meeting with Councilman Schulman, the Bayfront Advisory Commission leadership and city planners to explore the construction of a temporary  patchwork to create stopgap contiguous sidewalks for improved pedestrian safety along Shore Dr. As feared the 2023-2024 city budget defunded our long-promised Phase 4 Shore Drive Improvement Project, further delaying the construction of a modern roadway including improved curbs, multi-use path, and sidewalks.

After Memorial Day until after 6:00 pm on Labor Day dogs are allowed on the beach only before 10:00 am and after 6:00 pm. According to Beach Rules Virginia Beach Gov.com : “Dogs can be off leash on the beach so long as they are firmly under their caretaker’s control so as not to disturb other people or dogs”.

Some reminders about “golf carts” in our community. Although some communities in the area are designated golf cart communities, Ocean Park is not a designated or approved golf cart community. Because of this, to drive lawfully on the streets of Ocean Park golf carts must be street-legal electric vehicles as defined by state and city law. This means they must meet all the vehicular requirements, be titled, registered with low-speed license plates from DMV and covered by minimum insurance requirements. They may only be operated by drivers with a valid license or learner’s permit and the driver must follow all the same rules of the road as a normal vehicle. (Virginia Beach Codes of Ordinance: Sec. 7: 65-68 ).

It’s growing! The newly planted dune grass is looking beautiful! But it serves a very important purpose: to catch the sand to build and maintain the dunes. The deep roots also anchor the dunes and help preserve the dunes. Please stay off the dunes and allow the grass to get established!

It bears repeating that the time and effort involved in arranging the fireworks every year for Ocean Park and the bayfront is considerable and is accomplished by people donating their time, chiefly of course is Jill Doczi. The short answer to the question of why the fireworks are on the 1st this year is: it saves a lot of money. The fireworks are funded exclusively through donations. None of the money raised goes into the civic league. Please donate to the fireworks fund!! (though by supporting the civic league you are contributing to the administrative costs and supporting the fireworks also). In recent years fireworks by other civic leagues along the water have been discontinued.. it takes a lot of work to get it done!

The longer story of why this saves money is interesting. Jill says: “There is an enormous barge shortage due to some major long-term construction projects in the midAtlantic concluding HRBT and CBBT. So much so that it took us and our contacts in Special Events at the city several months of working together to locate the correct type and size of ocean-going barge last year. The city and our show lost our long-term fireworks vendor over it because he was afraid he would be left with no income at all on the fourth and accepted some land shows. It was so nerve-wracking looking and being disappointed over the three months we searched that I almost quit 3 times. We were convinced there would be no fireworks in Virginia Beach at all several times. Anyway, the city finally located one. Because of that we piggybacked on the barge use last year and will this year.” We had two choices: “do the turnaround from the 3rd to the 4th and pay all that crew overtime (all of these people have to have Homeland Security clearance, State Polic clearance, fire marshal approval set. They can’t just find some employees at a temp agency) or have one load-in on the 1st or 2nd for $10,000 cheaper. Definitely save the $10,000 was the way we went. Considering that the 1st fell on a Saturday, the consensus was choose Saturday.”

 “Please Stay Off the Dunes” signs have been promised by the city. They will be placed on the front slope of the dunes along the beach. Let’s give the grass a chance to get established!

Please help support your neighborhood civic league with $20 or more in Membership Dues!! Join for the first time or Renew your $20 membership. Payment can be made here on the OPCL web site with PayPal or use a credit card with CheddarUp : OPCL.org-Join or Renew. Or you can send a check by mail to: OPCL PO Box 55385 Virginia Beach, VA 23471.

Everything is more expensive these days– including all the things that OPCL pays for with the income from dues. If you are able to give an amount over the $20 membership, it would go a long way towards helping OPCL continue to support the community in all the ways it has in the past. If you can- go into your PayPal or CheddarUp account and give $25, $30 or more. We appreciate your support!

Take a look back over the events in Ocean Park and the positive impact OPCL has had on the neighborhood: A Year in Ocean Park. Support the work and fun the civic league can provide thanks to your membership. We appeal to all residents of our community to consider joining OPCL. Annual dues are only $20 for a household : opcl.org Join OPCL. The civic league depends on your support to work on behalf of the Ocean Park Community.

What does your $20 annual membership pay for?

Civic league budget pays for the costs of getting information out – website costs, email blast Mailchimp services, snail mail post office box, IT services. We make contributions to Lynnhaven River Now, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and we give a four-year $1000 college scholarship every year. In addition, the civic league puts on two social events with great food and fun : the Spring Fling and Fall Fest are free to paid members. Please renew or join today, we depend on you.

Dear City Council Members:

I had hoped to attend tonight’s City Council meeting on the evening of May, 9th in person but unfortunately I am not able. Please include my email to the record.

The Ocean Park Civic League requests the proposed 2024 budget include full funding for the Phase 4 Shore Drive Improvements Capital Improvement Project (CIP). This project has been delayed for nearly 20 years, and it is vital for resolving long-standing documented safety issues on one of the most heavily traveled corridors in the city. 

Timeline of Phase 4 Shore Drive Improvement Delays

• 2007-2008 Project first appears in Capital Improvement Plan as CIP 2-118. January 9, 2007 the City Council established the project with appropriation of FY 2005-2006 fund balance from the General Fund.
• 2008 December Phase II, III, IV plans advance to 30%.
• 2010 July Shore Drive Phase IV funding transferred to Phase III.
• 2018 In FY2020 CIP funds were appropriated to initiate design activities. Construction to start September 2023.
• 2020 CIP funds were appropriated to this project to initiate project design activities. The Commonwealth Transportation Board awarded this project $500,000 in Revenue Sharing in FY 2024-25. “As an existing Revenue Sharing Project, Shore Drive IV will receive priority in the next round of Revenue Sharing Awards. Therefore, Commonwealth funds were increased in the project and local funds in the outer years of the CIP were redirected and reprogrammed to Centerville Turnpike Phase II.”
• 2021 March “Phase IV going to construction in summer of 2025 with a 3 year duration.” Letter from William Purcell, Dept of Public Works.
• 2022 July : “The Preliminary Engineering Report and 30% Plans for Shore Dr Ph4 are scheduled to be completed Aug 2023.” Letter from William Purcell, Dept of Public Works.
• 2023 Proposed FY 2024 Budget: Phase IV CIP project is defunded and funds transferred to Phase III. again.

The Phase 4 Shore Drive Improvements CIP would widen Shore Drive from Marlin Bay Drive to Lesner Bridge, add a multi-use path and sidewalk, improve drainage and landscaping, and install new traffic signals and streetlights. This project would significantly enhance the safety, mobility, and quality of life for residents, businesses, and visitors in the Shore Drive area.

The reason this project is not closer to shovel-ready is a lack of political will. The city has repeatedly postponed or reduced funding for this project, despite its high priority ranking by the Public Works Department and strong public support. The project was originally introduced in 2007 and has now laid barren through 4 five year CIP budgeting cycles.  

This is unacceptable and unfair to the Shore Drive community, which has been waiting patiently for decades for this project to be completed. The city should honor the commitment made by the late Councilman Louis Jones, who represented the Bayside District for 32 years and championed this project until his passing in 2021. Councilman Jones understood the importance of this project for the safety and well-being of his constituents and the city as a whole.

I would like to address several of the reason’s city staff has indicated for defunding the project:

• One stated reason for Phase IV defunding: lack of immediacy of the project: Since 2005, despite the establishment of the Bayfront Advisory Commission and over 18 years of stated support for the Phase 4 CIP (as voted by past councils), this project has languished due to a failure to fully support this documented priority. There are no other project with a longer tenure for uncompleted CIP projects while many, many others around the city have been added and completed.
• Another stated reason for Phase IV defunding: lack of state or federal matching funds: again, this falls squarely on the city who did not seek, request nor obtain said matching funds.
• Ultimately, the decision to defund this CIP comes down to budget constraints. Our specific Shore Drive community has accounted for hundreds of millions of dollars of tax revenue to the city coffers since the inception of this project. Additionally, we have voted to approve the  Flood Prevention Bond Referendum. 

For all of these reasons, I respectfully ask you to restore and allocate sufficient funding for the Phase 4 Shore Drive Improvements CIP in 2024. This project is long overdue and deserves your full support.

Thank you for your attention and service.

Sincerely,

Daniel Murphy

President, Ocean Park Civic League

Link to April 2023 Engineering Study for Shore Dr CIP. Shore Drive Corridor Improvements Phase IV Preliminary Engineering April 2023.

Reaction from President Danny Murphy: After two decades they now have a plan but not only did they redirect about $8 Mil already appropriated to the CIP last year, they have completely defunded it for this year and removed it entirely from the budget through 2030! It is an abject failure of leadership and commitment from the city. The Bayfront Advisory Commission was created to specifically develop and push Shore Drive safety and identity forward but they have not fulfilled their role on this issue. After our advocacy, they agreed to send a letter objecting to the CIP defunding.

Since there is no formal scoring system for rating CIP projects under consideration in the budget process, selection of what gets funded is an exercise in political power. City staff has indicated they selected CIP projects to defund based on criteria that only highlight the city’s lack of commitment, resolve and performance process: 

• One stated reason for Phase IV defunding: lack of immediacy of the project: Since 2005, despite the establishment of the Bayfront Advisory Commission and over 18 years of stated support for the Phase 4 CIP (as voted by past councils), this project has languished due to a failure of council and city staff to adhere to a 5 year process for 3 now going on 4 times!
• Another stated reason for Phase IV defunding: lack of state or federal matching funds: again, this falls squarely on the city who did not seek, request or obtain said matching funds.
• While long serving Council Members should be held to account for promoting further inaction on this long standing safety issue, new council members face a litmus test of executing and keeping past promises to the citizens of Virginia Beach.