More Beach Replenishment Questions Answered

At the February OPCL meeting, Dan Adams and Jim White gave an update on the upcoming Ocean Park beach restoration project (February General Meeting Minutes. ) Folks had some follow up questions about the project which is still on schedule: “GLD&D (contractor for the project) maintains that they will begin channel dredging operations the first half of April and will begin beach restoration efforts on Ocean Park Beach by mid-May.”

  • In answer to concerns about the additional erosion (scarping) since the project design: The contractor will add sand to the dunes that have undergone additional scarping prior to commencement of sand placement activities.The reference point for the new dune line is the line shown as ‘BERM CREST’ on the beach fill plan sheets.  The contractor will place sand from the landward limit of the current beach profile and build the beach out to the BERM CREST limit.“
  • Re concerns about the outflow pipe for 3556 Shore Dr. near Lesner Bridge: “Public Works Stormwater Operations (PWSO) has worked out an agreement with the 3556 condo to inspect and clean out the 12” pipe when a service request is received.  PWSO checks the pipe periodically when they check other outfalls within the Ocean Park Beach neighborhood.  The beach restoration within the vicinity of the 12” outfall pipe will be constructed such that the pipe is not obstructed.”
  • Regarding the truck haul project to move sand from the Lynnhaven site: “Sand hauls from this site are not new. The city performed annual truck hauls from this site to the Oceanfront for over 20 years prior to the City/USACE Virginia Beach Hurricane Protection Project (VBHPP) beach restoration in 2001.  The primary sand source for the VBHPP is now dredged from Thimble Shoal Channel in the lower Chesapeake Bay. Since 2001, sand truck hauls have been performed as needed to evacuate the site to provide storage capacity and/or to augment sand placement along the Bay Beaches.  As with any project, safety and mitigation of impacts to the community will be addressed in the project plans and specification. The city recently obtained a permit to transfer non beach quality sand from the northern part of the EBLR channel from this site. We plan on using this site for other waterway maintenance activities in the future.”
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Here’s the Scoop on the Beach Replenishment !

At the General Membership meeting Jim White and Dan Adams, project managers for the city, gave confirmed the timeline for the Ocean Park Beach Restoration Project. The dredging activity will begin in April and the sand placement on Ocean Park beach will happen in May-June time frame. You can access the meeting minutes to get all the details about the nuts and bolts of how the Ocean Park project will proceed and an update on the sand stockpile on the Lynnhaven Inlet site (Cape Henry getting some help): February 10 General Meeting Minutes. Here is a video of the presentation at Thursday’s meeting: Ocean Park Beach Nourishment Project Update Feb-10-2022

Replenishment Project at Chesapeake Beach a few years ago.
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Beach Replenishment Update: Guest Speakers Thursday Feb. 10

Jim White clarified the difference between nourishment and replenishment:
“Beach Nourishment is the term used to define the first sand placement effort when a program is established to physically build back an eroded beach to previous width, height, and length. Beach replenishment/renourishment is used to define the subsequent sand placements efforts after the initial beach nourishment/restoration is conducted . A replenishment effort may occur on a 3-7 year cycle. Beach restoration or shoreline restoration is used to define an overall bayfront, oceanfront or riverfront project that may include more than just beach nourishment that may include hard structures such as shore perpendicular groins, seawalls, living shorelines or offshore (shore parallel) rock breakwaters. “

“Although Ocean Park Beach has received sand in the past from the Lynnhaven Inlet dredging project, the upcoming project is considered a beach nourishment (or beach restoration) project because a City CIP has been established to conduct this nourishment (the first nourishment) and fund future replenishment projects. “

Minutes from the January 6 General Membership Meeting can be viewed here: january-general-meeting-minutes.docx

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Beach Replenishment

-The project will occur between Rookery Way to just east of 3556 Shore Drive Condominium.
-The beach berm will be constructed to an elevation of +7.0 ft NAVD88.
-The beach berm width (the ‘recreational’ portion of the beach profile) will average 100ft.
-Sand will be placed as part of a dune restoration feature between Albemarle Ave. and Dinwiddie Rd.

Slides from April Presentation to OPCL

You can listen to the entire presentation commentary : youtube.com/beach replenishment presentation by Dan Adams. Slides can be viewed at: OPCL meeting April 8 Dan Adams guest speaker about beach replenishment

Engineering Plans for Beach Replenishment:

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A Year in Ocean Park

2021 was quite a year! Despite restrictions from COVID, the civic league dealt with a number of issues. Ocean Park was removed from being in a Short Term Rental Overlay district. The community felt strongly about this issue and many residents wrote letters and spoke out at the Bayside Advisory Commission and City Council meetings .

Another concern has been the beach replenishment. At the April OPCL meeting Mr. Dan Adams, Coastal Program Manager for the City of Virginia Beach, presented the particulars of the beach replenishment project. (April 8 guest speaker about beach replenishment.) Since then we have been in close communication with Jim White the city project manager. More information will be available soon with the start date looking to be spring.

Of course the dominant issue for the civic league and the community was the Marlin Bay Apartment Development, which had a positive outcome after strong community effort and long hours by OPCL board members. Community members really stepped up writing hundreds of letters, donating and posting signs in their yards!

(President Danny Murphy also became our media star!)

Ocean Park residents spoke out for our community at the Planning Commission Hearing in September. In October the application for the Marlin Bay project was withdrawn. We look forward to working with the owners of the property to shape a new project that fits in with the community of Ocean Park.

Despite all the challenges, we enjoyed some normalcy!
We celebrated the 4th of July with our beloved fireworks and parade! (The annual fireworks are not paid for out of the OPCL budget. They are funded separately by contributions.)
Fall Fest 2021!
We gathered for our Fall Fest for the first time since 2019!
Thank you to all the members who have already renewed their annual membership for 2022! Please consider renewing your membership early in 2022 or becoming a member for the first time! It’s easy! Only $20 for a family! Join or Renew Today!
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Beach Replenishment for Ocean Park

We hope to hear soon about the schedule for the planned Beach Replenishment. Here is the most recent communication from Jim White, project manager:

 The contractor (Great Lakes Dredge & Dock) will provide their schedule for channel dredging and sand placement to the VPA sometime after the completion of the USACE Norfolk District ‘no hopper dredging time of year restriction’ ends (November 15, 2021). 

  1. The project will occur between Rookery Way to just east of 3556 Shore Drive Condominium.
  2. The beach berm will be constructed to an elevation of +7.0ft NAVD88.
  3. The beach berm width (the ‘recreational’ portion of the beach profile) will average 100ft.
  4. Sand will be placed as part of a dune restoration feature between Albemarle Ave. and Dinwiddie Rd.

The volume of sand available from the VPA project to build the beach, as permitted, is 400,000 cubic yards.  This volume of sand will be sufficient to replenish the beach to the project dimensions.

The USACE dredge Murden conducted some maintenance dredging of Lynnhaven Inlet.  This effort was to remove shoaling inside and outside of the inlet Federal channel and did not have a beach nourishment component as part of the mission. 

Respectfully,

James D. White, P.E.

Coastal Section Project Manager, City of Virginia Beach Public Works

Link to plans: Ocean-Park-Beach-Nourishment-jpa-permit-drawings.pdf

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Letter to the Community from President Danny Murphy:

 October 17, 2021

RE: Marlin Bay Development Request for Withdrawal from City Council Agenda

I would like to sincerely thank everyone for your diligent and unstinting labors to preserve and protect the character of the Ocean Park neighborhood over the past year or so. While the withdrawal of the Marlin Bay Development from the City Council agenda does not end our efforts to find a reasonable and appropriate use (redevelopment) for these properties, I am sure it comes as a great relief to many of you.

There are many people to thank, honestly too many, so please accept this broad generalization and allow us to deliver our sincere appreciation on a more personal level:

  • 1st on the list! Residents, neighbors & Shore Drive friends – the support and engagement shown by you has been both phenomenal and inspiring: phone calls, letters, emails, signs, social media posts, showing up, speaking, votes, donations, meetings and even more meetings. 
  • Organizations & boards – Unmitigated support from nearby Civic Leagues (esp. Baylake Pines & Chic’s Beach), and the Shore Drive Community Coalition.
  • City leadership, staff and boards- It starts in our backyard: Bayfront Advisory Commission!! Members of the Planning Commission including Robyn Klein, David Bradley & Jack Wall. And City Council members: in particular Louis Jones, who gave his support and advice from the beginning, John Moss, whose support and advice was also pivotal, Michael Berlucchi, Aaron Rouse, Rocky Holcomb & Mayor Dyer who met with us and listened to our concerns and also Barbara Henley, Guy Tower and Sabrina Wooten. In addition, we would like to thank the city staff who played it straight and provided needed responses and explanation whenever asked. 
  • Wolcott Rivers Gates for critical counsel and stewardship. 
  • Local Media – Including 13NewsNow, News 3, WHRV & the Virginian-Pilot/pilotonline
  • Last but never least, the leadership of Ocean Park Civic League – The board of directors, past directors and presidents, committee members and chairs. No one will truly know the countless hours and effort logged by these dedicated people to bring about this result.

To this wonderful community: please accept our most sincere appreciation for all your efforts. 

Sincerely,

Danny Murphy

Ocean Park Civic League President

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Marlin Bay Development Withdrawal Requested

The owners of the property where the Marlin Bay Apartment complex was proposed have sent a letter to the city withdrawing the project from the City Council agenda. We support their request to withdraw the application and we thank the owners and the developer for listening to the community’s concerns and reconsidering the potential redevelopment of those lots. We look forward to working with them on finding a mutual solution to this and other projects within the community.

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Beach Replenishment Plans

Project Details

  1. The project will occur between Rookery Way to just east of 3556 Shore Drive Condominium.
  2. The beach berm will be constructed to an elevation of +7.0ft NAVD88.
  3. The beach berm width (the ‘recreational’ portion of the beach profile) will average 100ft.
  4. Sand will be placed as part of a dune restoration feature between Albemarle Ave. and Dinwiddie Rd.

If you are interested in looking at the Army Corp of Engineers Project Plans for a detailed picture of the replenishment project, you can download them with the link:

Here is an example of one of the drawings for part of the beach.

Ocean Park Beach Nourishment jpa-Permit-Drawings.pdf

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Fair is Fair?

Spotted this week: Cheryl McLeskey, the owner of the Marlin Bay property and John Peterson, the developer of the Marlin Bay project, talking with council members at the Marlin Bay site. We have sent requests to meet with each member of the City Council so that we can talk with them about the community’s perspective and input concerning this development in our neighborhood. We have been gratified at the willingness of Louis Jones, John Moss, Michael Berlucchi, Aaron Rouse and N.D. Holcomb to engage with the community. Council member Henley responded initially but we have not set a meeting time. We hope that the other members of the City Council: Mayor Dyer, Ms. Wilson, Ms. Wooten and Mr. Tower will respond to our invitation to meet and engage with us. We feel the issue is complex and that hearing what the community has to say in a timely manner and not at the last minute right before a vote is only fair and reasonable.

Write to the City Council members and explain why you oppose this overdevelopment in Ocean Park and Western Shore Drive.

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