The Virginian-Pilot
©
Virginia Beach
The City Council agreed Tuesday to tougher restrictions on new housing developments around Oceana Naval Air Station, a move that comes more than two years after the federal government threatened to move the base's jets.
Most of the ordinances unanimously approved Tuesday apply to the lowest-decibel noise zone and go further in limiting new homes than the Base Realignment and Closure Commission's report recommended in 2005.
Council members said they hope the new guidelines, which take effect immediately, will help "BRAC-proof" Virginia Beach and protect it against future threats to its largest employer.
"The 11-to-0 vote sends a coherent message to the Pentagon," Councilman Bob Dyer said. "We've come full circle. We now have a remarkably cohesive relationship with the Navy."
During the BRAC process,
federal officials blasted the Beach for allowing too much residential development around the base and warned that the jets would be moved if the city didn't limit homes in noise zones of greater than 70 decibels.
The council has already done that. The latest restrictions apply to the 65-to-70-decibel noise zone, where, on average, Oceana fighter jets are supposed to sound as loud as a nearby washing machine.
The zone would be sliced into three sections. The western part of the band would be the most restrictive, and residential rezonings for additional homes would be allowed there only if nothing else could be built. This area is already densely populated, and Navy officials have said it needs to be protected against future development.
Along the southern portion, by General Booth Boulevard, the number of homes allowed in new subdivisions would be limited to a density no greater than what already has been permitted on nearby properties.
The Oceanfront will be the least restrictive section, and city officials will be able to continue with their development plans there with little interference and objection from the Navy.
The new guidelines also further restrict development along the flight path between Oceana and Fentress Naval Auxiliary Landing Field in Chesapeake. The City Council will no longer grant rezonings in that rural swath for more than one house for every 15 acres, a restriction that currently applies only to the highest-decibel noise zones.
The change in zoning guidelines "balances the city's growth priorities with the Navy's need to ensure the long-term viability of its East Coast master jet base," said Capt. Mark Rich, Oceana's executive officer.
Rich attended the council meeting with five other Oceana representatives.
But some developers and property owners are concerned that the rules unfairly discriminate between different sections of the same noise zone.
"They're taking the rights of the property owners in the 65-to-70 noise zone, except in the resort area," said Rip McGinnis, who owns 60 acres on Princess Anne Road. "The city has surrendered, given up, just because the Navy has objected."
The tougher rules came about after Navy officials objected last year to Habitat for Humanity's 10-townhouse proposal in the western section of the 65-to-70-decibel zone but conceded to a 99-home subdivision off General Booth Boulevard. City officials, legislators, and even developers at that time weren't certain what made the two sections of the same noise zone different. Beach officials hope that the new guidelines will offer some clarity.
Deirdre Fernandes, (757) 222-5121, deirdre.fernandes@pilotonline.com
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Jets were here before you
One commenter stated that he has lived off of Great Neck Blvd for 25 years. Well, here is a little history - in the 1960's Oceana saw the A-4, A-6, and the F-4 jets operating continuously. In the 1970's the F-14 made it's home at Oceana. Then in the 1980's the F-18 and the F-16 (briefly) made their touchdown on the tarmac of Oceana. Well, according to the chronology, the jet was here first. And, unless you just recovered from a 50 year history of total hearing loss, I just can't imagine that you moved into your home of 25 years oblivious to the jet operations at the Naval Air Station located within a few short miles of your home. Fact is, you made your bed and your didn't do it with blinders...or ear plugs.
These restrictions should have been in place long before BRAC had to make issue of it. If the VB city planners weren't so corrupt and greedy with all their back alley dope deals with developers, this would have been a non-issue.
Many of you are missing the point
Many of the posts I read are clearly missing the whole point:
This is not at all about how the jet noise affects the quality of life at your home, or who was "here first"...but whether you can actually "HAVE" a home on your very own property where jet noise exists! This policy is not about land that Virginia Beach owns, it is about the land YOU or any other Virginia Beach landowner owns! No one wants a jet crashing into their house, but why should the city government have SO much control over land they do not legally own themselves and therefore have no direct rights to??? Do you want them telling you what to wear on Tuesday or what car to drive on Friday? Do you want them telling you what kind of flowers or trees you are "allowed" to plant on your very *own* land?? Well they'd like to do that too!! This is about landowner's rights, *not* about how noisy a stupid jet might be! IMO they have overstepped their power big time.
Pointless
So what? There are already more than 100,000 homes already in the 65+ db zone. Shoot-even homes not even in noise zones are affected considerably by the increased levels of noise. Of course the noise zones we are refering to are from best case conditions-not real world. The true noise zones are cosiderably larger.
This problem cannot be fixed-sorry it's too late. Virginia Beach has 150,000 of it's residents living in noise zones that according to the Navy are incompatible with its operations. There is also the distressing fact that because of the current encroachment accurate carrier landing simulation is not possible.
Our pilots deserve an optimum area to train. Virginia Beach is not that place anymore.
Oceana was here first
While I appreciate how distressful it can be to have your quality of life compromised by extreme noise, I cannot agree that it is "hollow" to point out that the Navy was here first.
Yes, there are new jets and, yes, they might be louder rather than quieter than former ones. But the fact remains that Oceana was a jet base and remains a jet base, and it was VB and consumers who decided to put their homes around a jet base that is likely to remain a jet base.
No one guarantees that technology will necessarily make planes quieter over time---but it is reasonable to expect that technology might even make planes noisier, at least in take-off and landing. I own a home near Fentress, but not in the flight path. However, over the years, the Navy might use Fentress in ways that changes how much noise effects my home.
How could it be argued that "the Navy was there first is a hollow argument"? It's a well-founded and reasonable argument. You move near an airport, you take the risk that over the years the airport noise will change in ways that affect your home.
Jets
odd, but they are building a new neighborhood near hunt club farm. That seems pretty close to Oceana?? Let the jets go, I mean they just crashed while flying the other day, thankgod not near any homes. Dont kid yourself the city clowns-oops council and navy dont care and wont care if a jet does crash into a home,school... They all new the city was growing, and allowed it to do so-fine. But we can not be both an airfield and growing city!! Landstown commons is opening and I know that is over 75. decibles. more like 108!!! Good try, act like you doing something
Council is playing games with their maps
My family and I have lived just off the north end of Great Neck Road well beyond Cox High School for 25 years. Last evening, because of the nice weather, we sat in our back yard for an hour or more. The jet noise from Oceana was so loud that carrying on a normal conversation was impossible. The noise is attributable to the new jets based at Oceana. The argument that Oceana was here first is very hollow unless you accept that being first must provide an unrestricted right to make noise without limit. Eventually, there will be a significant crash into a theater or church or hospital and then everyone will point their fingers at someone else and ask why a aircraft training facility was allowed in a densely populated area. Is the economic impact so valuable that the lives of the residents have to be sold?
It's About Time
No one can imagine the anguish a pilot endures when he is alerted his aircraft is faltering over an expansive residential area. Knowing he cannot eject, his sublime duty, to become a lawn dart pilot settling for a vertical space between homes that doesn't have children playing nearby. If a tractor trailer can knock a house off it's foundation, what could a 500,000 pound cargo jet on final approach do? Instead it took current and forecasted foreclosures, threat of closing Oceana, a projected budget deficit, increasing costs of codemnation, and threat of default on municipal bonds all due to real loss of tax revenues to ring the division bells at Princess Anne Town Center.
Duh!
What took them so long?