About 100 residents attend meeting discussing Indigo Dunes project

VIRGINIA BEACH

The state's preliminary environmental approval of Indigo Dunes, a 1,063-home subdivision, threatens wetlands in the Lynnhaven River watershed and could leave the area vulnerable to flooding during major storms, project opponents said Monday night.

"In a highly developed watershed, it's a very serious loss," said Karen Forget, executive director of Lynnhaven River Now, a nonprofit environmental group.

Over the past three years, there has been a permitted loss of 1.25 acres of wetlands in the river's watershed, which stretches for 64 miles. The plans for Indigo Dunes calls for the elimination of 2.35 acres, Forget said.

Forget was one of about 100 people who attended the Department of Environmental Quality's public hearing on Indigo Dunes.

The development, off Shore Drive and around the corner from the Chesapeake Bay, has stoked controversy among residents and environmentalists and is at the center of a court case involving the city.

L.M. Sandler & Sons, Inc. wants to build homes on a 69-acre site that includes wetlands and Chesapeake Bay buffers, and has long been viewed by neighbors along the busy Shore Drive corridor as a parklike setting.

The developers, brothers Steve and Art Sandler, have proposed replacing the 2.35 acres of wetlands and 2.26 acres of open water with more than 6 acres of new wetlands. They have also proposed building a storm water system that would treat all the runoff from neighboring Ocean Park and Indigo Dunes.

"The amount of mitigation that we have on the site is considerable," said R.J. Nutter II, the attorney for the Sandlers. "We're not only replacing those areas in a much greater percentage, but the functioning value is much greater."

DEQ officials agreed and decided to issue the draft permit after nearly a year and half of study. The recommendation, along with public comments, will be presented to the state Water Control Board at its July meeting. The board will then decide whether to issue a final permit.

John Murray, a resident of Ocean Park, said he worries about the impact 10 to 15 years of construction on the site will have to his neighborhood. Water has seeped into his home twice in recent years during a storm and further development would likely increase that, Murray said.

"You've got a lot of people impacted by this," Murray said.

Other residents raised concerns about the paving of nearly half the site for the development, the large number of homes proposed in a congested area, and whether the storm-water treatment measures are enough.

"A lot of these issues DEQ has no authority over," said Frank Daniel, the agency's regional director.

A DEQ permit would mean that the Sandlers have received all the major state and federal approvals for the project. They could then focus on gaining local political support, from boards such as the Chesapeake Bay Board, the Planning Commission and the City Council.

Virginia Beach is appealing to Circuit Court a decision by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to allow the destruction of some wetlands on the site.

The Marine Resources Commission overturned a local Wetlands Board decision and granted the Sandlers a permit for Indigo Dunes.

Deirdre Fernandes, (757) 222-5121, deirdre.fernandes@pilotonline.com