State regulators overseeing wetlands say a plan to develop Pleasure House Point will improve water quality and better protect the area from flooding while minimizing destruction of wetlands.
The Department of Environmental Quality has given preliminary approval to L.M. Sandler & Sons Inc. to build Indigo Dunes on 69 acres off Shore Drive. That gives the Sandlers a much better chance of winning an eventual building permit.
The plan to develop one of the last, large parcels of waterfront property in Virginia Beach is a good one, but it could, and should, be better. The logic of the environmental agency, tasked only with looking at how the development would affect the water and wetlands, is sound - the development would replace man-made drainage ditches with man-made wetlands, which would improve stormwater flow and clean the water that drains into the Lynnhaven River.
The project would begin to undo damage to the ecosystem caused by runoff from nearby neighborhoods. It would take away two swampy ditches and restore more acres to functioning wetlands. But the site plan still calls for 11-story towers on the southeast corner of the property, in an area that some argue should be a buffer between wetlands and development. And that's causing angst among some conservation-minded citizens who otherwise appreciate the benefits of the proposal.
After 18 months of study by state environmental regulators, the project still has many hurdles, both state and local. Among the issues the city will consider: whether the development of 1,063 homes is too dense, and whether it will create too much traffic on one of the city's most dangerous highway stretches. We think the answer is yes to both.
Those hurdles are too high to approve the current plan, a reality that ought to create an incentive for the property owners to make some concessions and for the city, civic league and environmentalists to seek a reasonable compromise.
But if the only way to make Indigo Dunes opponents happy is to have no development at all, somebody needs to step up and buy the property from the Sandlers. Otherwise, the developers have a right to proceed with a plan that allows for a reasonable project on the property while restoring wetlands that would leave the Lynnhaven River a cleaner waterway.
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SAVEPHP.org is the best alternative
Here's the alternative. The current owner of PHP certainly has the capability of pulling this off with or without more "large" investors.
Wetlands are wetlands... the so called "ditches" are functioning, viable wetlands with living oysters, etc calling them home.
Pleasure House Point is documented to be home to diamond back terrapins, & other wildlife as well & to believe the destruction of these wetlands for dubious claims of fixing alleged storm water problems is not understanding the facts nor is it taking common sense into consideration.
Buy Out Ocean Park
Why don't L.M. Sandler & Sons just buy out the entire Ocean Park community and build a 'SUPER SIZED COMMUNITY' (add a mini mall and golf course)- it would silence the opposition, they could build 20+ high rise buildings (imagine the amount of increased propery tax revenue the City of VB could collect!...that's what it's all about anyway isn't it?), the increase in traffic would probably collapse the Lesner Bridge, Shore Drive would become a parking lot, the public boat ramp would become a private marina and I am sure the proposed dredging station would mysteriously move to another location (after all who wants that for a view from a $900,000+ condo).
Money where your mouth is?
But if the only way to make Indigo Dunes opponents happy is to have no development at all, somebody needs to step up and buy the property from the Sandlers. Otherwise, the developers have a right to proceed with a plan that allows for a reasonable project on the property while restoring wetlands that would leave the Lynnhaven River a cleaner waterway.
Well.... which one of you is willing to write the check?
just say
NO!