Va. Beach zoning board opposes dredge transfer plan

VIRGINIA BEACH

Residents who have battled the city for months over a proposed dredge transfer station in their neighborhood won a rare victory last week.

The Beach's Board of Zoning Appeals sided with residents who argued that the city doesn't own or lease the land off Long Creek and therefore can't use it for a transfer station. The board overturned a decision by the Beach's zoning administrator, who had ruled that the city has a long-term easement there for dredging operations and therefore the transfer station was an appropriate use of the land.

"If this had gone through it would have been the nail in the coffin," said Todd Solomon, who lives off Shore Drive and opposes the transfer station.

Virginia Beach officials will meet this week to discuss the city's options, City Attorney Mark Stiles said.

The city could appeal the board's decision to the circuit court, look into leasing or buying the property, or rezone it, Stiles said.

"There are other ways of resolving it," Stiles said.

The city wants to use the Maple Street site - between the Marina Shores marina and a residential neighborhood - for a still unidentified, neighborhood dredging project.

The city launched its neighborhood dredging program last year to help residents dredge their channels if they agree to about a 20 percent increase in their real estate taxes. Dredging can mean access for boats and higher property values. Residents in about a dozen waterfront communities have expressed interest.

Each neighborhood dredging project requires City Council approval, and the Beach needs to find multiple sites throughout the city to unload the dredge spoils from barges. The location across from Broad Bay Island, on Maple Street, is one of the sites Beach officials have targeted and has caused the most controversy.

Some residents have said they don't oppose the city's neighborhood dredging plan but don't want dredge spoils from all over the city brought through their community. No neighborhood dredging projects are envisioned in the area of the site.

The Maple Street property already serves as a spoils site for the Army Corps of Engineers, which pipes sand from dredge projects every few years. The city's plan, however, would be a more intensive use, with a barge and excavator. It would require the building of a bulkhead.

A permanent transfer station would mean trucks traveling on neighborhood roads, more noise and potentially lower property values, residents have argued.

Concern over the transfer station has led some residents to launch a website, longcreekwetlands.com, in opposition to the project. They have gathered more than 1,400 signatures against it and hired an attorney to represent them in front of the zoning appeals board.

The City Council turned over the issue of locating transfer stations to the city's beaches and waterways advisory group for review last summer. The advisory group is still meeting and will have a recommendation in the coming months.

Lynn Hume, who lives across the proposed transfer station and has been leading the opposition, said Tuesday that the city should abandon the Maple Street site.

"The city wants to move forward on a site that the BZA said was not a viable site," Hume said.

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