The Virginian-Pilot
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VIRGINIA BEACH
The city has bought nearly 800 acres of wetlands, woods and farmland off Indian River Road from Rock Church, officials announced Tuesday.
Virginia Beach paid $5 million to Rock Ministries, which owned the property. The land was assessed at $5.5 million.
Most of the money came from the state and city fund created to protect Oceana Naval Air Station from encroachment and keep the jet base from moving. Each year, the city and state set aside $7.5 million each to buy property that otherwise could be developed in a way that hinders Oceana's mission.
The Rock Church property is affected by noise from the jets as they fly between Oceana and Fentress Naval Auxiliary Landing Field in Chesapeake.
The city also used $750,000 from its parks and recreation open space program for the purchase.
Beach officials have been eyeing the property for years. The city wants to turn it into a signature park for southern Virginia Beach, said Brian Solis, an interim co-director of the Parks and Recreation Department.
The property can be used for playing fields, hiking and water access to the North Landing River, Solis said.
Virginia Beach doesn't have money to design or build that park now, and it is likely a decade from becoming a reality, he said.
In the meantime, the city plans to allow a local farmer to continue leasing the land.
Rock Church bought the property in the 1980s and explored building a retreat and camp there.
According to a news release, Beach officials hope the Navy will reimburse the city and state for up to $2.5 million of the purchase price.
The Rock Church property is one of several major purchases the city has made in recent months with the money set aside to protect Oceana. The city in August bought 516 acres near the municipal center for $7.84 million from Kempsville Presbyterian Church.
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One more point
to get under the skin of the I heart jet noise crowd. We're buying this land to please the same folks that built the radar at Oceana then complained that the high rise hotels block the radar? When they had oceanfront land at Damneck and Fort Story? I love this city but this multi-million dollar land buying spree is just wrong.
What a rip-off
Virginia Beach grew to the largest city in the state in spite of Oceana, not because of it. This deal stinks worse than the Wawa fiasco at the corner of VB Blvd and First Colonial. Sessoms got my vote when he campaigned on growing business in the city to lessen the reliance on the federal trough. I guess the big fat teet that is the Federal Government is just too big to ignore for the short term. They're setting us up for the JSF that will reguire even more airspace. This further cements our place as the nation's cul-de-sac. Practice circles over the water where they belong, not over the city. Figure it out Navy, it's the 2011, not 1961.
those circles have to be performed if the Secretary is to be
believed. He claims he cannot do them on simulators. Part of those circles includes touching down. Our pilots require this training. By looking at the EIS reports for this type of training, it is the most trained evolution our pilots perform.
Furthermore, the Secretary has stated that home fields are responsible for performing most if not all of this type of training. The USMC JSF has the home field doing FCLP-C training at Merimar as well as his Yuma based planes flying to Merimar for this training. This training is important and it is the responsibility of the home field to be doing this training. VB and the Secretary want Oceana to stay a MJB because of money concerns with training and safety taking a backseat to this want.
What a rip-off
Virginia Beach grew to the largest city in the state in spite of Oceana, not because of it. This deal stinks worse than the Wawa fiasco at the corner of VB Blvd and First Colonial. Sessoms got my vote when he campaigned on growing business in the city to lessen the reliance on the federal trough. I guess the big fat teet that is the Federal Government is just too big to ignore for the short term. They're setting us up for the JSF that will reguire even more airspace. This further cements our place as the nation's cul-de-sac. Practice circles over the water where they belong, not over the city. Figure it out Navy, it's the 2011, not 1961.
Wow!
Well...now the folks who have been donating money to that church know where it went...
Where our money went
I wonder what WOW is trying to say?
Here's an idea!
They should use the money that would fund the 5 star convention center hotel for this park. Unlike the hotel, this park would actually benefit the citizens of VB. That's what our tax dollars should be doing anyway.
People- please get over the
People- please get over the Oceana thing. I moved here 20 yrs ago- from a small town in CT. Took me a LOOOOONG time to get used to the traffic. BUT- not long to get used to the jet noise. Yeah, it's irritating at times. But when you live in a city that has the biggest master jet base in the world, ya live with it. It's our military guys doing their thing. Let them do it without whining from the civilians who have NO idea what their lives are like. (BTW- I'm not military or affilliated) Give these guys and women a break.
I agree with your statement but I feel you missed a key point.
While our pilots are trying to train at Oceana they are not allowed "to train as they will fight" because they realize that they are negatively impacting the community with their training. Our pilots, in an attempt to protect the community do not receive the training they should be getting at the biggest MJB in the world. The best facility the Nation provided our pilots does not meet their training requirements because of encroachment.
That statement was quantified in the 2005 BRAC process. Oceana has the most capabilities of all the air fields the Secretary owns yet he as also made the statement the fidelity at Oceana/Fentress is terrible, this is not a place to train young pilots.
For community support, Oceana ranked last.
Taxing church owned land
I don't know about VA, but I do know that in NC if a church owns land that isn't being used for religious purposes (ie. it is sitting unused and is an investment, even if it was bought for religious purposes in the future) the church pays property taxes on that land.