CHESAPEAKE
After hearing from just seven of the 77 listed speakers opposed to a massive mixed-use development in Western Branch, the City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to strike down the project.
The resident opposition group gave the council a standing ovation after the vote over what members called the right move for Chesapeake.

Editor's Note: Neighborhood assessment data provided by the city and previously posted here omitted some 6,000 parcels and contained numerous reporting errors. City Assessor Jerry Banagan asked that the searchable database be taken down while city staff work to correct the mistakes. Errors in the report were clerical, Banagan said, and will have no impact on actual assessments.
VIRGINIA BEACH

CHESAPEAKE At least 1,275 people hope that Tuesday will be the end of a three-month-long fight against a massive project in Western Branch. That's how many signatures organizers say they have collected on petitions to persuade the City Council to halt plans for Breckinridge, a mixed-use development proposed for the last parcel of open space on Portsmouth Boulevard.

The charts below help track the health of the local housing market. Home sales and prices tend to be seasonal, but these charts show the long-term trend compared with a year earlier. Foreclosures also affect the number of homes on the market and put downward pressure on prices. Source: Real Estate Information Network and RealtyTrac

Foreclosure filings rose in Hampton Roads in January as banks picked up the pace of home repossessions and auctions, according to a report to be released today.

CHESAPEAKE The Tidewater Builders Association announced Tuesday that it is pushing back the dates of its spring Homearama showcase of new homes. The event will be held from June 16 to July 1 at Culpepper Landing in Chesapeake. The show was originally scheduled for May.

VIRGINIA BEACH Over objections from some residents, the City Council voted Tuesday night to allow a developer to alter plans for a 499-home development near Pungo that has been stalled for several years. The main change in the Ashville Park project is dropping the requirement for a 169-unit senior housing village and replacing it with the same number of traditional single-family homes.

VIRGINIA BEACH The Virginia Beach Community Development Corp. will hold a free foreclosure prevention workshop Thursday at its offices in Virginia Beach.

Home prices in Hampton Roads fell last month to the lowest point in nearly eight years, figures released Friday showed.
The Real Estate Information Network, the Virginia Beach-based multiple-listing service, reported that the median price for an existing home in January was $160,000, down 11 percent from the year-ago price of $180,000.

By Derek Kravitz The mortgage settlement that government officials announced Thursday is intended to help victims of foreclosure abuses that followed the housing bust. Here's a look at what the settlement will and won't do for current and former home-owners: Q: Who stands to benefit?