Developer, Beach battle over zoning for Sandbridge boat slips

By DEIRDRE FERNANDES
The Virginian-Pilot

VIRGINIA BEACH - Sandbridge is buzzing again about a businessman's plan to build 76 boat docks close to the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge, two years after it was first proposed.

Vacationers and year-round Sandbridge residents have been e-mailing and calling one an other and city officials about the project for the past month.

Karen Lasley, the city's zoning administrator, said she doesn't remember ever receiving this much feedback over a proposal. "And I've done some controversial projects," she said.

Most of the nearly 70 e-mails and letters received by the city Planning Department are in opposition to the proposal.

The project has been controversial since Doug Wilkins first proposed it in 2005. The Army Corps of Engineers received nearly 400 letters at that time from Sandbridge residents and environmentalists from around the country, complaining about how watercraft traffic would affect the Back Bay refuge.

Last summer, Wilkins temporarily suspended the corps' review of the dredging required for the docks so he could deal with city regulations.

"He knew he may need to change the project," said Pam Painter, an environmental scientist with the corps. "There was no point in continuing a write-up or work out of the way things are if it's going to change."

At the city level, the debate about the project is less about its environmental effe ct than zoning regulations.

Wilkins argues that he doesn't need a conditional use permit from the City Council to build a boat mooring and launching facility in southern Sandbridge.

Wilkins declined to comment for this story. His attorney, R.J. Nutter II, said the boat slips would be for condominiums next door. Only people who own a home there could use the facility.

Nutter said it is a private club and does not need a conditional use permit. "It's very much like a slip behind your home," Nutter said. "It's not open to the public. It's really not a marina."

Lasley insists that the 76 slips meet the definition of a marina or a community boat dock, which is not allowed at the location without city approval.

Nutter has asked the city's Board of Zoning Appeals to weigh in on the debate. The board was scheduled to vote on the issue Feb. 7, but the debate was postponed at the applicant's request until the March 21 meeting.

Many Sandbridge residents are siding with the city.

"By saying it's a private club, he's going to avoid a lot of the public hearing," said Cheryl Petticrew, a 30-year resident of Sandbridge and member of an advocacy group called Friends of Back Bay. "The conditional use permit process is long and drawn out, and they can make all sorts of conditions."

Residents are concerned that the boat slips could damage Back Bay and harm migratory birds in the area, especially if the plan draws motorized water vehicles, Petticrew said.

"We are talking about a national wildlife refuge," she said. "We're not just talking about a private marina."

Nutter said he wants to work with residents and city officials to come up with a compromise. He said the city could place certain restrictions on the boat slips, such as a ban on jet skis, to address some of the neighbors' concerns.

However, that doesn't satisfy everybody.

Refuge manager Jared Brandwein said there is no way to guarantee the piers will remain private if the ownership changes or that jet skis will be banned several years from now. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service opposes the project.

If there is no city permit with conditions attached, "what's there to hold his feet to the fire?" Brandwein asked.