Skip to main content

Reducing the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area protections

One day after Eartg Day, the City Council will be voting on changes to the boundaries of the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area (CBPA) this Tuesday, April 23. There is little information on the proposed changes included in the public hearing package other than some low resolution maps. Only a high level explanation was given for the process used by the Staff to come to these decisions. This may be something to contact the City Council (council@cityofchesapeake.net) to ask them to Continue (defer) this decision until they can provide the public with more details on the changes and why the decisions were made for different parcels.


Overall, 1030 acres are being removed from the CPBA and 742 acres are being added, although most of the land being added is the already "Intensely Developed" St. Juliens Creek Navy Annex. Some of the areas being removed may make sense - removing parcels that were subdivided from larger parcels and that are no longer adjacent tidal areas of the Chesapeake Bat tributaries. But other areas seem less obvious.

One area being removed is 10 acres of woods at the head of the tide of the Indian River mostly owned by Chesapeake Public Schools. These woods most definitely seem to "have an intrinsic water quality value due to the ecological and biological processes they perform or are sensitive to impacts which may result in significant degradation to the quality of state waters" as defined by for a CBPA Resource Protection Area.

Another area slated for removal includes 50 acres or more of wooded wetlands in the Fernwood Farms section of Rivercrest. This is an area of significant flood risk with sea level rise. Will removing CBPA protections from this area open it up to development and/or tree removal causing more flood risks for Rivercrest?



Comments

Post a Comment

Top Posts

Thoughts on Draft Chesapeake Trails and Connectivity Plan

 The draft Chesapeake Trails and Connectivity Plan offers a great opportunity to layout a figurative and literal roadmap on improving walkability and connectivity in the City of Chesapeake, but it needs to go into more detail on how to realistically implement the proposed trail network and provide residents and visitors with tangible improvements in the near term, i.e. in the next 1 to 3 years, not just a vision for an undefined future date.   The draft Plan finds that today in Chesapeake, “the active transportation network is disjointed and lacks accessibility. With public transit available exclusively in the north of the City, transportation options are often limited for residents and visitors traveling to different parts of the City. The many open spaces can be difficult to reach and in many cases are not easily accessible on foot or by bike.”  This also extends to being able to reach schools, libraries, community centers, places of worship, doctor’s offices, rest...
Post a Comment
Read more

Greenbrier Area Plan

Updated September 2, 2024 The stated purpose of the Greenbrier Area Plan is to "develop strategies to guide future development, maintain Greenbrier’s economic advantage in the marketplace and attract new businesses and residents by improving the qualities that make Greenbrier a unique place in the city." The plan envisions significantly increasing the density of the area with considerable new urban mixed-use development, new neighbor scale and age-targeted housing, adding a large capacity regional multi-purpose athletic/entertainment facility, all while enhancing the commercial retail environment and serving a major urban employment center.    One stated goal is to improve the Quality of Life for residents and workers in the Greenbrier area "by strengthening the appeal and livability of the built environment and the availability and quality of services provided."  Some of the specific components to be studied include steps to improve existing open spaces, create new...
Post a Comment
Read more

CBPA proposed change details

April 23 Public Hearing Package with rationale for the proposed changes -  https://www.cityofchesapeake.net/DocumentCenter/View/18260/04-23-24-Item-7_PLANNING_CBPA Consideration of the change was Continued (deferred) to the end of June. Below the proposed CBPA changes provided by Chesapeake Planning Department were compared against National Wetlands Inventory maps -  https://fwsprimary.wim.usgs.gov/wetlands/apps/wetlands-mapper/ 1. Fernwood Farms/Riverwalk Areas Proposed for removal (red), addition (dark green) National Wetlands Inventory City Drainage Map   https://www.cityofchesapeake.net/DocumentCenter/View/4216/Figures-PDF Background on Interrupted and Disconnected Wetlands for CBPA Guidance Documents https://www.deq.virginia.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/22569/638430806129970000 Google Earth 4/8/1990 2. Great Bridge Blvd Areas proposed for removal (red) National Wetlands Inventory Close-up 3. Oakbrooke (East of Arboretum) Areas proposed for removal (red)/additi...
Post a Comment
Read more