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April Newsletter

Green Drinks Chesapeake - Wednesday, April 30, 2025

Our next Green Drinks meeting will be on Wednesday, April 30, 6 pm, at YNot Italian in Greenbrier. Our guest speaker will be Christina Trapani, the new Program Director for Clean Virginia Waterways.  Many of us know Christina through her sustainable products company Eco Maniac and her relentless efforts to tackle plastic litter and pollution in our area.  Now, she is the new leader of Clean Virginia Waterways statewide efforts to enhance the health of Virginia’s water resources through pollution prevention.  Come out and learn about efforts to deal with our plastics problem. 

What is Green Drinks?  Green Drinks is mostly for people working on environmental issues, but anyone can come -- people from environmental groups, businesses, government, academia, and as individuals. There is no 'us and them'. Green Drinks is a chance to mingle, share insights, inspire and delight each other. Come out and order some food or a drink (each participant pays for their own drinks and food; if drinking, please do so responsibly!) and join the conversation. Please do share the invite with others who may be interested.

Greenbrier Area Plan

The draft of the Greenbrier Area Plan is now available for review through April 9th.  The Planning Department held an open house on March 24th.  You can find the Plan and Design Guidelines at Greenbrier Area Plan | Chesapeake, VA

From a pedestrian and bicycle perspective, the draft does a pretty good job.  It has a strong emphasis on pedestrian and bicycle friendly policies and projects.  It needs some tweaking to align with the Trails and Connectivity Plan, but it's starting from a good place. It also acknowledges the value of transit referencing potential projects for "micro-transit" and the Connecting Chesapeake Study, although it doesn't go into any detail on matter such as routes or frequency.

From the standpoint of preserving Greenbrier tree canopy, it falls short.  The draft Plan on p.6 sets the Goal to "create a superior connected open space and park system and enhance the existing tree canopy" and on p. 31 states a Desired Outcome to "implement guidelines that preserve existing tree canopies and strategies that leverage natural features for recreational purposes."  However, the policies and strategies in the draft Plan will fail to achieve this Goal and Desired Outcome. Business as usual will result in the loss of another 300 acres of tree canopy when vacant parcels are developed, translating to tens of thousands of tree cut down.  The draft the plan only actively preserves a single 10-acre parcel as a park, notes that Areas of Transformation will have street trees, and call for tree preservation in Areas of Preservation, i.e. residential areas not slated for re-development.  If it is to meet the stated Goals to enhance and preserve tree canopy, the Plan should adopt more proactive measures to preserve the remaining tree canopy cover, wherever possible plant new trees on streets public open space, and incentivize commercial property owners to preserve and plant more trees than the minimum required by law.   

Another area of concern are guidelines for lighting and bird-safe building construction.  The Cape Henry Audubon Society, in cooperation with multiple partners including the Elizabeth River Project, the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk, the Norfolk Botanical Gardens, Dark Sky Virginia, and the Friends of Indian River kicked off the Bird Safe/Lights Out Hampton Roads program in 2024 to make Hampton Roads safer for birds that live in our area or pass through during the annual spring and fall migrations.  Key factors in protecting birds from death and injury due to collisions with building include adopting Dark Sky protocols and promoting bird-safe window treatments.  The Plan does not address either of these factors.  The brightness and color of new LED street lighting is another issue be raised by residents in cities including in Norfolk.  The Plan should address these issues.

City Budget

The City Manager has released his proposed budget for Chesapeake.  The headline grabbing news is a potential 2-cent increase on the real estate tax rate to fund staffing and equipment needs for the police and fire departments.  From environment and sustainability side, there are some noteworthy new projects in the Capital Improvement Program, including 

-#20-300 Urban Forestry [Master Plan] & Tree Inventory Plan - will provide the framework for managing the green infrastructure of the City for the next 20 years and beyond [and] ensure a cohesive approach towards tree management and preservation.  - budget $500K in 2026

- #15-300 Chesapeake Pedestrian Access Improvements - funds improvements to pedestrian crossings at 33 signalized intersections in the City and include high-visibility crosswalks, pedestrian signal poles, push buttons, and curb ramps with detectable warnings. - budget $4.125M in 2026 via VDOT Reimbursements.  More details at Highway Safety Improvement Program - VDOT Smart Portal

- #27-300 Wayfinding Signage - implementation of a scalable wayfinding sign ‘family’ consisting of entryway, gateway, and both pedestrian and vehicular wayfinding signage [to] connect areas in the City to a cohesive Chesapeake identity while highlighting unique community features - budget $350K in 2026

The CEIC and Tree Board have been calling for the creation of an Urban Forestry Master Plan for several years.  Safer pedestrian crossing and wayfinding signage were both in the Bicycle/Trails Advisory Committe wish list during the review process for the Trails and Connectivity Plan.  

The City Council typically acts on the proposed Budget in May.

SPSA Alternative Waste Management Proposal

We had an excellent turnout at our March Green Drinks meeting and got an informative briefing on SPSA Waste Solutions proposed Alternative Waste Disposal Solution by Director Dennis Bagley and AMP Robotics Founder Matanya Horowitz. SPSA, the Southeastern Public Services Authority is responsible for our regional waste management programs including the regional landfill. The Alternative Waste Disposal bid process is now focused on going to a single bin waste system where trash and recyclables are collected together and then sorted out using AI technology. SPSA is currently negotiating with AMP Robotics on a contract for this effort.

Here are the slides presented by SPSA to a City of Chesapeake Council Work Session in early March: 03-11-25-SPSA-Recycling-Presentation-and-PW-Recycling

WHRO just published a good article on the current state of negotiations: Hampton Roads waste authority finalizing deal that could eventually phase out curbside recycling bins

This recent news report has a good video of the operation of the pilot AMP Robotics plant in Portsmouth Portsmouth uses AI to manage waste, streamline recycling

AMP Robotics published this website to show how the process works.  This video appears to be their facility in Cleveland which is a secondary sorting facility. https://ampsortation.com/ and this article from three years ago has more information on that Amp Robotics launches two secondary sorting facilities - Recycling Today 

General Assembly Updates

The Governor vetoed many of the environmental related bills after this years General Assembly, or recommended significant modifications to them. See our post on the status of some of the environmental related bills of local interest at General Assembly Update 

Planning Commission Updates 

It's a short agenda for the April Planning Commission - Meeting Agendas & Videos | Chesapeake, VA. Of interest: 
  • PLN-2232-2025-001 - A "2232 Comprehensive Plan Review" for Converting the private road, Watts Brother Lane, to a public road that intersects with Gum Road.   Widening of this private road would likely result in loss of some tree canopy, perhaps about 0.2 acres.  This "2232 Comprehensive Plan Review" doesn't include any site plans or funding to widen the road but validates that converting this private road to a public road is compatible with the Comp Plan.  Note: funding for acquiring and widening this street is in the proposed Capital Budget.
City Council Updates

At the City Council in April are 

  • PLN-REZ-2024-003 Southern Chesapeake, Single Family Home, loss of about 0.8 acres
  • PLN-REZ-2024-016 Great Bridge, Multi-family Residential on 21 acres of 31 acre parcel.  Preserves existing forested area.  Adds landscape buffer.  Plan drawings of 12/18/24 shows street trees; these are missing in 1/9/25 drawings,  Net canopy gain of about 2 acres with street trees (?)
  • PLN-USE-2024-033 South Norfolk, southeast corner of the Battlefield Boulevard North and Robert Hall Boulevard intersection. Fueling Station (“gas station”), loss of about 2.5 acres tree canopy
  • PLN-USE-2024-052 Great Bridge,  1217 Cedar Road, Oil Change Facility.  Add more landscaping, for about 0.2 acre gain in canopy
  • PLN-USE-2024-056 Southern Chesapeake, 657 Johnson St., Contractor Office and Gravel Storage.  Preserves existing woods.  Add more landscaping, for about 0.1 acre gain in canopy
At the City Council in March, they Approved
  • PLN-USE-2024-031 Homestead Pet Crematorium.  Revised site plan does increase tree planting along road frontage.  Net tree loss is about 0.5 acres.

Action Alerts
  • Chesapeake residents in the Elizabeth River watershed can receive a free native tree from the Elizabeth River Project.  Limit one tree per home; homeowners are responsible for planting and providing proof of planting within 30 days. Free Tree Program - Elizabeth River Project
Upcoming Events
  • The Elizabeth River Project compiled a great list of upcoming plant sales - click image to enlarge.


Volunteer Opportunities

In the News

Stay on top of the latest news and join the conversation in our Facebook group at Greening Chesapeake.



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