Greening Chesapeake

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...

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 Che...

Come out for Chesapeake's first big Earth Day festival at Campostella Square Park (next to the Cuffee Center). Thank you to the Climate Action Network for organizing the event! There will be games, music, and educational activities. There will be free native trees and plants available for adoption, thanks to the Virginia Cooperative Extension - Chesapeake and the Chesapeake Environmental Improvement Council Tree Board. Come out and celebrate Earth Day! Location: Campostella Square Park, 2019 Windy Rd, Chesapeake, VA, 23224

  The next Green Drinks will be Tuesday, March 26, 2024 from 6 pm to 8 pm at YNot Italian in Greenbrier, 1036 Volvo Parkway, Suite 7 Chesapeake, VA, 23320. We're scheduled to have a guest speakers, Kevin Finn and Emma Jones, from the Planning Department, to discuss on-going activity to update the City Comprehensive Plan. The City of Chesapeake is working on revising its Comprehensive Plan as several sub-plans including a new Trails and Connectivity Plan. Keeping abreast of the progress of these plans and discussing ways to contribute to the development of these plans will be a theme for our meetings this year.

Update 2:  Urge Governor Youngkin to sign HB529 and HB1100 into law to ensure our community is able to conserve and plant more trees that will benefit the health of all Virginians! Contact him today -  https://p2a.co/dT5K6jN   Update: Both of these bills have been passed by the House and Senate and are now heading for the Governor's desk for signature.  Stay tuned for any Action Alerts asking folks to contact the Governor to urge him to sign these bills.  There are several bills in the General Assembly that would give the City of Chesapeake the option to do more to protect trees and restore tree canopy during development.  Current state law limits how much Chesapeake can require of developers during construction.   HB 1100 would enable all counties, cities, and towns in Virginia to adopt tree conservation ordinances to conserve healthy mature trees during construction projects.  HB 529 would increase how much canopy must be replac...

Action Alert: The Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization (HRTPO) is asking for feedback on its proposed Exploratory Scenario Planning approach for the 2050 Long-Range Transportation Plan. This is apparently a plan on how to do the plan by "asking what could happen?" rather than try to predict what will happen or picking a preferred scenario.  The stated objective is to "evaluate candidate [transportation] projects across ALL plausible future scenarios."  The big gap that I see is the lack of any criteria for how they would evaluate candidate transportation projects.  While the stated goal is "understanding how our system responds to different 'drivers of change' and increased growth, [and then] make better informed decisions about priorities and investments", my concern is that this will result in self-fulfilling prophecies. If we end up planning to build infrastructure to support the worst-case scenarios, i.e. suburban and exurban sp...

The Industrial Waterfront Study will receive a Public Hearing at the Planning Commission meeting this week on Wednesday, February 14, 2024.  The goal of this document is to  understand the current conditions along the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River and  determine preferred future land uses based and  identify the range of adaptation strategies that can increase the resilience of coastal and riverine areas and increase opportunities for economic development.   In my review, I think the Planning Department did an excellent job of presenting a  balanced approach that prioritizes space for industrial businesses critical to the local economy and tax base   while identifying   a range of adaptation strategies that can increase the resilience of coastal and riverine areas  to address   sea level rise, increasing stormwater flooding, and recurrent tidal inundation.  (The text in bold is taken directly from the Draft Study which...