138 replies to this topic

[mlsimons]

jbhay, on Oct 6 2009, 01:03 PM, said:

I hardly ever venture into SoNo and the surrounding industrial areas, but I'm sure there is a ton of potential re-investment that can turn that whole area into a thriving urban environment.  Makes me want to map out an ideal vision for the area!

Anyways, ever since Ford closed up, does anyone know what is going on with the property at Ford Park?  That is a ton of potentially amazing land to develop on and I was wondering who owns it and what the city plans on doing with this whole area.  Also, there is tons of rail going through this area which will make for perfect TOD someday, hopefully.  Makes me excited just thinking about it.  I need to venture out to these areas with a camera sometime.  

In the Greenbrier area, they've cleared an area that's been forested my entire life on Kempsville Road right next to the railroad tracks (between Green Tree Road and Walton Road).  I'm assuming it's going to be some small, unnecessary, suburban development, or maybe some decent medium-density apartments.  It makes me sick thinking about spawning any new development like this anymore.

Hey man, me and B.REED went over there to look at this graffiti spot we call gnarnia...we walked the tracts next to the plant and it looked epically folded up...like an old New England factory town. It was all overcast and crazy stark. Those tracks lead to the Lamberts' Point coal terminus and is still used everyday...at least that's still working! peace man, ill holla next time im in town.

[jbhay]

Anyone know what the purpose is going to be for that giant plot of land in Greenbrier, where the jail used to be, in front of all the city's public works buildings/storage facilities? That's some good real estate for sure. Maybe a new high school, even though Grassfield is still new. I'm not sure on the condition of the city's schools, but when I graduated four years ago, Indian River was overcrowded for sure.

[varider]

I believe the plan is to build a Greenbrier High School in the short term. It got pushed back because of the recession, I presume.

[jbhay]

varider, on 24 November 2009 - 07:53 PM, said:

I believe the plan is to build a Greenbrier High School in the short term. It got pushed back because of the recession, I presume.

The rumors I heard were true then. Sounds like an okay deal, it sure is a good chunk of land to use just for a school, but I guess it's going to be pretty necessary with all the residential development continually going up in Chesapeake. Thanks varider!

[mikeas]

The Greene Turtle will opening a location in the Greenbriar area soon.  Its a Maryland based sports restaurant franchise.

www.thegreeneturtle.com

[jbhay]

Cool, we need it. There is barely anything to do here.

[ronsmytheiii]

Quote

Nearly three years ago, the City Council voted in support of Belharbour Station at SoNo, a $200 million development that promised to turn an industrial slice of South Norfolk into a bustling retail and condominium hub. Now, the debate is back – in the middle of election season and one of Chesapeake’s toughest budget years in memory.

The two council members who voted against it, Alan Krasnoff and John de Triquet, are now the mayor and vice mayor. More Belharbour skeptics joined the council in 2008. Since then, the economy has slowed the developer’s plan to build an office tower and dozens of new residences.

“The city underwrote that speculative adventure,” said de Triquet, who is running for re-election this year . “We committed tax dollars to that. I opposed it because I felt it wasn’t workable. I want to see how much I was proven correct, that it’s not a doable project.”

Quote

But as the economy has struggled, developer Paylor Spruill opted to come to the council to revise an agreement with the city. Spruill said he wants to reorder the pieces of the project – building apartments, retail and a marina before constructing the condominiums and office tower. Because of the reordering, city officials are already considering delaying the use of South Norfolk tax revenue to build a public parking garage on the site.

http://hamptonroads....-election-issue

Edited by ronsmytheiii, 28 March 2010 - 10:46 PM.

[urbanlife]

And this is the reason why I will probably never take Chesapeake to be a real city.  The people there seem to elect people with no vision for the city's future and seems to just believe in the status quo with suburban development to the south while ignoring its historical counterparts in the South Norfolk area.  If Chesapeake acted like a real city, the South Norfolk area would be seen as the city's traditional downtown.

[ronsmytheiii]

urbanlife, on 29 March 2010 - 10:58 AM, said:

And this is the reason why I will probably never take Chesapeake to be a real city. The people there seem to elect people with no vision for the city's future and seems to just believe in the status quo with suburban development to the south while ignoring its historical counterparts in the South Norfolk area. If Chesapeake acted like a real city, the South Norfolk area would be seen as the city's traditional downtown.

Well they did get the Gateway at SoNo built, and the economy is definitely not helping. I actually think the internet has spoiled us with development news, these things take many years and face many set backs until built (except during the bubble, but i dont think we want that kind of speculative atmosphere back again)

[varider]

Chesapeake sucks and I'm never looking for it to ever become one bit of urban. That crap they throughh up in Greenbrier is horrible. Gateway at SoNo? An ugly three floor mixed-use buiding.. what's so special about that? I agree that SoNo should be the traditional downtown, but I can't see it happening and I kind of only care about downtown Norfolk/Portsmouth and Virginia Beach .

[VBIllini13]

I like Chesapeake.  All metros need suburbs, and that is exactly what Chesapeake is.  They cannot make Chesapeake something that it's not.  The only reason Chesapeake has all of it's citizens is because they wanted to live out there.  People will always want to live in suburbia and planners can't change nor force how those people think.  Density is something that's just not for a city like Chesapeake; density would take way the appeal of living in a city like Chesapeake.  It is solely because Chesapeake is so suburban, nice, and new that I like it.  I used to get so excited for Home-a-rama when I was back home because I got to see the huge houses in an extremely low-density environment.  I'm not gonna keep rambling on restating my point, but planners in Chesapeake should focus more on agricultural and wildlife preservation and suburban redevelopment of run-down areas and less on forcing an urban environment on a suburb.

[ronsmytheiii]

VBIllini13, on 29 March 2010 - 06:41 PM, said:

I like Chesapeake. All metros need suburbs, and that is exactly what Chesapeake is. They cannot make Chesapeake something that it's not. The only reason Chesapeake has all of it's citizens is because they wanted to live out there. People will always want to live in suburbia and planners can't change nor force how those people think. Density is something that's just not for a city like Chesapeake; density would take way the appeal of living in a city like Chesapeake. It is solely because Chesapeake is so suburban, nice, and new that I like it. I used to get so excited for Home-a-rama when I was back home because I got to see the huge houses in an extremely low-density environment. I'm not gonna keep rambling on restating my point, but planners in Chesapeake should focus more on agricultural and wildlife preservation and suburban redevelopment of run-down areas and less on forcing an urban environment on a suburb.

suburbs and environmental protection are oxymorons. suburban design is inefficient and encourages the wasteing of land leading to the clearing of more green space. It is a travesty and should not have a future, regardless of "what people want"

[urbanlife]

VBIllini13, on 29 March 2010 - 06:41 PM, said:

I like Chesapeake.  All metros need suburbs, and that is exactly what Chesapeake is.  They cannot make Chesapeake something that it's not.  The only reason Chesapeake has all of it's citizens is because they wanted to live out there.  People will always want to live in suburbia and planners can't change nor force how those people think.  Density is something that's just not for a city like Chesapeake; density would take way the appeal of living in a city like Chesapeake.  It is solely because Chesapeake is so suburban, nice, and new that I like it.  I used to get so excited for Home-a-rama when I was back home because I got to see the huge houses in an extremely low-density environment.  I'm not gonna keep rambling on restating my point, but planners in Chesapeake should focus more on agricultural and wildlife preservation and suburban redevelopment of run-down areas and less on forcing an urban environment on a suburb.

but planners can push for smart suburban development that treats subdevelopments like small towns, while mixing in mega suburbia needs.

[varider]

Keep Chesapeake, Suffolk, and Southen VB Rural/Suburban. Work on the continual urbanization of Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Northern VB.

[VBIllini13]

varider, on 29 March 2010 - 07:04 PM, said:

Keep Chesapeake, Suffolk, and Southen VB Rural/Suburban. Work on the continual urbanization of Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Northern VB.

I agree completely 100% with that statement.  No farms no food - agriculture is the backbone of the American economy and I love the fact that Virginia Beach is virtually self-sufficient on strawberries and soy and is a major producer of corn and other crops as well.  I love open spaces, but we can't just completely urbanize America.  My dad always jokes with me by saying we should just pave over the entire United States.  It's a joke, but in some ways that's what I think some new urbanists want.  New Urbanist developments that exist in former suburbs just add to the existing sprawl, leading to more automobile dependence and in some cases even newer suburbs.  This takes away even more pristine and agricultural lands and is somewhat counter-intuitive.  If planners can limit suburban growth and have designated areas for urban, suburban, rural, and pristine areas, then I believe we will not only make everyone happy, but reach a perfect equilibrium of each area.  If suburbs are redeveloped to be newer and nicer, then people will stay put rather than sprawl farther onto "virgin" land.

[Dragon]

ronsmytheiii, on 28 March 2010 - 10:42 PM, said:

http://hamptonroads....-election-issue

The political ambitions of a very few are hurting South Norfolk and the City of Chesapeake; sadly we elected them:  John de Triquet, Alan Krasnoff and Debbie Ritter.  We all know that elected politicians will often reward close allies, and hence themselves; in an effort to stay elected, but the disingenuous mask these three wear is alarming.



(The South Norfolk Civic League has a good reference article on www.southnorfolkcivicleague.com  entitled “Its that time again, Election Time and the politicians are hard at it” and the South Norfolk Strategic Development Plan, also helpful background, can be found at www.chesva.com/sono.html).



De Triquet was in favor of the South Norfolk Strategic Development Plan (SoNo plan) and voted in March 2005 to establish the South Norfolk Tax Increment Financing District- the SoNo TIF.  He and Krasnoff then went on to vote in 2006 for the Gateway and Belharbour projects as vital parts of that SoNo plan.  But around this same time three high profile projects on the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River were proposed:  Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan for a 130’ ammonia storage tower; BioEnergy International for a large ethanol plant, Covanta for the famous “trashport”.  All were defeated and voting no were de Triquet, Krasnoff and Ritter (before she was voted off the Council that year).  Industry along the river then became alarmed that Chesapeake no longer supported their interests and later it became known that Mayor Edge would not seek reelection in 2008.  Suddenly de Triquet and Krasnoff became the friends of corporate industry voting in March 2007 against the Belharbour project, expressing concern about its proposed marina, citing the proximity of pleasure boats with naval or working vessels; even though the proposed marina is on the intracoastal waterway where pleasure craft are routine; and marina approval was included in the original rezoning.  It is clear in hind-sight today that as a Republican, Krasnoff wanted corporate sponsors and their money in his bid to win the office of Mayor; and far more than he wanted to keep promises to South Norfolk.  So goes Krasnoff, so goes de Triquet and Ritter.  They are trying to build a Republican political machine that rewards the areas of Chesapeake that will help keep them in office and expand their influence.  The ends justify the means and they mean to disregard years of promises and commitments the City has made to South Norfolk because it tends to favor Democratic candidates.  De Triquet recently said in a South Norfolk campaign forum that he has collected and analyzed the necessary data to determine that South Norfolk can do better than the SoNo plan; even though professional land planners, consultants and dozens of South Norfolk citizens spent thousands of hours studying South Norfolk’s situation and finally recommending that plan of redevelopment.  It is incredible that de Triquet expects us to believe that only he has drawn the proper conclusions.  It is far more credible to believe that de Triquet, Krasnoff and Ritter want to remove the reasons for South Norfolk’s financing district thus keeping a largely Democratic borough from reaching its full potential.

[urbanlife]

South Norfolk should break away from Chesapeake so it can stop being screwed over by the county it joined into...I think the town would of been better off with their chances with Norfolk instead.

[BFG]

About a month or so ago, they demolished the Hollywood Video at Greenbrier MarketPlace, where Target, Best Buy, and Barnes and Noble are. About a week ago, I noticed the shape of the structure, and it looked like it would be a Walgreens.

Turns out my prediction was right... Now, I like this a lot. They opened a CVS about 2 miles from there, at the corner of Volvo and Kempsville. However, it closes at 10, which for a night owl like me who works second shift, that's a bummer. And other than the Walgreens on Battlefield and Volvo (about 2 mi. in the opposite direction), Greenbrier lacks a good 24-hour drug store, so it would be nice to see if they'll actually make this an all-night store.


My only concern is Greenbrier Parkway is a traffic nightmare. I can't imagine what this would do...

[chris722]

urbanlife, on 26 April 2010 - 03:50 AM, said:

South Norfolk should break away from Chesapeake so it can stop being screwed over by the county it joined into...I think the town would of been better off with their chances with Norfolk instead.

I have always maintained that South Norfolk should actually be in Norfolk!  Chesapeake has screwed it over ever since the merger.