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Virginia Beach Light Rail and Transit


vdogg

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I hate when outlets do that...jazz up an article with an interesting title just to get clicks. Hated it when I worked in news, hate it more now that I don't. VP does it all the time with arena articles, and sometimes I think the paper is just as anti-progress as the people who comment on the articles.

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  • 3 months later...

There may be some interesting news coming shortly. :)

 

 

Status Update
By Vote YES to Explore Light Rail in VB
From a March 26th letter, written by Mayor Sessoms to Senator McWaters: "We may be receiving an unsolicited private-public partnership to extend, as a minimum, the Tide from the Norfolk city line to the Rosemont area." A PPTA could allow the extension to be funded without federal funding, thus significantly shortening the approval and construction schedules.
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And, here we go. :)

http://hamptonroads.com/2013/04/va-beach-receives-private-proposal-extend-tide

Can't wait to see details. I can almost guarantee the developer is pitching this in exchange for development rights, which I am absolutely ok with so long as said development meets certain criteria and standards. No, it's not all the way to the oceanfront but it's a start, which should make it easier to obtain federal funding for the rest of the portion.

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I originally said the first extension should at least make it to either Town Center or Lynnhaven. Rosemont Road is a great midway point, although I wish the outlet mall were still over there. They need to upgrade the shopping between TC and Lynnhaven Mall...along the boulevard it's mostly strip malls.

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The story has been updated. It's a private consortium head by Phil Shucet, former HRT CEO (one that took over after Townes). If accepted, they plan to have the segment up and running by 2016. This means construction would have to start by 2014 at the latest. Still says that the story will be updated more later.

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Well, the bad news is it's run by the same people that are doing the midtown tunnel project. The good news is, I'm sure this will happen now. Those folks always get what they want. I just hope we don't have to mortgage our souls in the form of a 50 year contract like we did for the tunnel project. I'm also concerned that they'll try to slip another non-compete clause in there. We'll have to watch this closely, but this may be the only way to get light rail done in a reasonable time.

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Council members and light rail supporters were optimistic about the plan.

"I think it's great," Councilman Bill DeSteph said. "The less the taxpayers have to pay, the better."

:shok: Who is this man and what the hell did he do with DeSteph? I never thought he'd be pro-light rail anything, regardless of the form it took. Definitely a good sign. Looks like we'll have to wait 30 days though to get any significant details. 

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Obviously more details need to be released, but this does sound promising.  It seems that Va Beach's planning around "strategic growth areas" is really a driving factor for lightrail placemeent.  I do wonder how they feel Rosemont will be transformed since it's really a hodgepodge of shopping centers.  Frankly, if they just extended this to town center it would be a plus.  Ultimately, I hope this will give the city a chance to expedite lightrail to the oceanfront.



:shok: Who is this man and what the hell did he do with DeSteph? I never thought he'd be pro-light rail anything, regardless of the form it took. Definitely a good sign. Looks like we'll have to wait 30 days though to get any significant details. 

 

I'm still waiting on the Kerry Daugherty piece which bashes the plan before details are even released.  I'm sure she'll take her liberties attacking the former HRT CEO and talk about how incompetent city council is for even accepting the proposal.  That and how John Moss is the savior of the city. :rolleyes:

 

Maybe DeSteph realized that the majority of the city does not feel his way, and a good politician represents his city.  Or, maybe he just saw less tax money and just made a statement, not realizing he was supporting lightrail with his comment.  I believe it's the latter.  

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They can get us to rosemont for the cost that Hrt estimated it would take to get us to TC. Sounds good, but I'll hold off judgement till the public briefing. I'm curious how this will be financed (perhaps a TIF that stretches the entirety of the line)?

http://hamptonroads.com/2013/04/developers-tide-line-va-beach-would-cost-235m

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They can get us to rosemont for the cost that Hrt estimated it would take to get us to TC. Sounds good, but I'll hold off judgement till the public briefing. I'm curious how this will be financed (perhaps a TIF that stretches the entirety of the line)?

http://hamptonroads.com/2013/04/developers-tide-line-va-beach-would-cost-235m

 

 

I could bet there will be some kind of development deal.  Looking at the strategic growth plans for  Newtown, Pembroke, and Rosemont there will be a lot of TOD opportunities, and I would suspect is why the developers want to extend the line considering how quickly Norfolk capitalized on LRT. So in the end, much like the land on the transcontinental railroad, development rights probably encouraged this deal (and is a good thing). LRT is a mechanism of development, as we hoped.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Council briefed on the private proposal today. This thing looks full steam ahead with a potential opening in 2016. This combined with expansion to the Naval Base will dramatically remake the urban character of the region. One would think it would have to. Building booms especially at Town Center and DT norfolk. Maybe well get some Charlotte kind of action? In need of more jobs!

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That was really interesting. There are a lot of empty parking lots around the majority of these stations. There would have to be TODs everywhere! VB is a city of near half a million building a transit line through the middle of the city. Why couldnt there be high rise apartment and office complexes everywhere? At least around the Town Center station and all the Resort area stations. And midrise projects near Witchduck etc. It looked to me like the convention center station will be a big one. This extension should mean TODs for both VB and norfolk.

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 OK, on a more positive note!

I think that VB LR should follow the right of way down to London Bridge Rd then over to Laskin Rd all the way down to Pacific Ave. then south on Pacific all the way to the road the convention center is on and end there.

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http://hamptonroads.com/2013/05/mark-against-tide

 

Really? This guy is a moron! Light rail had nothing to do with what happened at the oceanfront this past weekend. It just goes to show that crime and crowds can happen with or without transit!

 

UGH!

But are you really surprised? Soon as I heard the story, I knew the anti-LRT people would climb back on their soapbox (not that they ever hopped off). 

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LR has me thinking a lot about the relationship between the Oceanfront and locals. In my opinion, LR is not going to be ease traffic from tourists very much. With the talk of bringing LR all the way down to the oceanfront, what can be done to make the area there more appealing to full time VB residents?

 

I look at all of the development in Hilltop and daydream about what the oceanfront would be like if the shopping in Hilltop was spread along Atlantic and Pacific Ave? Would more locals be pushing for LR all the way down to the oceanfront if the options there catered to them?

 

With the events this past weekend I was also thinking about how the "vibe" at the oceanfront would change if the mix included more locals with more pride in the area. Its a neglected area from a care and concern standpoint.

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It's like 1999 all over again. As soon as I heard about the incident I thought to myself "Great...the perfect ammo for the anti-LRT crowd." So, I'm not surprised, but the elitism that some VB residents have is really irritating. The city is nice, but it is far from the utopia they make it out to be.

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I hope they end up going with the Hilltop route, I think that will be the route that has the most effect and has the most possiblility for future urban districts around each of those stations.

 

Though one thing that struck me as interesting, the first few images looks like they are planning future expansions as well.

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