Reshaping the Resort: Resort Area Strategic Action Plan

[scm]

VB has retained Sasaki Associates "to provide a graphic vision of the Oceanfront Resort Area and to develop design guidelines directed toward achievement of a common vision for the Resort Area". Second charrette is Thursday and Friday at the Convention Center, 2-5 and 1-3. Public involvement is encouraged.

More available here.

[RJWGMU]

VB has retained Sasaki Associates "to provide a graphic vision of the Oceanfront Resort Area and to develop design guidelines directed toward achievement of a common vision for the Resort Area". Second charrette is Thursday and Friday at the Convention Center, 2-5 and 1-3. Public involvement is encouraged.

More available here.

the link doesn't work

[scm]

the link doesn't work

funny, works from my computer. URL also shows when you right click on it, so I can't imagine what the problem is.

[vaceltic]

Go to vb.gov , planning, then area plans, studies, and guidelines

[mistermetaj]

Go to vb.gov , planning, then area plans, studies, and guidelines

Like all the other strategic plans (Lynnhaven watershed, 19th Street Corridor, Shore Dr.) this looks great on paper and they throw at us pictures of some great projects built in other places (Anyone notice they even put parts of Italy on there ). Fact is, people all over VA Beach will resist growth at the oceanfront and will complain about added traffic, they already don't want light rail down Atlantic or Pacific as shown in the presentation, the neighborhoods around the resort will complain, and too many people will complain about any project the city partners with a private developer in, especially with a possible 90 million loan they just took out. (this was a horrible run on sentence)

It sounds cynical and I would love for the Oceanfront to look like what they portray it as and the potential is undeniable, but this cities resistance to change can't be ignored either.

[scm]

Like all the other strategic plans (Lynnhaven watershed, 19th Street Corridor, Shore Dr.) this looks great on paper and they throw at us pictures of some great projects built in other places (Anyone notice they even put parts of Italy on there ). Fact is, people all over VA Beach will resist growth at the oceanfront and will complain about added traffic, they already don't want light rail down Atlantic or Pacific as shown in the presentation, the neighborhoods around the resort will complain, and too many people will complain about any project the city partners with a private developer in, especially with a possible 90 million loan they just took out. (this was a horrible run on sentence)

It sounds cynical and I would love for the Oceanfront to look like what they portray it as and the potential is undeniable, but this cities resistance to change can't be ignored either.

Interesting quote from the 2005 Oceanfront Resort Area Plan (the only document cited on the linked page):

For a variety of reasons, there appears to be a strong affinity for the status quo among many of the business leaders in the Resort Area.

I am a little puzzled where you get the picture of Italy, light rail down Atlantic, etc. from the 2005 Plan -- obviously, some things have happened since 2005 -- Convention Center completed, some of the Laskin Road corridor improvements have been completed. But the 2005 plan spends much more time talking about roadway improvements than any discussion of transit (in fact, the only mention is of BRT, and says nothing about the layout).

The 2005 plan identifies many of the problems with the Oceanfront -- the point about the land between A & P being wasted on surface parking is dead on. VB will never be a "First Class Resort" (oft cited goal of this plan) as long as the area between Atlantic and the Boardwalk is a solid wall of narrow, eight story hotels, stretching the full width of the property, and forming an effective visual wall that isolates any sight lines from the water. I'd love to see VB adopt zoning policies that "discourage" new "walls" like the new hotel/condos at Norfolk and Atlantic. The key to a "First Class Resort" is to encourage mid-rise development (after we tell the Navy to hike to hell with their desires to limit height to 225') on the blocks between A & P, and "encourage" linked low rise development on properties on the Boardwalk. Beach Club/Restaurant on the oceanfront property, with the hotel across Atlantic. What a great improvement that would be.

[vdogg]

If we could get 400ft out of the Navy i'd be happy. That's a reasonable height limit for that area and would allow for far more slender hotels. I would love to demolish some of these old hotels and build taller/skinnier ones so we can get our view corridors back.

[varider]

I can't wait until light rail reaches the strip!! I would just love ridin the tide into the oceanfront on a nice summer day:)

[Mobius57]

It will! It needs to!

[CaveMaN]

I can't wait until light rail reaches the strip!! I would just love ridin the tide into the oceanfront on a nice summer day:)

And it's <$5 price tag sure as heck beats the current $30-40 cab ride each way from the oceanfront bars to downtown Norfolk or Chesapeake! Although I don't think they'd ever have in mind to keep it open till 2 am (specifically to stop it from becoming a drunk bus), it'd sure be nice to get out there cheaply early in the evening, grab some dinner, and cruise back before it does shut down for the night.

[vdogg]

And it's <$5 price tag sure as heck beats the current $30-40 cab ride each way from the oceanfront bars to downtown Norfolk or Chesapeake! Although I don't think they'd ever have in mind to keep it open till 2 am (specifically to stop it from becoming a drunk bus), it'd sure be nice to get out there cheaply early in the evening, grab some dinner, and cruise back before it does shut down for the night.

They will if demand is high enough and we can market it right. Especially if it is put forth as a safety issue. The more drunks there are on that train, the less there will be on the road.

[varider]

After looking at the plan for the first time, I am in love with what they plan on doing.. The only thing is i think its just a whenever plan it doesn't have a date or anything.. I noticed that the plan on filling up all the parking lots and everyone knows parking at the beach is a nightmare.. So i think they should build a park and ride at maybe the convention center and MAKE people ride the train the rest of the way.. That would mean a whole lot of revenue for HRT..

[jeffconn]

And it's <$5 price tag sure as heck beats the current $30-40 cab ride each way from the oceanfront bars to downtown Norfolk or Chesapeake! Although I don't think they'd ever have in mind to keep it open till 2 am (specifically to stop it from becoming a drunk bus), it'd sure be nice to get out there cheaply early in the evening, grab some dinner, and cruise back before it does shut down for the night.

Becoming a 'vomit comet' is a small price to pay for getting drunks off the road. Going off topic, does the VaBeach PD still make all oceanfront parking lots close at 2 am, thereby forcing those who have drunk too much to drive, rather than take a cab?

[Henry_Ryto]

Becoming a 'vomit comet' is a small price to pay for getting drunks off the road. Going off topic, does the VaBeach PD still make all oceanfront parking lots close at 2 am, thereby forcing those who have drunk too much to drive, rather than take a cab?

2:30 A.M.

There is a little-known (and little-utilized) program under which you can get a tag for your car to keep it there overnight.

[mlsimons]

Yeah, I don't think it would be a problem to have all the drunks take the train home. Its not like the train will be full of nice families heading home at 230 in the morning.

Anything is better than the alternative of driving!

[ronsmytheiii]

The city and its chosen partner to build a Virginia Beach Convention Center headquarters hotel have broken up. Dallas-based Garfield Traub had been in talks with the city for more than a year about developing a hotel that would lure larger conventions, although their initial flirtation started in 2006.

In the end, the relationship crumbled because neither could agree to the terms of the pre nup.

"We pretty much exhausted all opportunities to make this work," said Councilman John Uhrin, who represents the Oceanfront.

In a two-sentence letter sent Tuesday, Ray Garfield, a principal of Garfield Traub, rescinded his company's original proposal.

http://hamptonroads.com/2010/11/developer-quits-virginia-beach-hotel-project