THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 4, 1997 TAG: 9702040218
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 71 lines
The rumble of heavy machinery hoisting 3-ton rocks sounded like money to Diana Kelley.
Monday's noisy construction of a stone breakwater off Ocean View's shoreline marks the city's latest effort to protect private property and public beach along a 7-mile stretch of Bayfront from erosion and storm damage.
And Kelley, general manager of the 119-room Quality Inn, perched about 80 feet from the Bay's tides near 10th View Street, couldn't be more pleased.
``It's really going to improve the beach, which is one of our biggest drawing cards,'' Kelley said. ``It means tax dollars for the city and more revenue for us. It can't do anything but good.''
Work on the $867,600 project, designed to break wave energy and trap sand, began last week. Coastal Design and Construction Inc. of Gloucester should finish the project by late March, barring bad weather, city officials said.
Four offshore breakwaters will be constructed along six blocks of Ocean View's Willoughby section, a stretch that includes the motel and a mix of single- and multifamily structures.
There's a lot at stake along the Bay shoreline. City officials estimate the assessed value of storm-vulnerable property - property located north of Ocean View Avenue - at about $120 million.
Protecting the shoreline also is important in light of the city's redevelopment of East Ocean View, City Councilman Randy Wright said.
Wright said he knows two property owners who plan to build new Bayfront houses valued at up to $350,000 in the East Ocean View redevelopment area.
``To me, that tells the tale of the importance and the potential economic impact of it, and why we need to protect those beaches,'' Wright said. ``We're looking at this for the long term. We don't want to turn around and Ocean View suddenly becomes a Sandbridge, and all you can do is watch the houses fall in the water.''
Ocean View landowners, concerned about serious erosion, have been lobbying city and state officials for more protection.
``We tend to lose quite a lot of sand, and over the years, without any kind of replenishment or protection, the beach will be gone,'' said Barbara Peery, owner of a condo unit in the 900 block of West Ocean View Ave.
Storms that hammer Virginia Beach's Oceanfront can also cause serious damage to property along the Bay. Northeasters, which blow directly into the shoreline, can be especially bad, city officials said.
At the Quality Inn, for instance, waves from a tropical storm last fall damaged a wooden bulkhead and undermined the motel's parking lot. The beach in front of the motel eroded away to almost nothing.
As much as 6 feet of shoreline is lost each year in some sections of East Ocean View, city officials said.
``That's pretty high,'' said Keith Cannady of the city's Bureau of Environmental Services. ``It takes a lot of sand to keep that beach in a relatively safe condition.''
Since 1981, the city has spent about $2.5 million - matched by $3.8 million in state funds - to replenish the Bayfront with sand and to build protective structures, records show.
On this breakwater project, the city will pay $495,000, and the state will pay the rest.
Eventually, Cannady said, the city hopes to expand its shoreline protection program but lower its costs by involving the federal government. The Army Corps of Engineers is gearing up for a yearlong, $500,000 engineering study to design a long-term beach renourishment plan. The study, which will cost Norfolk $125,000, will put the city in line for federal funds. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
TAMARA VONINSKI
The Virginian-Pilot
Breakwater construction has begun along the Ocean View shoreline.
The work should protect the beach and property.