The peaceful landscape at Pleasure House Point in Virginia Beach was abuzz with construction noise this week as crews cleared about eight acres of maritime forest along the Lynnhaven River.
Contractors for the city of Virginia Beach started the work Monday and plan to take down a total of more than 5,200 trees by the end of the month to make way for a wetlands mitigation project.
City officials say reconstructing historic wetlands is necessary to earn legal credits that allow them to move forward with public works projects elsewhere in the city, especially those meant to ease flooding.
But the $12 million project has angered local residents who treasure the current ecosystem and worry the tree clearing could eventually make it easier for developers to build on surrounding privately-owned land.
“Wetland restoration and protection is important, but tidal wetlands are not the only threatened maritime habit in the Lynnhaven River Basin,” Windy Crutchfield, a member of No Build VB Wetlands, told City Council members earlier this year. “This current plan irresponsibly destroys something the city pledged to protect.”
The wetlands project was part of the city’s long-term plans for more than a decade. In 2012, Virginia Beach worked with a local land trust and nonprofits to preserve and protect 118 acres at Pleasure House Point from development.
The site was once a dumping ground, taking on more than a million cubic yards of material dredged from the Lynnhaven Inlet.
The city got a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2018 to restore wetlands on 12 acres at the site, and completed more than 90% of the design.
Then, the project sat on the shelf. The city’s sudden sense of urgency for the project stems from a legal dilemma.
Anytime a public agency or private developer impacts wetlands while building a project, they are required to make up for it elsewhere, using a legal mechanism called wetlands mitigation credits. The system works by earning credits traded in a “mitigation bank.”
Virginia Beach needs some of those credits to move forward on projects, including several that fall under the Flood Protection Program funded by the city’s 2021’s voter bond referendum.
Public works director LJ Hansen said Virginia Beach always planned to purchase those credits within the Lynnhaven River watershed.
“That was our hope, that was our desire, that was our plan. But the credits that we were told would materialize did not materialize,” Hansen told council in January. “This was our contingency plan for how to get the credits, and we are down to our contingency.”
Residents pushing back against the plan previously identified another opportunity for the city to buy credits in the Elizabeth River area. But Hansen said the Army Corps likely wouldn’t accept credits coming from a separate watershed, and the city would not be guaranteed to win the credits on the open market.
Over resident objections, Virginia Beach City Council voted in January to transfer funds to start the tree removal.
The approved ordinance directed staff and construction workers to “make good faith efforts” to preserve any trees at least four inches in diameter. It also directed the city manager to publicly present a plan to mitigate tree losses.
Students with the Virginia Beach Environmental Studies Program, based at the Brock Environmental Center adjoining the project site, conducted a survey of the area and inventoried at least 5,214 trees that will be impacted.
About 78% of those are loblolly pine. Others include Eastern redcedar, black cherry and mimosa trees.
People are particularly concerned about 105 live oaks at the site. Resident Tim Solanic said live oaks are the official tree of Virginia Beach.
“You would think, if there's one property in that whole city where you would preserve the city tree, it would be here,” Solanic said. “And if they're completely unavoidable to destroy, they should be transplanted, 100% of them.”
Solanic is urging the city to take immediate action to preserve live oak lumber from the site. He said it could “be saved right now for an inspirational project in the future.”
Beach spokesperson Ali Weatherton-Shook said in an email the city is "aware of the interest in preserving some of the wood," but hasn't yet identified organizations to help form a plan for doing so.
Staff previously worked with volunteers to dig, pot and transport 650 native tree saplings and shrubs from the area, including 100 young live oaks, to local nurseries or other restoration sites, Weatherton-Shook said.
They also intend to plant more than 600 new trees, including 336 live oaks.
“We recognize and appreciate the passion of residents and supporters of the Pleasure House Point Natural Area,” she wrote. “Restoring natural tidal wetlands is essential for filtering pollutants, supporting wildlife, strengthening flood resilience, and more. This initiative provides a sustainable solution for dredging, flood protection, and roadway development by minimizing wetland impacts and reducing long-term maintenance.”
The city modified the construction entrance to avoid impacting significant trees designated for protection, Weatherton-Shook said.
In the meantime, residents continue to fight the project in different ways. Some protested at the construction site Tuesday, hoping to stall the bulldozers.
Others plan to file official appeals with any agency possible, including the Army Corps and Virginia Marine Resources Commission.
