Virginia Beach City Council is expected to vote on a resolution that would bring the Virginia Aquarium Foundation back into the fold of the decision-making process to determine a future for the aquarium — primarily if it will stay under city ownership or break off to private ownership.
The Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center’s future has been in flux since early 2023. City leaders haven’t publicly identified a clear path forward for practical concerns like remedying aging exhibits; or tackling high-level questions about the ownership model or the city’s role in the aquarium’s future.
Those questions led to a rift between the city and the foundation in the past several months.
City Manager Patrick Duhaney said Tuesday he would draft a resolution for council that would bring the city and foundation together under a new memorandum of understanding.
The city and foundation will work together to review the aquarium’s financial information to get a more accurate picture of its operation, conduct an assessment of its facilities and seek federal and state funding.
Since opening in 1986, the aquarium has been run as a department of the city in partnership with a nonprofit foundation. The city employs the staff and owns the facilities and exhibits. The foundation owns the animals and is responsible for fundraising.
In April 2023, aquarium staff presented a $250 million budget to council for needed improvements on the building, exhibits and fish tanks. The overhaul would replace filtration systems that were nearing the end of functionality and upgrade the lobby into a space to host weddings and other events.
Council balked at the price tag and requested a reduced scope for renovations — and also began exploring the idea of an alternative ownership model, where a private company might assume the city’s role as owner.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Councilmember Joash Schulman listed critical infrastructure and stormwater projects that needed city funding that, in 2023, seemed to take priority over the aquarium’s renovation ask — which shrank to $50-100 million after reassessing plans, aquarium board chair Dan Peterson said.
Later in the meeting, Councilmember Chris Taylor countered with several projects the city has funded, including music festivals, wave parks and mall parking garages.
“There’s some money being tossed around,” he said.
The aquarium is a popular destination. Aquarium staff said it is the third-most visited tourist attraction in the state after Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens.
In a survey last year, Virginia Beach residents said they were more supportive of the city spending $200-300 million for repair and maintenance of the aquarium than they were of a nonprofit or corporation assuming ownership.
The aquarium also provides the critical service of stranding response for trapped or wounded marine life — including turtles, dolphins and whales.
Peterson said there’s “no way to make money” with that program, but that’s not the point of it: it’s part of the aquarium’s mission.
The aquarium is the only entity in Virginia with a permit to respond to stranded animals or humanely euthanize them when needed. Without that permit, Peterson said, an injured dolphin or whale washed to shore would “sit there.” No one would be able to legally do anything about it.
Peterson said the aquarium has had some difficulty securing state funding.
The aquarium requested $20 million from the state this year, which was denied. The state wanted to know what support the aquarium is getting from the city, and the city wants to know what support the aquarium is getting from the state.
“So we’re sort of chasing our tail around in circles,” Peterson said.
The city moved forward last year with a request for information from prospective companies to take over the aquarium. The owners of Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museum and Dollywood were interested.
Earlier this year, the city contracted a consulting firm for $108,000 to lay out a timeline for transitioning to an alternative ownership model.
In July, the mayor, vice mayor and city manager met with the foundation during a City Council summer recess. Councilmember Worth Remick, the council liaison for the aquarium, did not attend, which meant the meeting didn’t meet legal requirements to be considered public.
Vice Mayor Rosemary Wilson told press the plans for an alternative ownership model were on “pause.” No official council vote backed that up.
Following Peterson’s presentation Tuesday, council agreed to consider a resolution that would give the foundation a larger role in determining the aquarium’s fate.
Ultimately, that future will come down to a council vote.
“We need to assess these potential business models so that we can come back together to council to provide you with, ‘Hey, here are some potential solutions,’ and let you all decide what works,” Peterson said to council.
