Ci.ty e>f -V--:1rgi.rria Beach VBgov.com OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER (757) 38 242 (757) 427-5626 FAX January 18, 2019 MUNICIPAL CENTER BUILDING 1, ROOM 234 2401 COURTHOUSE DRIVE VIRGINIA BEACH, VA 23456-9001 The Honorable Robert M. Dyer, Mayor Members of City Council Subject: Pending Regulatory Issues Dear Mayor and Members of City Council: I have attached three letters concerning a number of pending regulatory issues. The letters are provided for your information, and no Council action is required at this time. The three letters are: I. A letter from me to Colonel Kinsman, Commander for the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Norfolk District. The Federal Government shutdown has impacted the Sandbridge Beach replenishment project. The source of sand for that project (the borrow area) is under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). The USACE has been working with BOEM to obtain authorization to use the borrow area. It has been a slow and bureaucratic process, but progress was being made until the shutdown closed BOEM. The USACE will move forward with the resort area replenishment project now, and will move forward with Sandbridge when BOEM reopens and authorizes use of the borrow area. 2. A letter from me to David Paylor, Director of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). DEQ approved a stormwater design for the Veteran's Care Facility that is not acceptable and will cause flooding issues for the facility, adjacent property owners, and downstream. Public Works has been working with DEQ and its consultants, but our concerns have not been addressed. I have asked Director Paylor to re-evaluate DEQ's approval and to acknowledge the City's concerns. 3. A letter from Mark Johnson, Director of Public Works to Curtis Daver, Department of Environmental Quality commenting on the Joint Permit Application for the Ashville Park Development and Drainage Improvements. The letter indicates that the City supports, and is cost participating in, the drainage improvement project for the existing development, exclusive of Village E which will need to be reviewed by the City at a future date. If you have any questions, please contact Deputy City Manager Tom Leahy or Public Works Director Mark Johnson. Attachments (3)
C::ity- e>f -V--:irg:irria.. Bea.ch VBgov.com OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER (757) 3854242 (757) 427-5626 FAX January 17, 2019 MUNICIPAL CENTER BUILDING 1, ROOM 234 2401 COURTHOUSE DRIVE VIRGINIA BEACH, VA 23456-9001 Colonel Patrick V. Kinsman, Commander Norfolk District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 803 Front Street Norfolk, VA 23510 Dear Colonel Kinsman: This letter is to provide concurrence to adjust the project delivery schedules for the upcoming Sandbridge Beach and Resort Beach replenishment projects as discussed at our quarterly coordination meeting last Friday January 11, 2019. As you are aware, the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), through its responsibilities to manage ocean resources, including the sand for this project, had required a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). The draft MOA stipulated a number of requirements that must be addressed and included in the construction contract. BOEM also requested additional borrow site geotechnical analysis to assist them in management of the borrow site resources. We understand that your staff has completed the work required to satisfy these requirements and has made a formal submittal to BOEM for final approval of the MOA. Unfortunately, BOEM is subject to the partial government shutdown, and review of the requested analysis and execution of the MOA will await their return to work. Unless there are further requirements for final approval, we understand the contract documents are otherwise ready to advertise. This is a regrettable but understandable delay given the circumstances. Therefore we concur with advancing the Resort Beach nourishment project soonest as it does not require any approvals from BOEM and is not impacted by the partial government shutdown. Please let me know if you have any concerns or require additional information. If you have any concerns or require additional information, please contact me or Deputy City Manager Tom Leahy at (757) 385-8654 or TLeahy@vbgov.com. David L. Hansen City Manager c: Mayor Robert M. Dyer and Members of Council Thomas M. Leahy, Deputy City Manager Mark A. Johnson, P.E., Director of Public Works Mark D. Stiles, City Attorney
ity of :i.rgirria. Beach PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTORS OFFICE (757)-385-8760 FAX (757) 385-8387 MUNICIPAi. C8'fTER BUILDING2 2405 COLftTHOUSE DRIVE VIRGINIA BEACH. VIRGINIA 23456 January 11, 2019 Mr. Curtis Daver Virginia Department of Environmental Quality Tidewater Regional Office 5636 Southern Boulevard Virginia Beach, Virginia 23462 RE: Joint Permit Application Number 18-1872 -Ashville Park Development and Drainage Improvements, Virginia Beach Virginia, Notification of Proposed Project Dear Mr. Daver: The City supports the proposed Ashville Park Development and Drainage Improvements project application by HomeFed (HOFD) Ashville Park LLC, referenced in the Joint Permit Application. The application proposed to construct three stormwater ponds, two stormwater channels and residential developments Village C, and Village E within Ashville Park. The City is participating in a cost participation agreement with HOFD to construct stormwater improvements for the existing development. The City is not participating in providing drainage improvements for the future Village E. Please note the current Virginia Beach master drainage study does not include Village E and will need to be updated and design plans for Village E will need to be reviewed by the City under the City's Design Standards. Please contact me if you have any questions or need additional information. Respectfully, J/. Mark A. Johnson, P.E. Director of Public Works MAJ/MWM/kp c: Mayor Robert M. Dyer and Members of City Council David L. Hansen, City Manager Thomas M. Leahy, Ill, Deputy City Manager Phillip D. Pullen, P.E., City Engineer Toni P. Alger, P.E., Storm water Engineering Center Administrator
City 0 "Virgir1ia Beach VB go v.com OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER (757) 385-4242 (757) 427-5626 FAX January 9, 2019 MUNICIPAL CENTER BUILDING 1, ROOM 234 2401 COURTHOUSE DRIVE VIRGINIA BEACH, VA 23456-9001 Mr. David K. Paylor Director Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) 1111 E. Main Street, Suite 1400 Richmond, Virginia 23218 Re: Jones and Cabacoy Veteran's Care Center Virginia Beach, VA (DEQ SWM#: TR0-18-034) Dear Mr. Paylor: We received the attached letter dated December 3, 2018 in which the DEQ approved the Stormwater Management and Erosion and Sediment Control Plan, submitted by the Virginia Department of Veterans Services (DVS), for the referenced project. We believe DEQ committed to not approving this project until the City of Virginia Beach was satisfied with their stormwater design. The approved storm water design is not acceptable to the City of Virginia Beach as it will likely cause flooding on site, to the surrounding properties and cause impacts to the downstream system. Although the City is not an approval authority on this project, DEQ committed early in the process to allowing us to review the design and assured us that our comments would be incorporated. As such, DEQ provided copies of multiple design submittals to us for our review, during the design process which we subsequently reviewed and provided comments back to DEQ. Although some of the minor comments were addressed, the major comments were not. As of November 30, 2018, when we submitted our last comments to DEQ, the storm water design for the project, which was ultimately approved by DEQ, is woefully inadequate and will cause flooding of the proposed facility, adjacent properties and downstream drainage system area. The City of Virginia Beach has long contended that the DEQ storm water regulations need to be revised to require different analyses for storm drainage designs, to reflect the differing hydrological conditions in the Coastal Virginia area. It is our opinion that, while the current regulations might be well suited for other parts of the State, they are not adequate for our region, and specifically the City of Virginia Beach. More specifically, it is not appropriate to treat the requirement for natural conveyance systems (ravines, ditches and streams), which receive storm water from a development or project, the same as natural conveyance systems that are tidally effected, which are what we primarily have as our conveyance systems.
To that end, we have engaged DEQ for the past several years to discuss this issue and, while DEQ has not revised the regulations as of yet, we feel that our conversations have been good and we are moving in that direction. This is further evidenced in the 2016 DEQ Report, "Application of the Postdevelopment Stormwater Management Technical Criteria, as Established in the Virginia Stormwater Management Program Regulations, in Areas with a Seasonal High Groundwater Table (HJR 587, 2015)" in which the DEQ recommends a "Regional Methodology for Compliance with the VSMP", and specifically recommends working with the City of Virginia Beach to develop a program that meets the objectives of the water quantity and quality technical criteria of the VSMP. To further our cause and to promote better storm water management in the City of Virginia Beach, we have undertaken an extensive and costly Storm Water Master Planning, Analysis and Inventory Project which we have developed storm water models for all thirty-one (31) drainage basins in the City, using state of the art storm water model software. We are using results of the modeling to design City storm water projects and are providing model results to developers for their use in private development design. This effort is yielding designs that are much more resilient to flooding. Specific to the Veteran's Care Center, the major issues are the inadequacy of the proposed onsite system and the lack of an adequate system to collect drainage from adjacent developed residential lots. Attached is the memorandum we sent to DEQ on November 30, 2018, representing our comments of the last submittal, provide more detail. The adjacent property owners have recently experienced flooding events from more intense weather events. If the Veteran's Care Center is not designed properly, the flooding of the surrounding properties will be exacerbated and there will likely be impacts to the downstream system. We request that you relook at DEQ's approval and require the DYS to acknowledge our concerns regarding the tailwater elevations and revise their design to accommodate accordingly, so that a final project can be delivered that is acceptable to both the DVS and the City of Virginia Beach. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or comments. Attachments (2) C: Steven J. Combs, Deputy Commission, Virginia Department of Veterans Services Stan Kloss, P.E. Senior Project Manager, Department of General Services Erin Ervin Belt, Stormwater Plan Review, DEQ Office of Stormwater Management