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Norfolk officials signal changes are necessary for floodwall to move forward
Norfolk officials sat down for an interview last week to discuss a sensitive subject: a request by Virginia Beach developer Bruce Thompson to alter the proposed alignment of a floodwall so his firm could move forward with a “transformative” waterfront development of hotels, residences, restaurants and an innovation corridor in concert with Sentara and the […]
Insurance payments to repeatedly flooding Va. properties continue to rise
When it comes to protecting against flooding, the National Flood Insurance Program is increasingly underwater in Virginia, especially in Hampton Roads. A new analysis and online tool created by the Natural Resources Defense Council reveals that nearly 7,000 Virginia properties had repeated claims for flood damage over 10 years. And the program, administered by the […]
Norfolk moves forward with long-delayed casino project
Norfolk’s City Council on Tuesday voted to move forward with a new developer for a long-delayed riverfront casino project dramatically smaller than the proposal floated when voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum in 2020. Jon Yarbrough, the Tennessee billionaire who promised a resort with a soaring 10-story glass hotel tower, casino, marina, and restaurants five years […]
Norfolk hits obstacles implementing storm risk protection
On a mid-July evening, condominium owners in Norfolk’s historic Freemason district met to organize against what they saw as a threat to their property values and the enjoyment of the waterfront: a planned floodwall, 11 feet or more high, running through their neighborhood. They’d been blindsided a month earlier when a resident invited Kyle Spencer, […]
To transform trash into treasure, a modern tech company turns to an ancient recipe
In 2022, RISE, the Norfolk-based nonprofit that creates challenges seeking innovative solutions to the climate crisis, issued a call for new approaches to dealing with mud, the spoils of dredging. Virginia’s Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission and the Eastern Shore had $20 million in ready projects, the challenge noted, which would yield an enormous amount […]
A proposed Army Corps change could affect hundreds of billions in federal funding
As Norfolk’s $2.66 billion storm risk plan moved toward approval by the City Council last spring, residents of the city’s poorer, Black neighborhoods on the Southside grew heated when they learned wealthier neighborhoods would get protective floodwalls, but they would only get natural solutions like grasses and oyster reefs. The reason was simple: The analysis […]
In Norfolk, an environmental headquarters plans to live with the water, then surrender to reality
For Marjorie Mayfield-Jackson of Norfolk’s Elizabeth River Project, signing a groundbreaking agreement to tear down the organization’s new $9 million headquarters when waters rise too high was bittersweet. “It’s hard to not even have had the grand opening yet and we’re talking about celebrating taking it down,” she said. When, decades from now, time and […]
Norfolk City Council OKs controversial military-themed brewery
After months of divisive discussion about whether a military-themed brewing company with an in-your-face marketing campaign was a good fit for Norfolk, the City Council decided Tuesday night the only question was whether one brewery could replace another at the site. After hearing from speakers for nearly 90 minutes, the council voted 6-1 to approve […]
A military-themed brewery sparks a fight in a Virginia military city
NORFOLK — Alan Beal, the chief executive of the fledgling Armed Forces Brewing Company, was scouting locations in Florida to buy a brewery in January when he got a call from Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin. “The governor let me know that Virginia would love to have us relocate and open a brewing facility and employ […]
After 15-year gap and political pressure, Hampton Roads Ventures pledges Norfolk investment
A for-profit subsidiary of the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority that hasn’t invested in Norfolk for 15 years pledged last month to back a shopping center with a grocery store, potentially eliminating a food desert adjacent to two public housing communities. The $3.5 million investment by Hampton Roads Ventures would help finance the $10 million […]
Violent crime in Norfolk is up. The jury is still out on why — and what to do about it.
In March of 2021, a Norfolk prosecutor who had recently retired after 27 years wrote to City Council, the police chief and the city manager urging them to cast aside what he called a “malaise” and explore changes to combat the city’s longstanding violent crime problem. “Violent crime has been a constant over the last […]
How Norfolk’s progressive prosecutor ended up in the crosshairs of debate over rising crime
When Norfolk officials held a September press conference following a night in which three people were killed and 11 others injured, Mayor Kenneth Alexander, City Manager Larry “Chip” Filer, Interim Police Chief Michael Goldsmith and Sheriff Joe Baron spoke. Conspicuously missing was Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi, who had not been invited. Alexander did not mention […]