Dear Editor: My opponent in the Princess Anne District, City Councilmember Barbara Henley, helped create and voted for the agriculture reserve program, or ARP, in 1995. Many years later in 2013, as a sitting member of the Virginia Beach City… Continue Reading
BY SCOTT MORRIS PLEASANT RIDGE — I am a 12th-generation farmer of land in the Pungo area, and I would like for my son to have the option of being the 13th. We sat at the Virginia Beach Excellence in Agriculture… Continue Reading
Ed. — Virginia Beach Agriculture Advisory Commission Chairperson Diane Horsley and fellow members of the commission signed the following letter to Mayor Will Sessoms and members of the City Council on Monday, April 9, in opposition to a Friday, March 23,… Continue Reading
Dear Editor: Virginia Beach City Manager Dave Hansen believes that the agricultural reserve program, or ARP, is no longer needed. That statement in itself should set off flares. Remember that City Councilmember Barbara Henley, who represents the Princess Anne District,… Continue Reading
The author, the former Comprehensive Planning Coordinator in Virginia Beach, argues that preserving the Virginia Beach Agricultural Reserve Program within the proposed operating budget and capital improvement plan is consistent with the city’s Comprehensive Plan. BY JERYL ROSE PHILLIPS VIRGINIA… Continue Reading
Dear Editor: In 2011, I put a “for sale” sign in my yard in Courthouse Estates, and my husband and I began looking for a place with a bit more space around us. We took long drives out to the Virginia… Continue Reading
Ed. — The following includes most of the letter Virginia Beach City Manager Dave Hansen wrote to Mayor Will Sessoms and members of the Virginia Beach City Council on Friday, March 23. It has been edited for style and clarity,… Continue Reading
Dear Editor: I grew up in Pungo at Vaughan Farms, and I now live in Massachusetts. It baffles me that here in Massachusetts, where people think “city,” municipalities actively seek to purchase open land and green space from citizens to… Continue Reading
BY BARBARA HENLEY VIRGINIA BEACH — We’ve come to take our agricultural reserve program for granted. Time has passed and there has been a lot of turnover of people, so the value of it is not fully understood. Our ARP was… Continue Reading
BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE COURTHOUSE – Virginia Beach City Manager Dave Hansen wants to end the agricultural reserve program, which buys development rights so farmers can continue to work their land, and put that money toward flooding. The ARP, as it… Continue Reading