Ed. — From the Sunday, Aug. 27, print edition.
Dear Editor:
In the Sunday, Aug. 13, edition, you covered the 15 Transition Area neighborhoods, including our community of the Villages at West Neck, that have gone on record in opposition to the possible development of the former Signature at West Neck golf course. At the end of the article, the president of the company with an option to develop the property made several statements which we take exception to and are not supported by the facts.
The potential developer states his development “would neither spoil the transition area nor create a precedent for more intense residential development” and list items to support his position which are pure spin. For instance, stating that his development’s density “would be 0.75 homes per acre” omits the fact that all the developable golf course property was originally included – meaning, it was already counted – as part of all the other developable acres incorporated in the approved West Neck site plan.
He further states his development plan “features open spaces and natural resources that protect the character of the transition area” without any mention of the destruction of the character of the present communities near the former course. The approval by the City Council on May 11, 1999, of a golf course intertwined within the Villages at West Neck was a “package deal” relied upon by purchasing homeowners from day one. There is no mention either of their loss of community character – a golf course community – or the loss to the greater Virginia Beach community if the approved “high-end amenity” is forever lost.
Additionally, the developer discusses “open land around opposing neighborhoods” as required open space for the homeowner associations. Once again, this is more spin.
The issue is the vacant land abutting neighborhoods and other lots within the Transition Area that would be up for increased density development if the current zoning rules in this section of our city were lost or modified.
Finally, the idea that City Council approval of a rezoning to allow his proposed development would not set a precedent is simply not true. Zoning case law is filled with instances wherein municipalities have modified or changed their established rules for one developer – in this case, counting acreage that has already been used in the original approval process – and have then lost their ability to further enforce their established rules on others.
It is this issue alone that is of upmost concern to all the Transition Area homeowners associations, their residents and all who have a stake in maintaining Virginia Beach’s stated Comprehensive Plan vision and orderly growth of this unique buffer between the urban and agricultural areas of our great city.
— Tom Luckman, West Neck
Ed. — The author is the vice president of the West Neck Community Association, Inc.
© 2023 Pungo Publishing Co., LLC
Perhaps your readers would be better served if you looked deeper into the stuff you are reprinting from Luckman. He’s somewhat of a loose cannon on the West Neck board.
NO survey of the homeowners has been conducted with respect to the proposed Signature Meadows. Nobody, including Luckman and me, really knows how the homeowners here actually feel about the development. We simply don’t have enough information to make an informed decision.
Luckman is an avid golpher. Golf course or nothing!
Do your readers a favor and dig deeper. You just may discover you are not really serving them as you should
Dear Editor,
In a recent article and Letter to the Editor, the Princess Anne Independent News featured a member of the Villages at West Neck Board of Directors who expressed deep concern and worry about a “slippery slope,” and he wants everyone in the Virginia Beach Transition area to be worried too.
A slippery slope fallacy occurs when a person asserts that a relatively small step will lead to a chain of events that result in a drastic change or a negative outcome. It is a rhetorical device to instill fear or other negative emotions, though there is no proof that the expected consequences will ever happen.
These fears were presented as fact, but are they? Let’s see:
• No one has seen the plans for Signature Meadows apart from a recent video that was posted on YouTube. The Board does not offer any specifics to support their fears that the proposed development will “destroy” the character of the Villages at West Neck.
• We are not a golf course community. West Neck is a community that was surrounded by a golf course and is now surrounded by a former golf course. Residents were never allowed to walk or ride on the golf course pathways and were never required to pay a membership fee. As for losing a “high-end” amenity, even the Board must admit that the glory days of the Signature Golf Course were over long before it closed.
• The Transition Area Advisory Committee, the Planning Commission and the Virginia Beach City Council have all reviewed and approved residential development within the Transition Area with densities above the level prescribed in the Transition Area Design Guidelines. In fact, District 2 Council Member Barbara Henley recently approved the Kellam project known as Princess Anne Village with 2.5 units per acre in the Transition Area.
• Rezoning changes take place every two weeks in the City of Virginia Beach. Zoning changes are not precedent setting but are usually approved for “conditional use” and only apply to the requested rezoning. Any rezoning is done on a case-by-case basis and is not the feared slippery slope that opens the city to litigation.
• There have been many Transition Area/Interfacility Traffic Area projects that have been considered and thoughtfully reviewed by city staff and council. The Transition Area Design Guidelines are GUIDELINES and allow for future development and the exercising of property owner rights within the Transition Area. Development is not a slippery slope but part of the design guidelines for the Transition Area.
As a community, let’s be open-minded regarding Signature Meadows and not listen to the unsubstantiated fears of others. If they have specific and documented examples to support their claims, let’s see them. Otherwise, let’s focus on the facts.
John Shumate
The Villages at West Neck