Ed. — The story was updated on Sunday, Oct. 15, to make it clearer in one part of the story that the proposed living units are not within the Interfacility Traffic Area.
VIRGINIA BEACH — The Navy has reviewed and has no issues with a plan to build apartments on a property partially within an overlay district meant to prevent development from encroaching on Naval Air Station Oceana, according to the commanding officer of the jet base.
U.S. Navy Capt. Steve Djunaedi, Oceana’s commanding officer, on Tuesday, Oct. 10, wrote a letter to Mayor Bobby Dyer to address concerns about the Silo at Southern Pine project, which has drawn some criticism because it is on land that is partially within an overlay area called the Interfacility Traffic Area meant to ensure compatible development around Oceana.
City and Oceana personnel reviewed the project in its current form, Djunaedi wrote, and the 176 multifamily units proposed for 6.26 acres near the Virginia Beach Municipal Center do not include units in an area of the property that is within the ITA.
“I therefore have no objections to this application,” the commanding officer wrote, adding that it would not violate the zoning rules meant to protect Oceana.
An initial rezoning request that was meant to clear the way for the development made it all the way through the Planning Commission before officials realized there was housing within the ITA and the Navy had not weighed in on the plan.
The Franklin Johnston Group, which is developing the project, redesigned and resubmitted its plans, which are scheduled to be heard by the Planning Commission today and the City Council next week.
And, this time, the city consulted the Navy.
Some criticism of the project has been that it might set a precedent for other development in the ITA, in which dense housing is not allowed.
City Councilmember Barbara Henley, whose District 2 seat includes the area being developed, has warned about precedents and wants a study of how to deal with properties partially within the ITA. An advisory committee that looks at projects in that area has strongly opposed approving the rezoning request in both versions.
However, the letter by Djunaedi makes it clear that the Navy is not concerned. What seems to matter is that, in this version of the proposal, the apartments are not within the ITA.
The captain also did not take a position on the density of the project, which some opponents have criticized, or its use of the portion of the land in question within the ITA as part of the overall project’s density. He wrote that “what these density elements are and how they are interpreted and applied are solely the business of the city of Virginia Beach.”
Further, he added that the Navy-city relationship is intact.
“Lastly, please allow me to reassure anyone who believes this application endangers NAS Oceana or the U.S. Navy’s relationship with the city of Virginia Beach,” he wrote.
Mayor Bobby Dyer said during an interview this morning that affordable housing is a priority for both the city and the Navy, and officials from Oceana and the city have reviewed the project together.
“It’s always been my policy and the council policy to bring the Navy into the loop,” Dyer said. “I would never do anything to jeopardize our relationship with the Navy.”
Djunaedi wrote that he penned the letter after City Manager Patrick Duhaney asked him to state the Navy position on the project.
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