Ed. — From the Sunday, Dec. 17, print edition.
VIRGINIA BEACH — My thinking was naive, maybe misguided when I moved here. I expect others who chose southern Virginia Beach may have felt the same.
The Transition Area and Rural Area are unique parts of our city that are often misunderstood because they are south of the Green Line. It is a longtime urban services boundary, not the ultimate stopping point for development some believe it to be. Princess Anne, Sandbridge, New Bridge, Indian River and North Landing roads border the Transition Area. Development south of the Green Line within the Transition Area is meant to differ from development north. So is the much more limited development possible south of Indian River Road, the true remaining rural area of Virginia Beach.
Lower density and abundant open space are key features of the land-use policies that apply to the two areas. Development intensity within the Transition Area is intended to phase the suburban northern city into the rural south. Preservation policies in these areas are crucial to the city’s plans for sea level rise adaptation, stormwater management and strategic growth.
I did not know any of this in 2002 when my husband, Tom, and I began looking for a home for our growing family. All I knew was that I longed for a small-town feel and wide-open spaces. We chose a home in Court House Estates, on a cul-de-sac with little behind us but a new golf course and undeveloped fields. Nothing back there obstructed our views of green space and sky. That’s all we cared about then.
A few years passed before the ground started breaking behind us, making way for more West Neck villages. I recall looking out the boys’ windows upstairs and feeling my chest cracking like the dirt as the trees fell. What was happening back there and throughout the area suddenly mattered to us. I started paying attention to news articles lamenting the fragility of the Green Line and wondering what could be done in the face of such growth and, to some, “progress.”
We were a blended family with three young children. There wasn’t much time to get involved in city planning. The roads went in, the homes went up and life went on around us. When we sat outside on our back deck, all we could see beyond the fence were other people’s homes. It wasn’t the view I planned for when we bought our property. Ten years went by before we had the opportunity to find more space.
Ashville Park was in foreclosure when we moved here in 2011. The grass grew tall and untamed around the subdivision’s few existing homes. We loved the wildness of our first few months here.
Then, an orange rezoning sign caught my eye while jogging one morning. I had a sense of deja vu. This time, however, I was determined to get involved. I became a member of the Transition Area Committee and, eventually, served as the area’s representative on the Virginia Beach Planning Commission.
What I came to know through this work is critical to an understanding of this area. Most of the land around us is farmland, not promised open space. We can’t expect what we love about the area to stay that way forever. Although this reality may not offer comfort, the city’s Transition Area and Rural Area plans provide a purpose for everyone living here. We need to keep those policies strong and pay attention when city leaders deviate from policy.
Our farmers work the land for as long as they can. If we are lucky, they pass it to children and grandchildren, and the legacy of farming continues. The land may go up for sale if the legacy isn’t there or farming gets too expensive or physically costly.
It can be disheartening when fields that fill the eye become houses that block the view, happening all around us in Ashville Park, Munden Farms, Sherwood Lakes and Heritage Park. But these intended changes are why residents of the Transition Area or Rural Area must stay vigilant and work together to ensure that, if these farm fields go to development, it happens according to expected and painstakingly created plans.
Most of us live in homes built on former farmland. We are part of the comprehensive planning process for this area.
We may not own acres of open space or fields of plenty to pass to the next generation, but we can pledge to support the city’s preservation plans for this area and the rural land south of us.
This promise can be our legacy.
Learn more about the ongoing update to the city’s comprehensive plan online via planning.virginiabeach.gov/comp-plan.
The author is a former Virginia Beach Planning Commissioner and college professor. Reach her at leejogger@gmail.com.
Happy to see comments from someone who wants to limit unfettered growth into the rural areas of the city WHILE AT THE SAME TIME understanding their own home was once, fairly recently, wide open farmland. At least there is honesty in those seemingly conflicting positions.
I struggle with the density issue — especially the manner in which limited thinking affects it. For instance, people would rather see 300 homes spread over 150 acres than 300 condos spread over 15 acres. It boggles my mind how people consider the former a “win” and the latter “too much density.” If we are to protect open space, we must first understand there are tradeoffs. I much prefer the concept of vertical construction being superior to horizontal construction in this situation, provided that a similar mix of total open space to housing units remains. But even four story development gets derided by small minded council members and locals who literally think (quoting from a recent council meeting) “the navy jets will be crashing into those buildings” — oblivious to the fact that the trees are already taller than four, or even five+, story construction.
Build thoughtfully (master planned), vertically (the taller the better), densely (up to 2 units per acre across thousands of acres), and directly on the green line (adjacent to the existing roads themselves). But calculate the density as you would single family homes so that the preponderance of open acreage remains south of that last stretch of suburban development in VB. Thousands of acres and the rural way of life could be protected in this manner while still allowing for much needed homes and tax revenues.