2021 Elections: Information about the Virginia Beach flood mitigation bond referendum

BALLOT QUESTION TEXT

Ed. — Voters answer either yes or no to this:

Shall the City of Virginia Beach issue general obligation bonds in the maximum amount of $567,500,000 pursuant to the City Charter and the Public Finance Act to fund the design and construction of flood mitigation measures as part of a comprehensive citywide flood protection program that includes the following Phase 1 projects: Chubb Lake/Lake Bradford Outfall, Church Point/Thoroughgood Drainage Improvements, Central Resort District – 24th Street Culvert, Central Resort District Drainage Improvements, Eastern Shore Drive – Elevate Lynnhaven Drive, Eastern Shore Drive – Phase I, Section 1F Improvements, Eastern Shore Drive – Phase I, Section 1G Improvements, Eastern Shore Drive – Poinciana Pump Station, First Colonial Road & Oceana Boulevard Drainage Improvements, Princess Anne Plaza Golf Course Conversion, Princess Anne Plaza North London Bridge Creek Tide Gate, Barriers, and Pump Station, Pungo Ferry Road Improvements, Sandbridge/New Bridge Intersection Improvements, Seatack Neighborhood Drainage Improvements, Stormwater Green Infrastructure, The Lakes – Flood Barriers, The Lakes – Holland Road Gate, West Neck Creek Bridge Replacement, Windsor Woods – Thalia Creek/Lake Trashmore Improvements, Windsor Woods Flood Barriers, and Windsor Woods Pump Station? 

A RESOLUTION MAKING CERTAIN COMMITMENTS REGARDING THE COMPREHENSIVE FLOOD MITIGATION BOND REFERENDUM

Ed. — The following is the text of a resolution adopted by the City Council that makes commitments about funding related to the referendum.

Whereas, changing weather patterns and sea level rise as validated by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA 2020), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Sea Level Wise Adaptation Study have demonstrated that the in-place drainage capacity, even in like new condition is: (i) severely inadequate to protect the city from structures being flooded on a city-wide basis; (ii) insufficient to preclude the future downgrade of the City’s bond rating based on economic loss of even [a] single one-hundred-year flooding event and recovery time; and (iii) the path to stagnant economic growth as investors pass us by;

Whereas, the Sea Level Wise Adaptation Study and the City’s modeling of four watersheds and 15 drainage basins have validated the drainage capacity required to discharge the water of a one-hundred year storm event (a storm event with a 1% annual exceedance probability) to prevent flooding of homes and businesses accounting for 1.5 feet of sea level rise and a high tide of 2.3 feet over mean average high tide of 1.8; 

Whereas, the City staff has sufficiently scoped out the engineering material solution for a referendum quality cost estimate for eliminating the backlog in maintenance of legacy ponds, ditches, and canals and the installation of 21 named projects on the bond referendum question; 

Whereas, at the end of the ten-year period in 2032, eight percent of the City will qualify for preferred FEMA flood insurance risk due to completion of the twenty-one named projects in the bond referendum question and elimination of the backlog in the maintenance of the City’s legacy ditches, canals, and ponds;

Whereas, at the ten-year build out, Phase Two will commence to achieve Virginia Beach high and dry in 2045;

Whereas, meeting the existential threat of flooding will improve the quality of life for residents, and a competitive advantage for a growing economy will be sustained; and

Whereas, the City Council previously directed the City Manager to create a dedicated webpage on the City’s website that includes each of the Phase 1 projects and the progress – by dollar amount spent and by milestone achieved – toward completion of such projects and to provide quarterly reports to the City Council providing updates regarding the execution of the projects if the referendum question is answered in the affirmative; 

Now, therefore, be it resolved by the City Council of the City of Virginia Beach, Virginia, that:

The City Council urges the residents to carefully consider the issue of flood mitigation and plan to vote in November.  To assist in the residents’ deliberations, the City Council makes the following commitments, which with the exception of #4, will be delivered within three weeks if the residents approve the referendum question in November:

1. The City Council will adopt a comprehensive financial plan to pay for the authorized $567,500,000 of general obligation debt, which will include the following: (a) The authorized debt to be repaid by a real estate tax increase of 4.3 cents for twenty-year debt based on an average annual increase of three percent in the City’s taxable real estate based on the 1 July 2021 land book. (b) The financial plan shall create a single appropriation unit into which all bond proceeds are deposited and a single appropriation unit into which all revenue derived from the increase in real estate taxes are deposited. Such fund shall provide all deposit and withdrawal infomation with sufficient granularity for oversight by the City Council and the Citizen Oversight Board. (c)  In furtherance of the long-term flood mitigation needs of the City, the general obligation bonding capacity created by the retirement of the debt authorized by the November 2021 referendum shall be reserved exclusively for the issuance of bonds to finance Phase 2 of the City’s flood mitigation program and subsquent sea level rise projects.
2. The establishment of a Citizen Oversight Board composed of seven members that shall have access to all financial, contract documents, acceptance and deliverable testing and certifications documentation, and shall receive a monthly briefing from the City Manager, Quality Assurance Officer, and the Contractor’s program manager and quality assurance officer and shall give a public brief to the City Council every two months on the twenty-one named projects in the bond referendum question and the elimination of the backlog in the maintenance of the City’s legacy ditches, canals, and ponds.
3. An amendment to the City’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan that will recommend denial for any project or development that generates a net increase in water discharge demand in any watershed or in any drainage system in watershed over the capacity of net of margin to meet the modeled discharge baseline of the drainage system at build-out, and further requiring the Planning Department to recommend denial of any submission that does not conform to the former.
4. The City Manager is to develop and present to the City Council an acquisition strategy that seeks to streamline and expedite design and construction of the twenty-one flood mitigation projects, including using a single prime contractor, watershed bundling, and project bundling.  The City Manager is to also acquire a separate contractor bonded to conduct quality assurance and recommend deliverable acceptance.
5. The City Attorney shall prepare an ordinance that freezes the Stormwater management fee through 2028.

Be it further resolved, that: 

1. The City Council is in agreement that the following reflects the course of action to be pursued if the November referendum is answered in the negative:
2. The City will prioritize funding to eliminate the backlog in the maintenance of ponds, ditches, and canals and sustaining the required maintenance cycles;
3. The City will continue the planned increases in the Stormwater management fee and issuance of revenue bonds for stormwater projects, such fees to be increased as necessary to support the authorized projects and additional bond costs associating with revenue bonds;
4. While flood risk remains, the Phase 1 projects will be pursued over the following forty years, and the perils and risks associated with this timeline include severe weather events, increased flood insurance premiums, companies locating and relocating elsewhere, potential reduction in the City’s bond rating, and home values adjusted to reflect the cost of flood insurance; 
5. The work associated with the Phase 1 projects will increase over time as cost of construction increases, and the borrowing costs may not be as favorable as today; and
6. Rainfall events will continue to happen during the longer forty-year delivery schedule for the Phase 1 projects with the probable outcome of flooding to homes and businesses.

Adopted by the Council of the City of Virginia Beach, Virginia, on the 7th day of September, 2021.

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