Marlin Bay Project at Planning Commission

OPCL President Danny Murphy was one of 9 speakers at the June 10 Planning Commission meeting. There were 6 speakers against the project, 2 in favor and 1 neutral. Terry Browning owns the adjacent property and business: Browning’s Marine Sales. He spoke in favor of the project and noted that ownership of the property and business has changed since the first Marlin Bay Project. He spoke to correct speculation that his property might also soon be developed. He has bought out his brothers and owns both now outright and stated that his and his son will continue to operate the boat sales business.

The 6 speakers who oppose the project noted that there have been 57 letters of opposition to the project citing density, building height, potential environmental impacts, increased traffic and associated safety issues, overflow parking into surrounding neighborhoods, and potential flooding impacts.

President Danny Murphy’s statement:



“Good afternoon, Chairman Coston, Commissions and staff. My name is Danny Murphy, and I serve as the President of the Ocean Park Civic League.

I am here to formally state that the Civic League has chosen not to take an official position for or against the Shore Drive Area Condo project application. Over the past five years of my tenure, this site and adjacent parcels have been the focus of redevelopment projects. The Civic League and community have strongly opposed those previous plans, as some of you on this commission may recall. Our community remains divided on this proposal, as confirmed at our recent June meeting. We believe it is important to prioritize residents’ voices by stepping back and allowing them to present their individual perspectives directly to you.

According to our Bylaws, the Civic League’s mandate is to ‘inform residents of issues of neighborhood importance, to provide a forum for discussion of concerns, and to promote participation in public affairs,’ such as this hearing. We operate ‘for the mutual beneficial interests of the Ocean Park community’ and promote ‘safety, and natural resource stewardship for the protection of property values of Ocean Park so it may continue and flourish.’ As noted, redevelopment of these parcels has been discussed at numerous meetings (recap) and open houses. I would like to thank the City of Virginia Beach Planning Department, especially Deputy Director Carrie Bookholt and staff planner Marchelle Coleman, for dedicating an evening to educate our members on land use and redevelopment as it relates to this project. The Q&A portion was extremely valuable, and the city of VB should be proud of their representation.

I also thank the developer, McLeskey Assoc., for addressing past concerns, working to mitigate them where possible, and continuing to seek input throughout this process. They will likely outline their community outreach, pre-project meetings, concept reviews, and efforts to incorporate feedback from the Civic League and Bayfront Advisory Commission, including features such as the designated pet relief area. Their good-faith effort is evident.

Redevelopment is inevitable, necessary, and welcome. As the Civic League observes the future of Shore Drive, we respectfully ask that you evaluate this application within the context of the long-term vision Virginia Beach has adopted for the corridor. We emphasize that this project is unique and should not set a precedent for other nearby redevelopment proposals, several of which may soon arise. All projects must meet the standards of the Comprehensive Plan, the Shore Drive Overlay District, the Shore Drive Corridor Plan, and design guidelines. A wise councilman once told me these represent the contract with the city’s citizens.


There are concerns that many of us share, regardless of our position on the project. I ask that these concerns accompany your recommendation to the City Council, which will make the final decision.

  • Scale, density, and massing are significant, documented concerns. To reach nearly 24 units per acre, the applicant is requesting variances to reduce the required 30-foot setback on Clipper Bay Drive to 15 feet and lower step-down height 33 feet adjacent to existing townhomes. We ask the Commission to consider these requests carefully before granting approval.
  • Neighborhood character and corridor alignment. The key consideration is whether the project reflects Ocean Park’s identity as a historic coastal community and aligns with the City’s adopted corridor plan.
  • Parking and traffic. The trade-off between building height and ground-level parking is significant, and neighbors are concerned that resident and guest vehicles may spill onto Marlin Bay Drive and nearby streets. As for traffic, Shore Drive already exceeds its designed capacity. The Shore Drive Corridor Improvements (Phase IV) project is not scheduled to begin until 2032. Additionally, without proper light cycling, Marlin Bay Drive remains a significant concern as it serves as a main conduit for the area.
  • Stormwater Management and the Lynnhaven watershed. This section of the Bayfront is already vulnerable to flooding. Any new development must demonstrate that it will not increase runoff or drainage issues, nor hinder the potential need for the west Shore Drive Phase IV Stormwater Pump Station.
  • Pleasure House Point Natural Area. This property is adjacent to the city’s crown jewel, which the entire community values. With 52 new units, increased use of the area is inevitable. We request meaningful & thoughtful protection for the habitat and trails.
  • We respectfully request that, regardless of your recommendation, these concerns be included in the record and forwarded to Council, and that residents continue to have a full and fair opportunity to be heard.
  • Thank you for your time and your service.”

Link to the full Planning Commission Meeting June 10

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Shore Dr. Condo Project (Marlin Bay)

On Wednesday, June 10 the Planning Commission voted 9-1 ( and one abstention) to recommend approval of the project to the City Council. The project will be on the City Council Agenda in July for final action.

The applicant added two proffers prior to the May 21 BAC meeting in response to BAC Design Committee recommendations: addition of a Pet Relief Station and prohibiting ‘noxious’ or unwelcome uses of the commercial space: bars, nightclubs, vape shop. At the last minute before the Planning Commission Meeting on June 10, the application was further amended by the applicant to include more of the conditions that the Bayfront Advisory Commission attached to their qualified recommendation for approval.

The changes: the building height on Shore Drive was reduced by 10 ft and the strongly vertical design features were changed to be more horizontal as called for in the Shore Drive Design Guidelines.

The last condition of the BAC approval was for additional use of permeable materials on site and that is still under consideration by the applicant.

Here is the CoVB Planning Department Staff Report and a complete list of proffers (voluntary actions) by the applicant.

2026.06.10_PLN_13 & 14_Shore Drive Area Properties, LLCDownload

Proffer #1 : The Property shall be developed in substantial conformity with the conceptual site plan entitled “SHORE DRIVE  CONDOMINIUM PROJECT CONCEPTUAL SITE DEVELOPMENT PLAN”, prepared by Timmons Group dated May 12, 2026 (“Conceptual Site Plan”), which has been exhibited to the Virginia Beach City Council (“City Council”), is on file with the Virginia Beach Department of Planning & Community Development (“Planning Department”) and is included herein by this reference. Significant changes to the Conceptual Site Plan may be made to accommodate environmental, engineering, topographical or other development conditions or site/subdivision plan requirements as required by the law and/or regulations or in connection with a fully engineered site plan and subject to reasonable approval of the Director of the Planning Department. 

Proffer #2 : The architectural design, appearance and exterior building materials of the building to be built on the Property shall be substantially compatible with the architectural design, appearance and exterior building materials depicted on the building renderings entitled “SHORE DRIVE CONDOMINIUM PROJECT CONCEPTUAL RENDERINGS”, dated December 19, 2025, prepared by Cox, Kliewer & Company, P.C. and the building elevations entitled “SHORE DRIVE CONDOMINIUM PROJECT MATERIAL SAMPLE ELEVATION”, dated January 28, 2026, prepared by Cox, Kliewer & Company, P.C., which have been exhibited to City Council, are on file with the Planning Department and are included herein by this reference. 

Proffer #3 : The Property shall be landscaped in substantial conformity with the conceptual landscape plan entitled “SHORE DRIVE CONDOMINIUM PROJECT CONCEPTUAL LANDSCAPE PLAN” prepared by Timmons Group dated May 12, 2026 (“Landscape Plan”), which has been exhibited to City Council, is on file with the Planning Department and is included herein by this reference. Significant changes to the Landscape Plan may be made to accommodate environmental, engineering, topographical or other development conditions or site/subdivision plan requirements as required by the law and/or regulations or in connection with a fully engineered site plan and subject to reasonable approval of the Director of the Planning Department. 

Proffer #4 : All lighting on the Property shall be limited to that necessary for security purposes and to comply with applicable laws and shall be shielded to prevent glare and spillover onto adjacent properties. 

Proffer #5 : All onsite signage shall meet the requirements of the City Zoning Ordinance, unless otherwise approved by the Board of Zoning Appeals. The proposed sign package will be submitted to the Zoning Administrator for review and approval prior to the issuance of a sign permit. 

Proffer #6: A designated pet relief area will be provided on the Property for residents. 

Proffer #7 : Prior to final site plan approval, GRANTOR will convey to GRANTEE a public access easement for portions of the multi-use trail along Shore Drive that are located outside the existing public right-of-way. 

Proffer #8 : The following uses will be prohibited on the Property whether by right or with a conditional use permit: bars and nightclubs; liquor stores and the sale of vape products. 

Proffer #9 : The Effective Date of this Agreement shall be the date this Agreement is approved by City Council; provided, however, in the event that this proposed amendment to the Zoning Map with respect to the Property is overturned by subsequent judicial determination, this Agreement shall be null and void. 

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Why are 🎆Fireworks💥on July 6th?

There are so many steps, factors and regulations that affect the Bayfront fireworks show- and this year is especially impacted ! Jill Doczi, Fireworks organizer explains:

You can’t just use any barge. It has to be a certain-sized, oceangoing barge with a certain kind of edge around it and certain features. As has been the issue the past few years, there are major, multi-year projects on the HRBT and the CBBT utilizing those types of barges, and the cost to get those to unload all their equipment, suspend their scheduled work and move from their locations for three days would be unthinkable. ADDITIONALLY, this year poses the issue of availability on a huge nationwide anniversary — the 250th.

When there is a shortage of barges, you work with what you have. What we have is a barge being used already on July 4 that we are lucky to share.

Keep in mind, this is only the logistics of the barge. We also need to have an available tug and staff, the city services must be available on a busy holiday. VB fire marshal must be on site the entire time in Chesapeake while the barge and explosives are there, then on site here on our beach while the barge is here. A pyrotechnic crew, each of which has to be highly vetted far ahead of time by multiple security agencies, is dedicated to our show. It IS essentially a giant bomb that floats past vital shipyards, Little Creek Amphib Base and over major tunnel-bridges like HRBT and CBBT, so the people involved can’t just be found on the street to work for a day gig. They must have multiple permits at the federal and state level as well as longshoreman insurance.

The fire marshal’s department is busy July 4, so they’re stretched thin, and we were told it wasn’t an option to get a permit from fire for July 4. We also have to have a plan in place with a city special events person, beach police, traffic control, maritime police and Coast Guard to be on site for our show. They are stretched thin on July 4 as well.

So, the city show will load for days before July 4 and leave Chesapeake that morning. They will shoot at night and head back arriving very early July 5 to Chesapeake. They and the fire marshal get to sleep a bit and start loading our show on July 5. They will leave early afternoon on July 6 to arrive in the bay for our show.

While we were told by fire marshal that July 4 was out of the question, he did say July 2 was a possibility, and we did explore that.

If we wanted to shoot on July 2, the crew would have to be an independent second crew, and our show would absorb the cost of the second crew, their permit fees, their travel, hotel, per diem, lodging, insurance, etc. If you’ve ever worked in maritime, insurance for Jones Act and workers comp per person is crazy. We would also absorb the cost of a separate barge and tug on our own. The cost for the same show, but on July 2, was $21,000 extra. We still very much considered it.

The final hurdle: This is a huge year for July Fourth fireworks (250th), and that added to barge availability issues. We seriously explored July 2, and in the end, a barge couldn’t be secured. There are no extra barges floating around the East Coast. D.C. alone will use eight barges for the federal 250th celebration on the Potomac.

In the end, rather than have nothing on this once-in-a-lifetime milestone celebration, we chose to close out the weekend by celebrating 1776 on 7/6 with a bang!

Why can’t we just have it on the beach and get rid of about half those issues?

  1. We aren’t allowed to close off a large area of the public beach for the entire holiday weekend to prepare, load and have a show on the sand. Can you imagine how upset people would be if we had to block off our beach across multiple accesses? But that doesn’t matter anyway because of the next answer.
  2. After the Ocracoke fireworks explosion in July 2009 that killed and injured multiple people, safety rules tightened up everywhere. You can only load shows that are far enough away from people and structures to keep them from harm. So, we can’t trot giant 8-foot-diameter explosives down the beach paths all day with houses 16 feet on either side and people using the already full beach on a holiday. We also couldn’t place explosives with the capability of flying 800 feet sideways within 250 feet (roughly the distance from a house to the high tide line) of houses and people.
  3. Side note: This is also why it has to load in at an industrial dock in Chesapeake. Imagine the fire power of an entire truck full of hundreds of shells and what that could do to a block of houses on Jefferson or Sandy Bay, or even the boat ramp. It would never be permitted by the fire marshal. Don’t think we didn’t ask though. Immediate answer: “Absolutely not.”
  4. There are SOME shows that can shoot from land, but, they must have a safety perimeter that meets the requirements. For instance, a 2-inch shell can fly roughly 200 feet in any direction, including sideways. So, if you want to load a show with 2-inch shells or smaller, there have to be no buildings or people within 200 feet of the loading area or the show. That also means the fireworks are lower and harder to see by a wide crowd because they only explode at 200 feet in the air. A 3–inch shell needs 300 feet of load-in and crowd-viewing perimeter, etc. The little ones that look like they’re exploding right above the barge deck are 2-inch shells. Our show uses up to 8-inch shells, so the whole beach gets a good view. The barge is so far out to get the necessary 800 to 1,000 feet of safety perimeter. That’s why Coast Guard and marine police are required to secure that perimeter. If an 8-inch shell got loose and shot sideways, it won’t hit anyone on the beach.

Why is it okay to shoot fireworks at a stadium on land? The stadium viewing area is a few hundred yards. Our viewing area is three miles long. The small fireworks permitted for safety at a stadium or a small venue would look like sparklers to our audience. To meet safety requirements to load a show in and shoot on our beach, we’d be talking about some guys with bottle rockets, which would be a sad, sad show.

https://my.cheddarup.com/c/please-donate-to-ocean-park-civic-league-s-fireworksjuly-3-2

Therefore, rather than have nothing, we will celebrate 1776 on 7/6!

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June Meeting

The OPCL meetings will be at the CBF Brock Center in July, August and September. We thank them for their generous support of the civic league! Meetings will return to OPVRS in October.

Highlights of the June 4th Meeting at the CBF Brock Center

  • Susan Berman relayed information about a composting program that is an initiative by the Thorougood Elementary School (where our Ocean Park children attend) parents. Participation earns referral credits that directly support the school’s composting program. The program offers doorstep residential pick up. For more information contact Susan Berman or go to tidewatercompost.com .
  • Betty Dierstein announced the 2026 Scholarship winners.
  • President Danny Murphy had a number of updates including the LBR signs coming online on Shore Dr. and the Shore Drive Condo Planning Staff Report see slides below.
  • Councilman Joash Schulman had an update about the sidewalks. A few areas have some issues to work through so the sidewalks are coming in somewhat piecemeal so issues don’t delay this interim pedestrian improvement which is meant to improve pedestrian safety until Shore Drive Phase IV happens.
  • Jill Doczi, Virginia Dept. of Wildlife certified rehabber, gave a talk on what the process has been to protect turtles at the Pleasure House Point Wetlands Mitigation project.
  • Thank you to Kristi Weaver for providing refreshments!
2026 June General MeetingDownload
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🔦Spotlight: 🐢Turtles 🐢!

At the June OPCL meeting, we learned some interesting facts from Jill Doczi about Diamondback turtles at Pleasure House Point! Jill is a Dept of Wildlife Rehabber and volunteered to be on call in case the PHP Wetlands construction project encountered any turtles or eggs. The construction workers on the project were all in to help. They extended the turtle exclusion barriers so turtles would not enter the area to lay their eggs and when a clutch of 13 eggs was unearthed, they contacted Jill and they were able to retrieve the eggs. Six eggs of the eggs hatched! Jill has been caring for them and they will be released soon at PHP. In gratitude for the many actions of the construction team for their help throughout the project, the turtles were named for them!

Interesting Facts!

  • Diamondback Turtles live their whole lives in the water. They come on land only to lay eggs.
  • The new wetlands will provide a large area of the marsh habitat that diamondback turtles thrive in .
  • These turtles are able to live in brackish water because they can regulate their sodium levels through a gland (lachrymal salt glands) that allows them to excrete sodium through their tears!
  • Greatest predation problem for the turtles is dogs off leash.
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🎆Fireworks? What Fireworks!

From our fireworks Wizard- Jill Doczi: “We don’t have no black cats, no Roman candles, or screaming Mimi’s. We’ve got no lady fingers, fuzz buttles, snicker bombs, church burners, finger blasters, gut busters, zippity do das or crap flappers? I’m telling you we don’t have no whistlin’ bungholes, no spleen splitters, whisker biscuits, honkey lighters, hoosker doos, hoosker don’ts, cherry bombs, nipsy daisers, with or without the scooter stick, or one single whistlin’ kitty chaser.

We have

3 inch shells
4 inch shells
5 inch shells
6 inch shells
8 inch shells

because this isn’t snakes and sparklers.
This is a REAL show.

If you were having friends and family over on the Fourth and went to South of the Border to get some illegal fireworks like those mentioned above, your time, gas and product would cost more than $25. Look at the value you’re getting — plus you won’t set your cul de sac on fire or lose a finger! This only happens because of individual donations. If every household in Ocean Park donated $25 we’d have more than enough. BARGAIN”. Please donate!

July 6th, Monday 9:15

Photo Credit Chris Giersch
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2026 🎓Scholarships!

At the June OPCL meeting, Betty Dierstein, Chair of the Scholarship Committee, announced the recipients of the 2026 Scholarships that are awarded by the Ocean Park Civic League and thanked the Scholarship Committee for their work in evaluating the applications and selecting the winners. “A big thank you to Blair Valdivieso and Natalie McIntyre for their time and insights in making these selections.  Applications average 8-10 pages in length and include any number of deserving students.  I appreciate the time spent reading, evaluating, and discussing each applicant’s application.”  

LYON FAMILY SCHOLARSHIP

(privately funded by the Lyon Family)

We are pleased to announce the recipient of the Lyon Family Scholarship for the 2026-27 school year is Kira Bonfiglio.  Kira is graduating from the Legal Studies Academy at First Colonial High School with a GPA of 4.48 and will be attending the University of Virginia in the fall.  The Lyon Family Scholarship has a particular emphasis on volunteering. Kira is a three-sport athlete who volunteered for almost 400 hours at several organizations including the Legal Aid Society where she spent much of her time working with two children experiencing homelessness after being in foster care for over a year.  Kira plans to complete a degree in political science and continue to law school to pursue a career in public interest law. Her recommendation letters describe her as highly organized, able to work collaboratively, diligent in her studies, and very caring about those around her.   

LOUISE AND GEORGE LYON MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP

(the Ocean Park Civic League legacy scholarship)

We are pleased to announce the recipient of the Louise and George Lyon Memorial Scholarship is Sophia Bolivar.  Sophia is graduating from Bayside High School with a 3.8 GPA and will be attending the Virginia Beach Technical and Career Education Center in the fall to complete the nursing assistant program.  She will then continue to Tidewater Community College’s LPN program and then to Old Dominion University with the ultimate goal of becoming a Registered Nurse.   Her volunteer activities were varied and included work with AVID where she was the main organizer of an AVID Club.  AVID: Advancement Via Individual Determination.  The AVID program helps students bridge gaps between their aspirations and their readiness for college and careers.  One of her recommendation letters highlighted that she is a great student, a valuable contributor to everything she involves herself in, and contributed to the school and community at large in so many ways.    

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