There are 460 paved parking spaces at Buckroe Beach, according to the July 9 Daily Press. One of the highest parking counts for 2008 was over 1,000 cars. At that time, parking was allowed not only at the one B-block that is used in 2009 but also at the Mallory Street B-block.

A reasonable number for cars per acre would be about 125. To satisfy a 1,000-car demand, 4.32 acres of off-street parking would be needed in addition to the present paved parking. Even if 4.32 acres were set aside for parking, where would be the allowance for growth in demand that is evident this year and is certain to come in the future? The lifeguard count of beachgoers at Buckroe Beach for the first half of July 2009 was 33,000, compared to 34,000 for the entire month of July 2008 (according to the Daily Press Web site, July 17).

The plan that is implemented will not just for be 2005 or 2007, but for the decades to come and for future generations of citizens and visitors to Hampton’s Buckroe Beach. Developing this public property in Buckroe will deprive thousands of people of reasonable access to the best public beach on the Virginia Peninsula. As far as having people park on school property, a half mile or one mile away from the beachfront, would any of you want to park at a remote lot, wait, wait and wait some more, and then transfer all of the things that your family needs for a day at the beach to a bus or trolley?

Adrian Whitcomb

Newport News

http://www.dailypress.com/news/hampton/dp-local_buckroe_0630jun30,0,4024383.story

http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-local_squires_0702jul02,0,3383737.column

Former Hampton rivals unite over Buckroe Beach project

David Squires Urban Affairs
July 2, 2009

The city of Hampton’s old stodgy image is blowing away like sand on a hot summer beach.

The City Council passed a potentially controversial Buckroe Beach development project in a series of 6-1 votes, leaving in the wind the contentious 4-3 tallies of the past that were usually stained with racial politics.

Reaching such consensus on key matters was one of the stated goals of new Mayor Molly Joseph Ward in a meeting with two reporters earlier this year.

The Buckroe Beach project also brought together once-fierce rivals working in unison.

It puts together old-guard business people working in coordination with more recent business developers.

And now the city of Hampton is moving forward with a project that the entire Peninsula can be proud of — a plan that preserves, protects and improves Buckroe Beach as a public recreation area for local citizens, their children and beyond.

City officials met with residents Monday and offered assurances that the upcoming development of Buckroe would preserve the last significant public beach on the Peninsula.

The city approved a plan a couple of weeks ago to allow longtime local developer Tommy Thompson to develop a Parade of Homes near Mallory and Pembroke Avenues.

And in a separate 6-1 vote, the City Council also gave Norfolk developers Bruce Smith and William Fuller the go-ahead for a residential development of near equal size to Thompson’s on other land at Buckroe that had been designated for future residential development.

The plans kept intact two large parcels that the city has designated as green space for park land, insuring that Buckroe would keep a good deal of the charm it had in the days when much of the green space was a massive parking lot.

The selection of the Fuller-Smith team, former NFL players turned developers, was historic in that it is the first project of such magnitude offered to black developers. Fuller and Smith would also be the least likely builders to close public beach access. Their families have memories of visiting the Buckroe area since the days it existed adjacent to the segregated Bayshore Beach.

And make no mistake: The selection of Smith-Fuller was no minority set-aside. The Smith-Fuller team presented the most detailed plans of the three companies vying for the project, including architectural renderings and interior designs that the others did not offer.

On the other hand, Thompson has been a solid builder for 50 years, and the city knows he can put together a quality development.

Thus a master stroke — a plan that includes both developers.

Past councils might not have gotten beyond this point, and some observers were betting that this one would not either.

What makes this Hampton council different is these city leaders are not about to let five years of planning — including more than 31 public meetings — float away with a receding tide of resentment and sour grapes.

That’s why it was imperative for the city, the Buckroe Civic Association and others to meet on Monday to clear up confusion caused by a local green space group claiming their petition drive is to “save Buckroe Beach.”

That group seems to prefer the beach remain a giant grassy parking lot, but city officials made clear that is not feasible, not with looming concerns such as the closing of Fort Monroe and the loss of valuable tax dollars.

As the truth reaches the public, I doubt that referendum initiative has much of a chance of forcing a redo — even if it captures enough signatures.

The truth is, Buckroe Beach won’t become another Salt Ponds or Grandview Beach, where public beach access is essentially blocked by private residential development — unless you own a boat or helicopter.

By contrast, Buckroe has more than 500 parking spaces, and more might be added.

Any lingering doubt about where this council was headed was cut off on Monday by persuasive soliloquies from two impassioned council members.

George Wallace, the former Hampton city manager newly elected to the council last year, proposed having the city take the additional step of creating a special conservation designation for the park/recreation lots that would prevent a future homeowners association from gating off Buckroe Beach.

That suggestion brought a sigh of relief from those gathered.

At another point in the meeting, a hush came over those gathered when former Mayor Ross Kearney II, part of the city leadership that fired Wallace, stood up and declared that the Buckroe plan “didn’t look anything like” the plan he’d envisioned for Buckroe.

“But doggone it,” Kearney said, the current plan was developed by “the citizens of this community.”

And thus, it warranted his support — and the support of all.

Game. Set. Match.

Squires can be reached at 247-4639, via e-mail at dsquires@dailypress.com. Read his blog online at dailypress.com/urbanblog
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