Advertisement
Virginia Beach
Virginia Beach

Virginia Beach is losing hundreds of Oceanfront parking spots during surf park construction, so city is looking for more

The Virginian-Pilot
•
Virginia Beach City Council will consider using the convention center parking lots for public beach parking while the new Atlantic Park project is under construction.

Virginia Beach City Council will consider using the convention center parking lots for public beach parking while the new Atlantic Park project is under construction. (Stephen M. Katz)

VIRGINIA BEACH — Two large parking lots at the Oceanfront will soon become a construction site for a new surf park, leaving visitors who travel to the beach by car with fewer options.

So the city is working on a plan to provide more public parking for beachgoers, but the spaces will be farther away from the resort area.

Advertisement

The developers of Atlantic Park are close to securing financing and will break ground on the project soon, Deputy City Manager Taylor Adams told the City Council at a meeting last Tuesday.

“As soon as that happens, the 538 parking spaces that make up the dome site as it currently sits will no longer be available to the public,” he said.

Advertisement

While there are other public lots and garages in the resort area, the spaces lost during construction of Atlantic Park will need to be replaced to keep drivers from parking in the surrounding residential neighborhoods, Adams said.

Virginia Beach Today

Weekdays
The stories everyone is talking about, from the Oceanfront to Town Center.

He asked the City Council if it would support public parking in the lots of the convention center and the sports center, approximately eight blocks from the beach. There are three lots available with 2,385 spaces.

Availability would be adjusted to accommodate guests of events held at the facilities. Trolleys and free shuttles could be used to take people to the beach, Adams said.

He suggested conveying the lots to the Virginia Beach Development Authority, which controls and operates most of the public parking options that charge fees at the Oceanfront.

Councilman John Moss asked if the City Council could instead lease the lots to the authority for a limited amount of time to maintain control over the land in the future.

City Manager Patrick Duhaney agreed that could work. He plans to bring it back to the City Council for a vote soon.

Councilman Linwood Branch asked Duhaney to free up more spaces in the resort area by changing the zoning law on permits for temporary parking lots, which currently expire after one year. A popular lot on 31st Street and Atlantic Avenue, next to the King Neptune statue, sat empty last summer, when the city wouldn’t extend the owner’s permit.

Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com

Advertisement