Project that would put making on farmland diminishes, Virginia Beach might maintain land to its south

Farmer John Cromwell, president of Virginia Beach Farm Bureau, listens to a presentation about the Project Wayne proposal throughout a conference at the Creeds Ruritan Community Complex in Back Bay on Monday, May 15, 2023. The job could bring a sophisticated production commercial use to land that is now being farmed listed below Virginia Beach's Green Line.
BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE

BACK BAY-- Community concerns about Project Wayne, a financial advancement prospect which might change farmland utilized for grain production near Virginia Beach National Golf Course with a major sophisticated manufacturing operation, have actually caused a smaller proposal to rezone 150 acres vice 250.

And now there is a possibility that the City Council, should it pursue the possibility, could act to officially protect 100 or more acres south of the website for farming. This might deal with some of the issues that the task would be located listed below the city's Green Line, a longstanding boundary suggested to help safeguard the city's limited farming lands from development.

Deputy City Manager Taylor Adams provided a summary of changes in the project on Monday, May 15, during a meeting with Virginia Beach Farm Bureau held at the Creeds Ruritan Community Complex in rural Back Bay. The audience consisted of farmers, rural citizens, members of the Virginia Beach Agriculture Advisory Commission and City Councilmember Barbara Henley, a Pungo farmer who represents District 2 and has actually raised concerns about Project Wayne.

Additionally, the discussion by Adams previewed a briefing for the City Council that is arranged to be held at 3 p.m., today, at City Hall. Citizens can comment on the task throughout the council meeting this night at 6 p.m.-- though, as officials have stressed, there is no formal rezoning demand to authorize, for now.

Virginia Beach is early in a procedure with a prospect that could end up in other places, officials have said, which is why descriptions have been unclear and the business's name has actually gone unmentioned. The state is involved in attempting to land Project Wayne. Need to an official rezoning demand been available in, there would be more detail and additional chances for public comment down the road.

" No decisions have been made by your City Council yet concerning this job," Adams said throughout the meeting in Back Bay. "As is constantly the case, when we're dealing with big deals, we get a letter that can be found in, and we need to respond to that letter. In this case, this is a medical maker that wishes to come to Virginia and, particularly, wants to concern Virginia Beach."

The 150-acre location remains in the northern most location below the city's Green Line. The unidentified manufacturing possibility is said to be a U.S.-owned company which would transfer manufacturing work from China.

Project Wayne, in its latest model, could bring a sophisticated manufacturing usage to 150 acres shown in yellow on this map prepared by the city. The green location south of the parcel could be preserved as farmland by positioning a preservation easement over it, maybe addressing neighborhood issues about rezoning farmland for a commercial usage below the city's Green Line. [City of Virginia Beach]
The Green Line is a boundary established in 1979 as a department between the suburban sprawl of the northern city and farming areas in the southern city. Nevertheless, specific advancement is acceptable below the Green Line, and the city services border sometimes confused with the Green Line is at Indian River Road. Still, the Project Wayne ask is controversial, and it has caused strong neighborhood reactions-- not only amongst rural homeowners.

" This does represent a huge shift in our existing policy," Adams stated.

The company hoping to locate here makes items such as surgical masks and sheeting.

" After the Covid pandemic," Adams stated, "we're seeing a relocation where that work is coming back home. That's taking place not simply here in Virginia. That's taking place throughout the country."

Early on, the possibility sought as much as 750 acres south of the Green Line within the Interfacility Traffic Area in between Naval Air Station Oceana and Fentress Naval Auxiliary Landing Field. Adams noted that the city recommended the prospect that bigger request would be not likely. He stated concerns in the community about flooding, loss of farmland and permitting industrial advancement-- have encouraged the prospect to modify its request even further.

" What I have here tonight is a change in the advancement pattern that was initially presented," Adams said. "This is absolutely nothing besides us working with the possibility to try to work out an offer, or at least advance an offer to council that the community may discover palatable."

The modified job could still imply in between $300 million and $500 million in brand-new capital investment and between 1,200 and 1,800 brand-new jobs, Adams said.

" We're discussing a significantly lowered realty strategy," Adams stated, showing a map with the revisions.

" We've dealt with the prospective developer to condense their need to a single 150-acre parcel," Adams added. "It's the northernmost parcel in the ITA."

A 100-acre parcel right away south of the parcel revealed on the map might be secured with a conservation easement by City Council, Adams said, "something that would create a southern barrier that they might not cross ... without extra legal action."

That may be "enough of a blockade to guarantee that we didn't move even more," Adams said.

The sum of land protected might be even greater, and discussion later in the conference consisted of whether the city's Agricultural Reserve Program, an incentive program which purchases advancement rights from homeowner, could be used to protect the property south of the website for farming. Adams stated it made good sense for the city to retain ownership of the land south of the suggested site.

Virginia Beach Deputy City Manager Taylor Adams went over the Project Wayne proposal with members of the agricultural community throughout a meeting at the Creeds Ruritan Community Complex in Back Bay on Monday, May 15, 2023. [John-Henry Doucette/The Princess Anne Independent News] Following the conference, Henley, who has been important of altering city land-use policy and taking farmland out of production, stated she did not understand how a job that seemed to want as much as 750 acres initially can be come down to 150 acres.

But she had an interest in one aspect of the discussion-- positioning residential or commercial property within the ITA in the agricultural reserve program, including the land considered for Project Wayne.

" I believe we might just put all 750 acres in," she said informed The Independent News.

" We have had a lot of e-mails from all over the city about holding the Green Line," Henley added.

The city-owned land is being farmed under a lease agreement by a household farming partnership that includes Don Horsley, a member of the Virginia Beach Planning Commission.

Horsley on Monday, May 15, stated he would not have the ability to vote on any rezoning ought to Project Wayne go forward because he is farming the land in concern.

For now, it is being utilized for grain production.

" We're going to plant soybeans out there in the next couple of days," he said.

John Cromwell, president of Virginia Beach Farm Bureau, introduced the discussion by Adams. Cromwell stated the project would "be a significant incursion of the Green Line and substantial loss of farmland."

Cromwell, who farms in Pungo, is likewise a member of the Virginia Beach Agriculture Advisory Commission and president of the Back Bay Restoration Foundation. Following the conference at the Ruritan complex, Cromwell said the brand-new pitch was various than what initially had actually been talked about, however there are still concerns about the possible loss of farmland.

" It's simply the camel's nose under the camping tent," included Jared Brandwein, executive director of Back Bay Restoration Foundation.

The city-owned farmland being considered for Project Wayne, an economic advancement prospect that would need farming land to be rezoned for a commercial usage, is being rented to a Virginia Beach family farm for grain production. Don Horsley, a preparation commissioner who is one of the partners in the farm working the land in question, stated they prepare to plant soybeans quickly.

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