“A lot of uncertainties:’ Virginia Beach residents speak out about development plans in Great Neck

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Filling in wetlands and building houses on the land: that’s what some Virginia Beach residents say a local developer wants to do, and they are upset about the plans.

They intend to voice their concerns to the City.

On Wednesday, Aug. 9, the Virginia Beach Planning Commission is scheduled to discuss the potential development of land owned by Wycliffe Presbyterian Church. The agenda says there is a request to reduce the boundary of the church, located at 1445 North Great Neck Road. The land cited in the agenda is along Millwood Road.

Wycliffe Presbyterian Church is petitioning the Virginia Beach planning commission for a reduction in its conditional use permit boundary, according to Reverend Dr. Garrett Bugg, Senior Pastor. He added that a portion of the church’s land is currently under contract for purchase.

The pastor wrote a statement to News 3:

“We love our neighbors and we look forward to continuing our Christian mission to the community we love well into the future. In order to do that, we find it necessary to sell a portion of our property that is a great expense to the church. Our focus has been and will remain serving our community and God.”

One neighbor, Windy Crutchfield, has created a petition against the development.

“We don’t object to the church trying to sell its asset which is unused land,” Crutchfield stated. “We just want to address that Virginia Beach, although it has some zoning designation, it’s never been a part of the city’s plan to build on wetlands. We don’t believe any wetlands should be filled in so someone can create more land to build houses.”

Crutchfield says the developer connected to the project is Bishard Homes. News 3 reached out to Bishard and is awaiting a response.

Derrick Copeland is the president of the Great Neck Estates Civic League. One of his main concerns is potential flooding.

“I’m not a huge expert on runoff and waterways, but I do have a pretty good understanding of – water goes somewhere, and if you’re going to take away the pond/lake that is here, where would that water go?” asked Copeland. “Would it go into my neighborhood, my house, and my yard?”

Copeland hopes it is not too late to consider other options.

“This area would make an amazing location for a city neighborhood park where my children could walk safely to and play, and this could have been a solution, but unfortunately, because it was a private sale that option was never even given a chance to be presented,” Copeland explained.

The neighbors stressed that they’re not against having homes built closer to Great Neck Road, but they really don’t want to see the wetlands destroyed.

“We understand that development and growth happens, but this lake here, this is wetlands. This is nature,” said Copeland. “We want to keep what little green space we have left in the community and being asked to be just okay with removing that and giving us a future risk, just doesn’t seem right.”

The Virginia Beach Planning Commission will hold a meeting starting at noon on Wednesday, August 9 inside City Council chambers at City Hall. This topic is on the agenda. The meeting is open to the public.