Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Stick To The Plan!

During their Retreat on Tuesday, all members of the Virginia Beach City Council agreed to sign a letter to Walgreens asking them to preserve the former post office building at Atlantic Avenue and 24th Street. Walgreens has bought it, planning to demolish it for a new pharmacy. I have a couple serious problems here:

First, the City made moves to preserve the Pepper's building, then the Roland Court Theater, and now the old post office. Council had previously passed the Resort Area Strategic Action Plan (RASAP), which maps out urban redevelopment of the Resort Area. To point out the obvious, urban redevelopment isn't going to happen if the City repeatedly tries to preserve decidedly unurban buildings.

Second, having been active in the public participation drawing up the RASAP, I'm well-aware that Sasaki (i.e. the consultant) identified the block between Atlantic and Pacific Avenues as the key to inducing redevelopment. All three of the structures Council wants to maintain fall in the target area.

If Council wants to execute the RASAP, they need to stop doing things which defeat the purpose of the Plan!

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