City Releases Final Plan for Refurbishment of Groveland Park

City of Virginia Beach, Grounds & Maintenance, Parks and Recreation

Groveland Park is the city playground park near the intersection of Kings Grant Rd and N. Lynnhaven Rd.  It is the nearest children’s playground for many King’s Grant homes.  The final plan for site refurbishment and new playground equipment is now available.  The equipment has been ordered and construction will be scheduled after the 4th of July holiday.  In addition to lots of cool play stuff for kids, there will be several new benches and some aesthetic improvements.

groveland-park-play-system.pdf

groveland-park-site-plan.pdf

OpenVB launches with police incident data for King’s Grant

City of Virginia Beach, , , , ,

Our quarterly newsletter always includes a neighborhood police incident report, a printed snapshot of activity in King’s Grant. Yesterday, City of Virginia Beach published an online, open data portal, OpenVB, that includes police incident and call for service reports, together with EMS calls for service and other public safety data about VB. There’s a tool called a “Data Lens” where you can explore maps, charts, and tables. OpenVB also has data for business, finance/government, and neighborhood/environment. Check it out!

data.vbgov.com

The “Data Lens” lets you explore.

Open VB

Explore the entire city by district.

City Evaluating King’s Grant Storm System

City of Virginia Beach, Public Works

The City of Virginia Beach Department of Public Works is evaluating the condition of the storm drain system that serves the King’s Grant neighborhood.  The field crews you may see working represent engineering personnel from Hazen and Sawyer, a contractor of Public Works.  These crews may be observed along storm drainage easements and along the streets where the storm drain system is located.  Work will accomplished from mid-September until the end of October.

Storm Sewer Public Works Notification Map

Click here for a copy of the city notification flyer, with the Public Works point-of-contact.

Update: King’s Grant Road Sanitary Pump Station

City of Virginia Beach, Public Works

As everyone who travels Kings Grant Road between Virginia Beach Blvd and Little Neck Road has seen,the construction work for replacement of the sanitary sewer pump station on Kings Grant Road is finally underway. So is the work to install a new sewer line beneath Kings Grant Road. There are two separate work crews involved, so the contractor changed the sequence of road work in order to avoid interferences between them in the early stages of the project. Road work began near Virginia Beach Blvd and will move north to the pump station. This is a reversal of the original plan which started at the pump station and worked south to Virginia Beach Blvd.

An assortment of issues delayed the start of the project (wet weather, interfering utility lines, and trees), so the contractor is behind schedule at the pump station site. Temporary pump equipment is housed in the large orange containers at the corner of Kings Grant Road and Sunnybrook Lane. These are now on-line and serve to bypass the pump station so that it may be demolished and rebuilt. The large crane will be used to demolish the pump house and the concrete wet well beneath it. The crane will then drive steel sheet piles to create a cofferdam so that a new wet well can be constructed. While the work at this site continues, the sewer line work beneath the road will continue to work its way north.

The portion of the road now being worked is closed to through traffic. Once construction reaches the intersection of Kings Grant Road and North Lynnhaven Road, the contractor will work around the clock during one weekend to get through that area at quickly as possible. You can expect this portion to be the most disruptive to neighborhood traffic flow. Once road work gets north of that intersection, then one lane will remain open on Kings Grant Road the rest of the way. No disruption of school bus routes is expected.

The updated plan for the major chunks of work are:

  • Pump Station Demolition: February ’16 – March ‘16
  • Below Grade Construction: March ’16 – August ‘16
  • Pump Station Construction: July ’16 – January ‘17
  • Sewer Line Installation: January ’16 – April ‘16

The city’s Public Utilities Engineering Division agreed to provide more details (projected dates for each phase of the work) on road closures. That info will be provided when received.

King's Grant Road Sanitary Pump Station Project    King's Grant Road Sanitary Pump Station Project

 

Kingston Drive Sanitary Pump Station Project To Start

City of Virginia Beach, Public Works, Zoning

The City of Virginia Beach awarded the construction work for replacement of the sanitary sewer pump station located at 728 Kingston Drive to Trident Civil of Virginia Beach.  The contract is approved and the contractor is scheduled to start construction on Monday, November 2nd.  Kings Grant residents near the construction site will receive formal notification of the work from the city this week.  At this time the contractor does not foresee the need for an off-site material staging area.

The existing pump station was built in 1968 and is at the end of its useful service life. It also has capacity limits that could lead to possible sanitary sewer overflows.  In addition to replacing the building, the pressurized sewer main from the building to its tie in with another main on Oxford Drive will be relined to extend the life of the pipe without need for replacement.  Besides the building demolition and construction, impact will primarily be to residents along Berkley Place and Berkley Court.  The contractor will generally work between 7am- 4 pm.  Work is expected to take 10-12 months.

Project updates will be posted here as they are received from the city or the contractor.

Click here for archival correspondence about this project from the City of Virginia Beach to KGCL.

King’s Grant Pump Station Update

City of Virginia Beach, Grounds & Maintenance, Public Works, Zoning

Planned Construction Start Delayed

The city project to replace the King’s Grant Road sanitary pump station is moving ahead but the planned construction start date of early summer was missed.

Overhead utility lines are being replaced.  New poles and new electric wires were installed to move the lines away from the pump station.  The old electric wires remain. No activity has been seen to move the telephone and cable TV wires.

It was recently determined that trees on private property will conflict with the construction. The contractor, Quality Enterprises of Chesapeake, is working with the city to remedy the conflict.

KGCL is in regular contact with the contractor. They expect construction to begin in several weeks.

City to Lease Triangle

Several times during that past year KGCL members were informed about the contractor’s desire to lease the center portion of the triangle property (in front of the 7-11 and Exxon) as a staging area for construction equipment and materials.

Informal polling of KGCL members by email and discussions at our general meetings found the membership strongly in favor of this plan. A deeper discussion of this topic can be found in our mailed newsletters to members.

Over the past two months, the proposed lease arrangement has changed. The city will lease our property for rather than the contractor.

The change mitigates zoning issues and strengthens assurances that the property will be satisfactorily restored at the completion of work next year.  The draft city lease document contains required protections for KGCL that could not be included in a lease to the contractor.

Further updates will be provided as this project moves forward. Questions and comments should be directed to board@kgcl.org

Next Meeting: Lynnhaven SGA, Witt Park Beautification

City of Virginia Beach, Events, Grounds & Maintenance, KGCL, Zoning

meeting_signOur next meeting of General Members will be on Thursday March 20, 7:30 PM at King’s Grant Elementary School.

You don’t want to miss it!

Here’s what we have on tap:

  • Representatives from City of Virginia Beach will come to discuss the Lynnhaven Strategic Growth Area (SGA) and take your questions
  • Zoning Director Steve Nimitz will update us on the status of neighborhood commercial construction
  • We’re officially launching the Community Yard Sale which will take placeHappy Couple on Saturday May 3rd (May 10 rain date).  Come reserve your spot!
  • We’re announcing a Witt Park beautification initiative starting Saturday March 22
  • We will report on the status of the financial review and discuss next steps
  • Nominations for officers and directors will be open

Screen Shot 2014-03-12 at 8.09.02 PM

Check out our Facebook page for pictures of the Witt Park beautification initiative. Visit our website for sketches of the remodeling plans at the old Ames shopping plaza.

Meeting

City of Virginia Beach, History, Meetings, Public Safety

Update: this event has passed.

There is a meeting of General Members TONIGHT, Thursday, March 21st at King’s Grant Elementary School.

Click here for agenda

Highlights

  • The Virginian-Pilot Lynnhaven Beacon is researching story about the 50th anniversary of KGCL. Please come and share your neighborhood stories.
  • “From the Vault” – display of KGCL archives; pictures, maps and historic documents
  • Bike Lane Proposal for King’s Grant Road

Zoning Report

City of Virginia Beach, Public Works, Zoning

The following zoning updates were reported to the Board or Directors by Zoning Director, Paul Lougheed:

Sidewalk on N. Lynnhaven Road

According to a City of Virginia Beach spokesperson, the sidewalk project is 70% complete and ahead of schedule. The scheduled completion date is January 2013.

King’s Grant House

According to a King’s Grant House spokesperson, they have received lender approval for Phase II. They are now finalizing the contract with Courthouse Construction. The Goal is to commence the next phase of work after the holidays in early January 2013. It is possible that they will begin some of the early site work in December, depending on the weather.

The next meeting of General Members will be held January 17th, 2013.

In Case You Missed the Meeting

City of Virginia Beach, KGCL, Meetings, Public Works

A meeting of the General Membership was held on Thursday, March 17th.  The theme of the meeting was “Going Green.”  Invited guest, Ms. Linda S. Minner, APR, presented the city’s recycling program.  Ms. Minner is Media and Communications Coordinator with City of Virginia Beach, Waste Management Division of the Public Works Department.  She was joined by Ms. Tanya Wilson, also with Waste Management Division. KGCL is interested in providing information about the community of King’s Grant and City of Virginia Beach for the benefit of residents.  If you have a suggestion for a future speaker or topic please contact the Board of Directors: pr@kgcl.org Also at the meeting, plans were announced for Clean the Bay Day, King’s Grant on Saturday, June 4th, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.  This is the fourth year the King’s Grant community has participated in Clean the Bay Day.  Last year was the biggest turn-out yet, with over 75 volunteers turning out.  Sign up is posted online. KGCL Treasurer, Lev Huntington presented signs that were made for advertising meetings and community events. The next meeting of General Members is Thursday, May 19th, 7:30 PM at King’s Grant Elementary school. Meetings minutes are posted online at the following address: https://kgcl.org/documents/General/?M=D/