The area that has become known as the “Marshview Property” over the past 15 years includes approximately over 100 acres of undeveloped, wooded property on Lake Rudee in the Oceanfront area. The site is generally located between the neighborhoods of Lands End Condominium, Salt Marsh Point, Seatack, and Shadowlawn.
Master Plan
The Marshview property has numerous opportunities to provide unique cultural, recreational and environmental benefits and experiences to the city and its residents. The
Marshview Park Master Plan has been developed to outline potential uses and strategies for the site.
Two conceptual alternatives were presented to key stakeholders such as adjacent civic leagues, the Virginia Aquarium/Owls Creek Plan Steering Committee, and the Rudee Inlet Foundation. The comments received helped to guide the development of this final preferred master plan.
Key Aspects Include:
• Dog Park and Multipurpose Fields
• Playground at end of Virginia Avenue
• Improved multi-use trail and soft trails
• Bike recreation area (BMX or pump track)
• Disc golf
• Preservation and Interpretation of historic site
• Perimeter buffers
• Limited parking at entrances
• Park office/restroom
• Tree preservation
Marshview Park Site Acquisition Background and Status
June 2010
The City is awarded $100,000 by the Department of Conservation and Recreation for a trail enhancement project for the new Marshview Park.
May 2010
Virginia Beach acquired Marshview through a swap with the Navy on May 18, 2010. In exchange for Marshview, the city has conveyed a restrictive easement to the Navy on 46.71 acres in the Interfacility Traffic Area between Oceana and Fentress. The Navy will still own a restrictive easement over the Marshview property, but the city’s park development plans fall within those restrictions.
Mid to late 2000s
From 2005-2007, negotiations between the City and U.S. Navy about the Marshview property were tabled due to issues surrounding the 2005 BRAC decision regarding the recommendation for Oceana NAS. After positive resolution of the BRAC decision, discussions about the Marshview property between the U.S. Navy and City were rekindled. In late 2008, the U.S. Navy and the Virginia Beach City Council approved an exchange agreement whereby the City would convey a restrictive easement on land it acquired on Salem Road in the Oceana NAS – Fentress NALF Inter-facility Traffic Area in return for the U.S. Navy conveying the 82-acre Marshview property. The City and U.S. Navy are in the final due diligence stages of conveying the property and are scheduled to close by the end of 2009.
Early 2000s
From 2000 to 2002, an extensive public involvement was coordinated by the City’s Department of Parks and Recreation as part of the Marshview conceptual park planning. A park steering committee was formed to guide the park planning process and consisted of representatives from the adjacent neighborhoods, U.S. Navy military and civilian staff, and City Police, Parks and Recreation, Public Works and Planning staff.
A public open house was conducted in May 2002 for the preliminary concept park plan report to be presented and get feedback from the general public. Sixty-seven people attended the open house and 46 completed surveys (return rate of 69%) that yielded valuable input which was used in creating a the final
Marshview Park Concept Design Report in August 2002.
The preservation of the Marshview Property and its recommendation to be a future Oceanfront community park was included in the Virginia Beach Outdoors Plan 2000 and 2008 versions, which were adopted by City Council as the City’s guidance document for open space acquisition and outdoor recreational planning.
From 2002 to 2004, U.S. Navy officials were gaining approval up the chain-of-command from Oceana NAS to Norfolk’s Regional Command to Washington, D.C. to convey the Marshview property to the City as a park in fulfillment of the recently completed report.
1990s
In the early 1990s, the City and U.S. Navy officials began discussions about conveying the property to the City for a park. Throughout the decade of the 1990s, U.S. Navy officials were gaining consensus up the chain-of-command to convey the Marshview property to the City for a park. After a general consensus was reached on the types of outdoor recreational uses that would be allowed on the site by U.S. Navy officials, a City capital project was funded to develop a conceptual park plan.
1980s
The property was acquired by the U.S. Navy in the 1980s to prevent the expansion of the residential neighborhood of Salt Marsh Point as part of the Navy’s Air Installation Compatible Use Zone (AICUZ) program. The property has been owned by the U.S. Navy, as part of Oceana Naval Air Station (NAS), ever since.