Public Input Update
Parks & Recreation presented an updated design plan for the next phase of Marshview Park at an open house session at Seatack Recreation Center on August 20, 2015. The design plan is based on the Marshview Master Plan that was developed in 2012 and includes dog parks, paved trails, open field play area, playground, picnic shelters, parking areas and a potential restroom building.
Marshview Park is home to 100 acres of 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 and is open daily from dawn to dusk. A new asphalt trail was opened in January 2015 and there are numerous unpaved trails to explore. The property offers unique cultural, recreational and environmental benefits and experiences to the city and its residents.
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 Background and Status
August 2015
Public outreach on design for the 17-acre northern portion of Marshview Park begins
January 2015
New asphalt trail completed and opened to the public.
June 2014
Began construction of a new ADA compliant asphalt trail, pedestrian bridges and a small parking lot.
June 2012
Marshview Master Plan completed based on input obtained through several community workshops.
June 2010
City awarded $100,000 by the Department of Conservation and Recreation for a trail enhancement project for 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.
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.