In response to interested neighborhoods and in order to provide a way for communities to dredge existing neighborhood waterways, City Council adopted the “Neighborhood Dredging Program” in 2011. 

This program operates as a Special Service District Program (SSD) and participation in the program requires at least 80% resident participation within the service district and imposing a special tax to fund the dredging operations. 

Since it isn’t financially feasible or physically possible to dredge every single waterway from a financial or operational standpoint, this was the implemented solution. 

The dredging does not establish new channels or widen existing ones but removes the built-up sand and silt to deepen the existing waterway.

About the Program

The Neighborhood Dredging Special Service Districts (NDSSD) Program was created when neighborhoods throughout Virginia Beach within the Lynnhaven River basin, Rudee Inlet basin, Elizabeth River basin, Broad Bay, and Linkhorn Bay expressed a desire to re-establish navigational channels. 

The City of Virginia Beach, in coordination with participating neighborhoods, established special service districts, where waterfront property owners within the community would agree to a surcharge on their real estate taxes. 

The revenues generated by the SSDs is used solely to cover the cost of continuing the re-establishing the depth and navigability of their “neighborhood channel” into the community to serve all participating properties. 

The City does cost-participate by dredging a channel from the main City navigation channel to the neighborhood channel system. 

Individual channels, linking private properties to the neighborhood channel are funded entirely by those property owners wishing to connect to the channel system. The City manages the design, mitigation, permitting, real estate acquisition, construction and monitoring for these projects and the costs of these various services for the neighborhood channel system are be paid using the SSD revenues.

Participating Neighborhoods

There are currently eight NDSSDs:

• Schilling Point
• Hurds Cove
• Gills Cove
• Harbour Point
• Chesopeian
• Shadowlawn
• Bayville Creek
• Old Donation Creek

Joining the Program

If a neighborhood is interested in exploring the establishment of an NDSSD, City staff will participate in a community workshop to share the details of the proposed neighborhood dredging program and to assess the willingness of the community to accept the special service district taxing proposal. 

If the community indicates a willingness equal or exceeding 80%, staff will prepare an ordinance for Council’s consideration which would enact the SSD. A formal City Council public hearing will occur prior to adoption of such an ordinance.