VIRGINIA BEACH — While city council mulls where its new headquarters will be, residents gave mixed reviews about the options that have been laid out at this point.
There are eight options for the future of city hall, so far.
The city can either choose to add more square feet to its current building, erect a new building at the Virginia Beach municipal center or move to Town Center. All options would cost around $56 million.
There are a couple options for a move to Town Center. The city could either build on land it owns at the old Circuit City site near Independence Boulevard and Garrett Drive, or trade that land with Town Center developer Armada Hoffler to bring it to Columbus Village plus a government-funded parking garage where Regal Cinemas currently stands.
New Beach resident Kimberly Van Wagner said she likes the idea of city hall moving to the area.
“I became aware of Town Center as being a hub for locals, so I’ve gotten used to that as being an actual town center,” Van Wagner said. “When I found that the city hall was so far away, it just isn’t as convenient for errands.”
Standing on the steps of city hall, lifelong Virginia Beach resident Kurt Brocky said moving it wouldn’t be a good move.
“This has been here since I was a kid,” Brocky said. “With all the road improvements they’ve done between General Booth Boulevard, Nimmo Parkway and coming down Princess Anne Road, it would just be an extreme waste of money.”
Larry Felton, a retired city employee, told Southside Daily he would like to see city hall stay at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center, too.
“You’ve got to expand anyways for your employees, and what’s the logic of splitting it up? Whereas you could build a really nice building down at the municipal center — a multi-story building down there,” Felton said.
After working for the city for 30 years, Felton said he’s familiar with the municipal center, and that there’s room there to build instead of making room for something new at Town Center.
“The ulterior motive is commercial, or return on investment, or whatever you want to call it, for it to be at Town Center,” Felton said. “I don’t know if that outweighs the congestion that you’re going to cause by adding more people, more cars and parking.”
Felton said he thinks it would be a good move to keep all business in one location so it can remain the crown jewel of local government.
“You can develop the Pembroke area as a commercial Town Center — fine,” Felton said. “But government — it’s already there and established, and they just built a four-lane highway to get there, and Nimmo Parkway to get there.”
David Hunt, a retired Virginia Beach resident, agreed with Felton’s sentiment about traffic, but ultimately said that he needs more information to make a stance.
“I feel like I’m lacking information, lacking knowledge,” Hunt said. “I’d like the opportunity to see bigger plans, the bigger picture. I just keep picking up bits here and there and I’d like more transparency.”
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