Virginia Beach oversight board, program manager update council on flood‑protection progress and costs

Jeff Waller, chairman of the Flood Prevention Bond Referendum Oversight Board, told the City Council that the 2021 referendum includes seven master projects and 21 identified projects, along with 10 support and 10 other active projects. He reminded council the board provides a written report to the city every quarter and said the board has performed recent site visits to the substantially complete Lake Windsor tide gates and to Windsor Woods.

Alicia Pica, Jacobs Engineering's representative and the program manager for the city's flood protection program, gave a detailed operations briefing and timeline of work. Through May, Jacobs has reported total program spending of $117,800,000 and the city has spent 81% of $44,800,000 of American Rescue Plan Act funding allocated to stormwater operations. Pica said neighborhood drainage improvements used $30,580,000 of that ARPA allocation and staff have inspected 61 miles of storm sewer via closed‑circuit television, lining 14 miles where defects were found. On lake dredging, she said four lakes have been completed, six are under construction and two more will begin in late summer; the lake dredging portion has spent about 43% of its ARPA funds.

Pica outlined the program's operations planning for new assets the referendum will create: 11 new and larger pump stations, miles of new pipeline including outfalls to the bay, and significant landscape and wetland installations requiring specialized maintenance. She said Jacobs and the city have developed an asset inventory and are working toward predictive maintenance and an asset‑management system that will help determine remaining useful life and mitigation priorities. “We have really identified the resources and the equipment that are needed to operate the flood protection program projects,” Pica said.

On risk and budgeting, Pica said asset‑management analysis identified a potential need of about $16 million, spread over several years, to mitigate pump‑station risks so fewer assets sit in high‑risk categories. Council members pressed staff on how the system would perform in a storm comparable to Hurricane Matthew and on permitting constraints that have stalled specific restoration projects. Pica said basin models have been updated and the team can provide basin‑level engineering assessments to show how current conditions compare with earlier storms. Jeff Waller noted the city has secured $56,000,000 in state and federal grants and plans to apply for another $51,000,000.

Council members also raised program‑level cost escalation. One councilor cited an updated program cost near $1.3 billion; staff responded the total is changing daily but remains roughly between $1.2 billion and $1.3 billion as of the briefing. Staff committed to follow up with basin‑level model comparisons and to notify council when the oversight board meets in specific districts so members may attend.

The city will continue staged construction and procurement on the program's priority projects, including First Colonial, Bow Creek Stormwater Park phases, Eastern Shore Drive bundles and the Lake Bradford pump station design‑build contract. Staff also emphasized coordination with regional partners (USGS, HRSD) and the need for additional operational staffing, specialized maintenance (wetland vegetation and geese mitigation), and technology investments such as an integrated SCADA and sensor program to enable real‑time operational decisions.

The council did not take a formal vote on the briefing, but staff agreed to provide additional documentation on modeling and cost estimates and to return with updates in subsequent quarters.