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Virginia Beach is building a $17 million tide gate and converting a former golf course into a stormwater park to cut flooding
Summary
A narrated presentation describes two complementary flood-mitigation projects in Virginia Beach: a $17 million tide gate at Lake Windsor undergoing commissioning and a plan to convert the Bow Creek Golf Course into a stormwater park with ponds, trails and an event center.
Virginia Beach is building a $17 million tide gate at Lake Windsor and converting the former Bow Creek Golf Course into a stormwater park to reduce flooding in low-lying neighborhoods, the presenter said.
The projects target the Windsor Woods and Princess Plaza neighborhoods, which were developed in the early 1960s and include areas as low as 5-foot NAVD88. The presenter cited heavy and repeated flooding in the neighborhoods and said Hurricane Matthew on Oct. 9, 2016, when about 13 inches of rain fell in 12 hours, flooded more than 1,000 homes—an event that helped spur the two investments.
The tide gate sits next to Mount Trashmore, near Interstate 264, and is designed to block tidal inflow into Thea Creek and Lake Windsor and to allow managers to pump down the lake before storms to preserve runoff storage. The presenter said construction of the structure began in late 2022 and that the $17 million facility is undergoing commissioning; that commissioning was activated during four tidal events in fall 2025, the presenter said, demonstrating its operational use.
For Princess Plaza, the presenter described the Bow Creek Golf Course—situated near the confluence of Bow Creek and London Bridge Creek—as repeatedly affected by tidal flooding. The city decided to close the golf course after Hurricane Matthew and reconfigure the land to function as a stormwater park. Planned features include sloping areas and ponds to hold runoff and improve water quality, plus walking and biking trails, overlooks and an event center intended to provide recreation and neighborhood amenities.
Project-level funding beyond the $17 million figure for the tide gate was not specified in the presentation, and no formal vote or municipal action was recorded in the transcript. The presenter framed the park as an example of green infrastructure intended to increase neighborhood resilience while providing public amenities. Commissioning of the tide gate is ongoing; timelines for park construction and public opening were not specified in the narration.
