Virginia Beach council sinks plan for offshore wind cable landing in Sandbridge

A proposal to bring offshore wind transmission lines ashore in Sandbridge has been squashed by the Virginia Beach City Council.

VIRGINIA BEACH — City leaders have sunk an offshore wind energy company’s plan to bring high-voltage cables through a beachfront neighborhood, at least for now.

Avangrid Renewables plans to build the Kitty Hawk Wind Offshore Wind Project in federal waters 27 miles off the North Carolina coast. The company wanted to bring transmission cables ashore in Sandbridge, a residential and tourist beach community about 15 miles south of Virginia Beach’s resort area.

City leaders announced this week that they met with Avangrid officials to inform them there is not support for the Sandbridge landing, given the amount of community pushback.

Members of the Sandbridge Civic League have vehemently opposed the project, citing concerns about potential safety and health hazards. A group of citizens opposing the landfall formed Protect Sandbridge Beach Coalition to their voice concerns.

The City Council has not taken a formal vote on the project. But the council discussed the project in closed session Nov. 14 before Mayor Bobby Dyer and City Manager Patrick Duhaney met with the principals of Avangrid, the mayor said at a meeting Tuesday.

“They weren’t happy hearing about the concerns and the feedback that council had,” Duhaney said. “We’ve more or less indicated to them that we don’t see a tremendous amount of support on that project moving forward.”

Sandbridge, a strip of land between the Atlantic Ocean and Back Bay, is too “fragile” to support a large-scale cable project, said Vice Mayor Rosemary Wilson.

“There are a lot of rental houses there, but there are a lot of people who live there fulltime,” Wilson said. “It would be very disruptive to their lifestyle.”

However, Wilson said the cable landing aspect could be re-evaluated in the future.

Avangrid is still working through the process of obtaining all necessary federal, state and local permits for the Kitty Hawk project.

“Avangrid continues to work closely with local stakeholders in the Virginia Beach community, including residents, businesses, maritime organizations, labor and workforce development officials, and other local leaders,” Avangrid spokesperson Craig Gilvarg wrote in an email Wednesday. “Avangrid is committed to our ongoing, collaborative relationship and addressing any and all concerns raised by members of the Council.”

Councilwoman Barbara Henley, who represents Sandbridge, said Avangrid’s proposal had too many unanswered questions about the impact on the neighborhood.

“The community is going to be very glad to hear this and they can have a happier Thanksgiving,” she said.

Councilman Joash Schulman was supportive of the project but said he believes the right outcome was reached.

“We can be supportive of the (wind energy) industry here in Virginia Beach without necessarily advancing this project,” Schulman said.

Another wind venture in the city is moving forward. Dominion Energy is beginning to build an onshore transmission corridor for energy produced by a future wind turbine farm off the coast of Virginia Beach. Above-ground concrete monopoles and power lines will cut across the city into Chesapeake.

On Tuesday, the City Council approved the sale of city-owned easements needed for the project to Dominion for $20 million. Approximately 38 acres of tree canopy in Virginia Beach will be razed to make way for the power lines. Some of the money will be used to replace trees, according to the city.