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Quarterly meetings are open to all current and new Civic League members (or if you're just interested to see what it's all about).

  

Meetings take place at The Water Table with Happy Hour before/after meetings. Cash-only bar is available on site.

Civic League Meetings
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6:30pm - Happy Hour Social Gathering

 

7:03pm - Call to order

 

Old Business:

  1. Approval of meeting minutes (October 1, 2025 meeting)

    • Minutes approved.

  2. Shadowfest recap

    • Registered with the city as an official event, for the first time.

    • Added GaGa Ball for the kids and face painting.

    • Over 300 (approximately) in attendance.

    • Budget will increase each year as our membership numbers increase.

    • If members have new ideas for activities for Shadowfest, please let us know!

 

New Business:

  1. Introduction of Andrew Rice, Republican candidate for the 98th House District

  2. Winston Salem Avenue Project update

    • Updates from Dennis O.

    • Dominion Power is on site currently.

    • Trending toward completion date in July, opening road in April.

    • Please send questions to Dennis via email (preferably before emailing city council with your concerns).

  3. Virginia Avenue development discussion

    • Presentation by Kathy Warren, Director of Planning

    • Left cards for herself and Theresa Holleran (spell check) who is the Project Manager.

    • Rosemary Wilson asked if the city could send someone to the meeting to present additional information, an engineer from the project may be available to attend the next meeting.

    • Provided a proposed site plan.

    • They do not have the elevations and do not know what it’s going to look like exactly at this time.

    • By-right development, zoned properly for this development, does not require public hearings or additional approvals form ciy council.

    • Zoned A-18, approved up to 28 units, 1.6 acres. Building 24 units.

    • Currently in 4th site plan review (storm water modeling).

    • 35ft max height, 3 story with ground level private garages.

    • 53 parking spaces (only required to have 48)

    • Traffic analysis is not required because it does not exceed 150? Trips during peak hours.

    • Storm water modeling will be completed using the city’s current model. Current plan is to fill in the existing pond. “They can’t make anything worse.” They have to account for all of their water on site. Includes all recent modeling that the city has worked on during the recent years.

    • Developers will be required to provide elevation certificates at foundation installation and final inspection.

    • Resident Questions:

      • When was the last update done?

      • Resident concerned with water drainage from the pond, as the water frequently goes up to the level of the house.

      • Resident worried that the drainage will be redirected into the creek/culver, which is the ditch that currently floods, 10-12” of water over the roadway. Bank degradation also results in additional flooding from other recent issues.

      • How does this development comply with the city’s plans to protect wetlands?

      • Resident identified a group of Virginia Ave residents in the meeting, reported that she has emailed city officials about their questions that have been previously submitted.

      • What is the best way to submit questions to the city regarding this project?

      • Resident concerned that the FEMA flood plane map is from 2015.

      • Is there an elevation study and how the raising of that property will impact the drainage, the condos next to it, and the homes across the street?

      • How can residents be protected? Are they going to do inspections after a storm?

    • SCL President to obtain questions from residents and facilitate a smaller meeting with the city officials involved in the project.

    • SCL President will also request GIS data to determine overall number of properties, etc. to give data for a GIS study.

      • Requested during peak season.

    • Anyone with specific questions will be provided the information in writing.

    • Kathy Warren suggested setting up a smaller meeting to go over to storm water runoff plan with residents.

    • SCL President will compile all questions and send them in a single email to the Project Coordinator and Director of Planning to ensure that all questions are received and will ensure an effective and thorough meeting.

    • If you cannot feasibly submit your questions to us via email due to numerous attachments, forwarded emails, etc., you can submit those directly to (1) Theresa Holleran, Project Coordinator: thollera@vbgov.com and (2) Kathy Warren, Director of Planning: KMWarren@VBgov.com

  4. Membership update

    • 315 currently.

  5. Budget update

    • $15k in Jan 2025, $19k in Jan 2026.

    • Budget will be added to the meeting minutes for members to review.

    • President reviewed sponsorship opportunities. These will also be listed under meeting minutes.

  6. Introduction of Cheryl Smith, Democratic candidate for the 98th House District

  7. Secretary Nomination

    • Tabled until the next meeting due to time constraints.

  8. Committee Head updates – tabled until the next meeting due to time constraints; however, we are currently accepting volunteers for all positions.

    • Volunteer Lead - responsible for emailing current list of volunteers prior to events and creating SignUp Genius lists for larger events, coordinating volunteers in 30min shifts.

    • Military Homecoming Lead - responsible for arranging volunteers to set up flags lining the street to welcome home our military members, set up banner, pick up and drop off materials from President's house (where they are currently stored).

    • Thank you to Daniel Parrish for volunteering to fill the position of New Neighbor Welcome Lead - responsible for dropping off welcome gift bags to new neighbors.

    • Scholarship Committee Lead - responsible for leading Scholarship Committed Volunteers in creating the application and reviewing applications for the Shadowlawn Civic League Scholarship, making a determination on the recipient.

  9. Scholarship – will be available soon.

    • Applicants' families or household must have a current membership of at least 6 months.

    • We will send out more information when available.

  10. Winston Salem Development

    • SCL President met with Whit Sessoms recently and discussed potential plans for single family homes.

    • He will be invited to attend the next meeting, as well.

  11. Final comments by Rosemary Wilson.

 

Important Dates:

  • March 17, 2026 - 98th House District Vote

  • May 6, 2026 - Spring Civic League Meeting

  • May 11, 2026 - Booze Cruise Tickets on Sale

  • May 20, 2026 - Spring Fling at Big Sam's (Collect Adopt-a-Muster Snack Donations)

  • May 23, 2026 - Adopt-a-Muster at Police Station

  • June 4, 2026 - Shadowlawn Booze Cruise

  • June 10, 2026 - Ice Cream Social

 

8:14pm – Adjournment, followed by social. Cash bar open.

 

137 in attendance.

 
 
 

6:30pm - Happy Hour Social Gathering (Cash-only bar is available on site.)


7:00pm - Call to order


Old Business:

  1. Approval of meeting minutes (October 1, 2025 meeting)

  2. Shadowfest recap


New Business:

  1. Introduction of Andrew Rice, Republican candidate for the 98th House District

  2. Winston Salem Avenue Project update

  3. Virginia Avenue development discussion

    1. Presentation by Kathy Warren, Director of Planning

  4. Membership update

  5. Budget update

  6. Introduction of Cheryl Smith, Democratic candidate for the 98th House District

  7. Secretary Nomination

  8. Committee Head updates

    1. Volunteer Lead

    2. Military Homecoming Lead


Important Dates:

  • March 17, 2026 - 98th House District Vote

  • May 6, 2026 - Spring Civic League Meeting

  • May 11, 2026 - Booze Cruise Tickets On Sale

  • May 20, 2026 - Spring Fling at Big Sam's (Collect Adopt-a-Muster Snack Donations)

  • May 23, 2026 - Adopt-a-Muster at Police Station

  • June 4, 2026 - Shadowlawn Booze Cruise

  • June 10, 2026 - Ice Cream Social


Adjournment - followed by social. Cash bar open.

 
 
 

Social – Cash Bar (6:30pm)

 

Call to Order (7:00pm)


Presentation on Voting Referendum

Presenter: Tim Anderson (Attorney, Former Delegate)

“Should the method of city council elections set forth in the Virginia Beach Charter be changed from a modified 7-3-1 system to a 10-1 system”?

  • Tim Anderson described the differences between the 10-1 and 7-3-1 voting system that citizens will use to vote on city council members.

    • 10-1: City is currently divided into 10 zones and each citizen can vote for one council person to represent their zone. Each citizen also has one vote for mayor. Voting would occur every 4 years.

    • 7-3-1: City will be divided into 7 zones with 3 at-large representatives. Each citizen can vote for 1 council person to represent their zone, and can also vote for 3 at-large representatives. Each citizen also has one vote for mayor. Voting occurs every 2 years.

  • Deb Favaron clarified that the previous "7-3-1" system is different than the one currently proposed, to clear up any confusion.

  • Member clarified that we can only vote for a representative representing our district. Tim Anderson responded that yes that is correct, but each citizen would also be able to vote for 3 additional representatives to serve in the at-large positions.

 

Rosemary Wilson, City Councilmember

  • Added information about the 10-1 versus 7-3-1 voting system.

  • Celebrated the plans for the new development of Rudee Park.

    • Updated members that the city will not be building the parking garage originally intended for Rudee Park, decreasing the budget to $42 million.

    • Explained that she also hopes to increase private donations to the overall budget.


Old Business:

  1. Approve meeting minutes from April 23, 2025

    • Motion to approve minutes. Minutes were approved.

  2. Recap of Fall and Summer events

    1. Spring Fling - cancelled twice due to weather. The board attempted to reschedule for the fall but we were unable to due to various factors.

    2. Booze Cruise - we sold 140 tickets in 48 hours. The event was hosted with live music and an on-board photographer. Future Booze Cruise events will remain in the Rudee Inlet due to feedback received from the attendees.

    3. Ice Cream Social - nearly 100 kids in attendance.

    4. Shadowlawn Surf Club - occurred 6 out of 8 scheduled weeks due to weather. VB Surf Sessions provided free lessons and surfboard rentals to all attendees. Pizza was provided the first and last weeks.

    5. National Night Out - two locations this year with 40-50 people at Kennedy/Carribbean and approximately 125 at High Point/Carribbean. Mounted police, VBFD, VBPD, Po Folks food truck, and bounce house

    6. Summer Giving

      • Shadowlawn purchased a new bike, bike lock, and $50 gift card for an employee of Junior Market who was in need of transportation.

      • Caring for Cooke fundraiser - Shadowlawn raised nearly $2500 purchasing new clothes and items for the children at Cooke Elementary School.

 

New Business:

  1. Membership Update

    • Prior to the start of this meeting, we had 315 active members.

    • There are a total of 1600 homes/condos in Shadowlawn.

  2. Treasurer's Report

    • Started year at approximately $16k in the bank.

    • By the end of August, we now have approximately $20k.

  3. Update on Winston Salem Ave.

    • Dennis Ozowara, Project Manager

      • Moving into the next phase of construction next week.

      • The city currently has 3-4 different crews working on various parts of the project.

      • Hopeful that road closures will end by the end of the year.

      • Member asked about the plans for development that was intended for the north side of Winston Salem Avenue. The President clarified that those plans are currently not active but we will not receive information about plans for development unless they are posted publicly.

      • Member asked about construction in front of her property on the south side of Winston Salem Ave, asking if she could get better communication about the construction that impacts her direct property. Denis encouraged her to reach out to the Project Management team with ongoing concerns to get a resolution.

      • Member asked about rerouting vehicle and bike traffic. Denis clarified that there will be open lanes after road closures are complete.

      • Member asked about the estimated completion date. Denis stated the date is July 2026 but they hope to be finished before then.

      • Member asked about safety concerns in the large parking lot in front of Water Table and Docktails. Denis clarified that the parking lot is private property so that may need to go through Code Enforcement.

      • Denis encouraged residents to visit the website for updated information: https://communications.virginiabeach.gov/hot-topics/building-our-vb-future/winston-salem

  4. Tour de Shadowlawn

    • Saturday! October 4th

    • 4 stops starting at Rudees (11:15am), Rockafellers (1:00pm), Big Sam's (2:45pm), Icehouse (4:30pm) until you shuffle home.

    • Checkpoint Cards: get a stamp from the bartender at every checkpoint for a chance to win a gift card and shirt from every restaurant that participates.

    • Ultimate goal is to include all neighborhood restaurants with a checkpoint card and allow participants to visit each restaurant on their own time the day of the event.

    • We strongly discourage golf carts due to limited parking.

  5. Shadowfest

    • October 25th

    • Live music, band, face painter, bounce house, crafts for kids

    • Halloween Parade staging starts at 801 High Point at 3:00pm, parade will move through the neighborhood and end at the corner of Arctic and Winston Salem Ave. Event ends at 7pm.

    • Chili Cook Off - sign up via email.

    • Costume Contest - categories and details will be submitted via email.

    • After-party at Big Sam's.

  6. Shadowlawn Shine Down

    • Holiday decorating competition, voting occurs December 22nd.

    • Categories will be announced via email and will be the same as previous years.

  7. VB Oceanfront Christmas Parade Float

    • Shadowlawn has had a float in this parade in the past and there would be many kids and adults who may be interested.

      • If you would be willing to volunteer to lead the build-out, please reach out to us.

  8. Breakfast with Santa (Shadowlawn Eats)

    • Would include free breakfast for kids and adults, visit with Santa. This event is in the planning stages.


Community Reminders/Updates

Voting Day- November 4th, early voting is already open.

Adjourn/Social

 

We’d like to give a HUGE THANK YOU to BJ and Rockafeller’s for hosting us this evening. 

 
 
 
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