6:30 – Social / Happy Hour (Food donated by Rockafellers)
7:00 – Meeting was called to order.
Old Business:
Neighborhood Yard Sale: 28 homes registered their yard sales. The Civic League also brought in Da Biscuit food truck for this event.
Adopt-a-Muster: Food donations were received from Dominos, Mission BBQ, Il Giardino, and Hilltop Chick-fil-A. Our Platinum Sponsor for 2023, Moke America of Virginia Beach, also provided a large variety of snacks and drinks for the event.
Spring Fling: Hosted by Big Sam's, there were approximately 200 members in attendance. Food donations were received from Big Sam's, Rudees, Gringos, and Jr. Mart. In addition, all food that was budgeted as part of the event cost was donated by Big Sam's at the end of the night.
National Night Out: Our first annual National Night Out included approximately 100 attendees. We were visited by the Virginia Beach Police and Fire Departments with 3 police cars, 3 police officers on bikes, and one fire truck. There were 4 homes registered to host driveway meet-and-greets. The Civic League also brought in Po Folks food truck for this event.
Shadowlawn Surf Club: With 40-100 participants per week, the return of the Shadowlawn Surf Club was well received and 30 kids surfed their first wave! Our 2023 Platinum Sponsor, Moke America of Virginia Beach, provided pizza for the first and last Surf Club of the summer. VB Surf Sessions also provided 3-5 instructors and 10+ surfboards each week. All boards were donated for use by the kids in attendance. The owner of VB Surf Sessions, Tony Pellino, offered to donate the instructors' time each week; however, given his generosity, we offered to pay the instructors' hourly rates every other week.
Tour de Shadowlawn: The 1st Annual Tour de Shadowlawn had 200+ participants and spanned across an 8-hour Sunday with stops at Rudees, Big Sam's, Rockafellers, Icehouse, and Shadowlawn Eats. Each restaurant offered happy hour prices and food specials for Tour participants. River Boy Duo and Borderline Crazy Duo performed at the last two stops of the Tour. The Civic League netted over $900 from t-shirt and koozie sales.
Civic League T-Shirt Orders: We have sold over 100 Civic League branded t-shirts so far this year and all have been sold be pre-order. We will continue to order shirts in this way to avoid excessive inventory. Our next preorder will include long-sleeve shirts and sweatshirts (crew-neck and hoodies).
New Business:
Speeding Concerns: We did not meet the criteria to warrant any speed deterrents in the neighborhood. The Board will continue to work on this issue.
Shadowlawn Neighborhood Signs: Rosemary Wilson, Vice Mayor and City Council Member for District 5, was in attendance at this meeting. She confirmed that the neighborhood signs which were created years ago were finally located in storage at Parks and Rec. One will be located near the corner of Pacific Ave. and Winston Salem Ave. The other will be installed once a location has been confirmed.
Winston Salem Project: Rosemary Wilson, introduced her aide, Deb Favaron, and provided contact information (dfavaron@vbgov.com). The approved budget was increased by $5 million earlier this year; however, bids were still well above this budget. While a new budget has not been confirmed as of this meeting, the project is being sent out for bid again. Ms. Wilson stated that she is committed to seeing this project come to completion. She also encouraged everyone to attend the Town Hall Meeting on October 12th at Corporate Landing Middle School at 6:30pm and City Council meetings on the first Tuesday of every month.
Membership: As of the start of this meeting, there are 202 paid members for 2023.
Treasurer Report: At the beginning of 2023, the bank account balance was $3,176.52. As of the date of this meeting, the balance was $10,494.84 due to a rise in memberships, t-shirt sales, and corporate sponsorships. Donations from restaurants for our events (Spring Fling donations, Rockafellers donating food at meetings, etc.) also contributed to lower costs at these events.
Volunteer Committee: The Civic League needs volunteers to help out with events (setup, breakdown, check in) and with various tasks such as organizing, sorting, and packaging t-shirt orders. There are no obligations to participate in certain events and volunteer "shifts" at events will be 15-30min so each volunteer can still enjoy the event. A list was passed around to sign up as a volunteer. If you'd like to volunteer, please send an email to ShadowlawnCL@gmail.com.
Shadowfest: Our annual Halloween parade and block party is scheduled for October 28th from 3-7pm. This event is for paid Civic League members only. Cherly McLeskey has generously rented us the open green space at the corner of Arctic Ave. and Winston Salem Ave. for a fee of only $1.00. Due to the location of the event and the need for event fencing surrounding the event space, check-in tables will be set up and check-in will be required to enter. *If you plan to invite neighbors, please encourage them to pay dues before the event to expedite the check-in process.
Winston Salem Development: Whitt Sessoms has proposed plans to develop an area along Winston Salem including the commercial area along the south side of the street (currently Fisherman's Wharf and Water Table) in addition to the residential area along the north side (currently green space, wetlands, and residential properties). Mr. Sessoms' representatives presented a summary of their plans and the Board opened the floor for questions. A significant number of members shared concerns regarding the development of the wetlands area and the potential for resulting drainage and flooding issues. In addition, residents were apposed to the rezoning of the north side of the street as mixed-use including commercial development and the allowance of multi-family condos. This project has been followed closely by a number of our residents who are very informed on the specifics of this topic. As such, it was suggested that a committee be formed of Civic League members to keep us informed and also to call the Civic League to action when appropriate. Rosemary Wilson stated that residents should not yet reach out to city council regarding this issue because it has not moved that far in the process as of this point. At this point in the meeting, we were already over 20 minutes past our intended end time and as such, a motion was made to table this discussion until the next meeting on November 15th. A majority of members voted to table the discussion.
8:22pm - Meeting adjourned.
There were approximately 130 members present.
*A special thank you to Rockafellers for donating food for our Civic League meetings. The Civic League spent over $700 on food at our first meeting of the year in January 2023 when the new Board was installed. We felt was not sustainable or a good use of our funds. Since that time, Rockafellers has agreed to provide food free of charge to the Civic League. This has provided a HUGE savings for our budget and members have enjoyed a variety of appetizers at each meeting due to their generosity.
