VIRGINIA BEACH — Plans conceived more than a decade ago to restore wetlands near the Lesner Bridge accelerated this week when the City Council approved funding for the project.
The city will transfer $6.6 million from capital improvement projects that will not move forward this year to pay to create wetlands at Pleasure House Point. An additional $5 million from a pump station project will also be used for a total cost of $12 million.
It will require the razing of hundreds of pine trees that cover the swath of land adjacent to the Brock Environmental Center. The Pleasure House Point Mitigation Bank will provide up to 8 acres of wetland “credits” that the city can use to offset disruption of other tidal wetland areas in the Lynnhaven River watershed for upcoming flood protection projects…