After residents of Norfolk’s historic Freemason neighborhood objected to proposed floodwalls snaking through their community, blocking river views, potentially depressing property values and leaving condominium buildings exposed, staff members from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers walked the planned path with local leaders in January.
Jack Kavanaugh, a retired admiral who heads the neighborhood civic league, said he was encouraged when an Army Corps official assured residents that “we’re not going to do anything that is stupid or anything that Norfolk is really going to scream about.”
As details about the plan to protect the city from major storms and hurricanes have become clear to residents, the cost has risen and the beginning of construction has been pushed back, clouding the future of the project…