Botetourt Street in Norfolk, Virginia, looking north. Preliminary plans for a floodwall have the structure running down the street. Other options show the street outside a proposed wall or inside a wall running along the waterfront. (Jim Morrison/For The Virginia Mercury)
On a mid-July evening, condominium owners in Norfolk’s historic Freemason district met to organize against what they saw as a threat to their property values and the enjoyment of the waterfront: a planned floodwall, 11 feet or more high, running through their neighborhood.
They’d been blindsided a month earlier when a resident invited Kyle Spencer , the city’s resilience officer , to present a $2.66 billion U.S. Army Corps of Engineers coastal storm risk management plan to protect the city from catastrophic flooding.
They watched as Spencer showed options for the wall alignment, including one slicing between two condominium buildings and down a cobblestone street that is a key entryway into the neighborhood. Another option hugged the waterfront and then traversed into the Elizabeth River. They weren’t told, but specifications would require it to rise about 17 feet above the water.