It has been a harsh fall and winter for the Cape Charles beach. Several heavy storms have eaten away, and left tiny slivers around the parabolas created by the rocks.
When we talk about Cape Charles beach management, what we really mean is that the town basically does nothing. Since the channel dredging, the town has literally sat back and watched its prize asset dwindle away while pumping millions into the black hole of the harbor, and thousands more on sleazy downtown businesses.
Public Works Director John Lockwood, the only real ally the beach has on the town staff, has finally taken some action to move some of the sand from dunes, and from the shallow part of the shoreline. Just glancing, it appears the public works crew has doubled the available part of the beach.
Tensions between Lockwood and dubious members of the Wetlands and Dune Board have run high regarding the beach. Lockwood told the Mirror, “Look, the beach is the top of the crown, it is the reason people come here. I tell my crew, that for the people that live here, and those that visit, when we do maintenance on the beach, do it in way, a professional way, that makes it look like we care about it, and care about what we are doing.”
The Wetland and Dune Board created a beach management plan two years ago, however, critics have noted that it is really Dune and shoreline management plan. In the past few years, that plan has worked, as the dunes got bigger, the shoreline closer, and the beach much smaller.
Whether or not Cape Charles will be allowed to have a summer season is still to be determined, and having more sand on the beach could be a moot point.
Maybe the town could use some of the pristine dredged sand that is behind the brewery for beach replenishment!!!
It’s not a “mute” point, it’s a “moot”. If you are going to disparage the town you live in, you should, at least, use the proper words.
Note: Thanks.
Wow, is this the editor that responded like this?
Note: Maybe the editor is just fed up with mind-numbing stupidity….so there’s that.
Since the subject it is not even being discussed it is a MUTE point. Now if it gets discussed, it may become a moot point, you grammatical Alpha Hotels!
Give’em “what for” editor, you do a fabulous job and your reporting effort is appreciated by many. That you can fit all the CCM publishing into your work day is amazing. You are the Cape Charles version of John Solomon’s Just The News
A toast to “thick skins” !!
-Cruiser
It’s a MOOT point, not a “MUTE” point.
I do not agree with your caustic point of view but , being an English major and daughter of an English teacher, I was compelled to correct you.
Note: Thanks, it was already corrected. We publish close to 20k words per week, no copy editor, and using a rouge spell/grammar checker, we miss a lot. If you are volunteering to help edit (everyone here works a day job too), that would be really nice.
The editorial comment back to Karen was nice to know that the grammar was corrected and the background for what you and others do to report on this site. I’ve enjoyed catching up on hometown news through this page … however, the last two words of the commentary were completely inappropriate and uncalled for.
Karen – You might want to check your punctuation rules more carefully since you are an English major AND the daughter of a grammar teacher. I don’t think there is supposed to be a space between a word and a comma. But, please tell me if I am wrong. Or, you could blame it on Wayne.
Wayne – I for one think this week’s mirror may be your best work ever in my 10 years of reading this great publication. Please keep it up, bless you. God bless this country and Happy Easter!
We will always have problems with the beach because no one has studied how the sand gets washed away by the northern storms in the winter. We could use some appropriately shaped and positioned rock barriers that would encourage the collection of sand instead of drift we now encounter each year. Would love to hear from the Wetlands Board if this would be a project they can take on.
Why in the world do you even live here if you despise it? The history here runs much deeper and purer then your opinions.
Note: I live in Cheriton, and have forgotten more about Shore than you will ever know. Now beat it.
Where you live was never my question, it was why do you live here?
Maybe it’s time to get over yourself.
Note: Ok, Karen. I have been coming to the Shore for 40 years, have lived here 20, and raised two kids, and several dogs here. My kids still live here. As far as getting over myself, that is impossible. I’m too sexy for myself.
Wow. Sleazy businesses?????
What are these “ sleazy downtown businesses“ you speak of?
Note: We publish several thousand words a week, yet it only takes one push all y’alls buttons. Love it.
What beach,you cann’t see the beach for the damn awful dunes.There was a time CC had a beach front, but that was destroyed when the Yankees and the politically correct marched on the town. I have fond memories of CC and it’s beach front(the round table), King’s Creek and the Harbor,but now it has become a town of worldly things. CC will reap what it sows and it shall be well deserved too.
Better watch out! You people have a jewel there and it only takes a few people in wrong places to break it up. Example: Hatteras. Greed. People come because they love it and then the changes start. CC is starting. Good luck
Look at what they have done to the shore as a whole.
Let us thank all the real estate brokers and the agents that carry their water, for advertising our homeland the world over, and selling it off an acre at a time. Thank you for bringing this element to our home.
Thank Again!
I understand we all get to have our own opinions, but it’s very sad to see this backstabbing & judgemental attacks on your neighbors. Who cares if someone is a been here or a come here, we’re neighbors, we all deserve respect & kindness. We should be able to come together to solve some of the town’s problems without this vulgarity!
Note: Okay Carole Baskin, point out one thing in the article that is not true. As far as the Saints that make up the Cape Charles business community, the folks involved in the Old School fight, as well as the Wave could educate you on the matter.
Good morning, someone sent me this post and so I will offer a clarification comment about the CC Beach and Dune Management Plan, which the town council requested the the Wetlands and Coastal Dune Board develop (I’m the chair) and the town council adopted in January 2019. For those who wish to expend the time and effort to read it in order to form their own opinions, which I recommend, for your convenience here is the link to the plan https://capecharles.municipalcms.com//files/documents/TownofCapeCharlesPublicBeachandDuneManagementPlan1701113927031119AM.pdf. You’ll see that the plan is guided by multiple town priorities and policies, which reflect relevant state policies about dunes which in turn are informed by science in Virginia and elsewhere. When it comes to dunes, there is global scientific consensus about their value to protect shorelines from coastal erosion, which has been a long-term problem for the town beach. Since the beach is publicly owned, the town can decide to make the tourism-based economy the highest priority – the town is not obliged to follow the science. Our board, however, didn’t consider it within our purview to recommend deviating from existing policies or science.
Trying to stop the ocean from reclaiming the sand, eh? Have you called Canute’s Wace Cessation Corporation?
Wave. Sheesh, I don’t publish nearly as many words as Wayne, and boom!!! There goes an error.
Wow, we are all human.
😉
Wow! Wayne, you really kicked a hornet’s nest. As someone who has witnessed houses undercut and claimed by the Bay up near Wilkins Beach, I’m with you on reclamation efforts. Trouble is, ultimately I’m afraid Mother Nature wins. I just hope she waits before she takes my house at Smith Beach and those beautiful beachside mansions in Cape Charles.
I wanted to tell you — with your permission I am going to use most of your article verbatim in the new book I just started. The one I spoke with you about some months ago (well, emailed you about) is at the editor right now, and hopefully will be published in June.