UPCOMING EVENTS
CIVIC League General Membership Meetings – General Information:
- Unless otherwise noted, meetings are on the 3rd Wednesday of January, April, and September of each year. You don’t want to miss it!
- We are always looking for topics for our programs and guest speakers. To make suggestions for additional guest speakers/ topics, please contact us.
- Civic League Points of Contact:
- League President – Mike Fouts michael.fouts@gmail.com
- League Treasurer – Jody Korman jofiko224@aol.com
- Board of Trustees – larkspurvirginia@gmail.com
Yard of the Month –
- From April to November the Larkspur Garden Club will be selecting a yard of the month. The winter months from December to March will be your months to plan out your victory!
- Special Edition Yard of the Month will be every December for a spirited home. Please contact us for more details!
- For more Larkspur Garden Club information please call Cookie @ 450-4051
NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH
We need your help to get more participation in the Neighborhood Watch program!Here are the steps to get involved:
• You will receive a Confirmation of Completion in 25 minutes.When you receive your Confirmation, please notify me at 757-474-2111.
Let’s do this!
PAST EVENTS
2022:
Check out your 2022 – 2023 Garden Club!
All are welcome to join us!
October 18 10 a.m. Clubhouse Betty Villers, “Color for your Autumn Landscape”
November 15 10 a.m. Virginia Beach Field Trip and Tour of the Center Arts Center Lunch at a local restaurant
January 17 7 p.m. Clubhouse Make-It, Take-It , Edible Birdhouses and Suet Block Making
February 21 10 a.m. Clubhouse Deb Henry, “Jumpstart Your Garden with Seeds”
March 21 7 p.m. Clubhouse Jill Valentine, Japanese Sumi-e Painting
April 18 10 a.m. Clubhouse Sherry Kern, “Pruning Your Shrubs and Trees”
May 16 9:30 a.m. TBA Annual Spring Field Trip
All daytime meetings unless otherwise posted will begin at 10 a.m. Members and guests should arrive at 9:45 a.m. to allow 15 minutes to socialize with everyone. For all daytime meetings at the clubhouse, we are asking all to pack their own lunch, snacks, and drinks.
Evening meetings will begin at 7 p.m. Plan to arrive at 6:45 p.m. For all evening meetings at the clubhouse, members and guests are asked to bring a small appetizer to share and a beverage. Adult beverages such as wine and beer are welcomed.
Questions?
President – Cookie Duffey 757-467-0923 (home)
Vice President – Karin Dridge 757-962-1902 (home)
Civic League Rep. – Elizabeth Savage 757-467-5261 (home)
2022 Summer Picnic – hosted at Larkspur Swim and Racquet Club!
- I hope you had fun at our annual picnic!
- We enjoyed some special guests that came out including Rocky Holcomb, Jen Kiggans, and Tommy Altman
We enjoyed a great meeting on 22 March 2022 at 6PM catching up with friends and meeting new people to the area. What a blessing to have the Larkspur Swim and Racquet clubhouse.
2021:
Ballot Info for October 2021
- Larkspur Neighbors,
What do you know about the Virginia Beach Flood Protection Bond on the Ballot?
When there is a big downpour or it has been raining for days, I am very careful about where I decide to drive. Some streets are flooded both in Virginia Beach and Norfolk.This bond is for Virginia Beach. Rocky Holcomb (our new City Council Representative) stated these funds could only be used for mitigation, and there would be an oversight committee. This is an important point as often money is diverted to something else. THESE MONIES RAISED CAN ONLY BE USED FOR THIS PROJECT. Decide for yourself, 21 projects, 6 areas, 10 year plan, $300 increase in average Larkspur property taxes to keep our city improving. Some projects as close as Windsor Woods and the lake at Mt Trashmore. The “Ripple Effect” as it’s named in the video can help us all. Check out more info by checking out this website on the Virginia Beach city page, and watch the video.
General Membership Meeting of 15 September, 2021
- Summer is closing out faster than we all could hope I’m sure and fall is amongst us. The civic league is ready to enjoy the fall weather with an outside general membership meeting. We met on the lawn at Larkspur Swim and Racquet Club on Wednesday, Sept 15th at 6pm. There were reports from the board members and discussions about improving our Edwin entrances. Our newest member of city council for the Kempsville area, Rocky Holcomb, stopped by for a quick visit to introduce himself.
General Membership Meeting and Social 13 June 2021
Entrance Sign Volunteers
Are you passionate about your neighborhood? How about gardening? We need your help restoring the entrances to their former glory. Thank you to Andy and Ian Bedinger for your hard work sprucing up the entrances! Call the number at the bottom of our webpage, or contact us to help!
photo circa 2014
April Yard of the Month
Congratulate your neighbors at the corner of Sam Snead and Southern Pines!
General Membership Meeting and Social 28 Apr 2021
Thank you to everyone that was able to make it to the meeting and social. We appreciate the close relationship our civic league has with Larkspur Swim and Racquet Club and that they hosted us for our meeting and organized the food truck “Cheese It Up!” for everyone to enjoy. Shout out to our neighbors who used the opportunity to re-join the Civic League.
General Membership Meeting Jan 2021
2020:
General Membership Meeting of 15 Jan, 2020
- Mike Fouts conduced his first General Membership meeting as the new Civic League President, replacing Mike Anderson. We welcome Mike Fouts and look forward his time on the board. Additionally again we wish to thank Mike Anderson for his leadership and support during his time as president. Luckily, we will continue to benefit from his many contributions and experience, as he will remain on the as the Civic League Board of Trustees as a member.
- A representative from The Lynnhaven River Now organization and Pearl Home environmental designation made a very information presentation, updating us on the Lynnhaven River environmental progress, the importance of good stewardship was much of Larkspur drains into the Lynnhaven River basin. The Pearl Home designation signifies residences that have taken certain steps to protect the environment. This was very timely with spring not too far around the corner.
- The UpCenter.org The Up Center has served as a safety net for our community for more than 135 years. They now focus on providing foster care and adoption services for children and many other programs. We were informed of the foster care program, the urgent need for families willing to foster, and how to get involved.
- We were informed of the upcoming 2020 U.S. Census, its importance and the benefits of getting it right and the impacts of poor or erroneous results. Census employment opportunities were also presented.
2019:
General Membership Meeting of 25 Sep, 2019
- We continue to be interested in volunteers to serve on the civic league board of trustees.
- Michael Fouts has taken over as president of the civic league, effective 25 Sep. Mike Anderson will continue to serve on the board. Our sincere thanks to Mike Anderson for the many hours of excellent service and stewardship as our president.
- The Honorable Tina Sennen, Circuit Court Clerk, Virginia Beach Circuit Court, was our principal speaker, along with several of her staff. She, her Chief Deputy Tracey Entwisle, Nancy White – Supervisor Civil Division, and Dustyn Anderson – Probate Department, will discussed the importance of wills, key aspects of a valid will, the probate process, and other information on the court’s civil matters, and impacts on Virginia Beach residents in general.
- Sgt. Wiggins, VBPD 4th precinct gave an update on crime rates in Larkspur. The results were encouraging, in that Larkspur continues to experience a very low crime rate. That said, Pat Molnar continues to encourage participation in Neighborhood Watch.
- Several candidates for state office elections introduced themselves to attendees.
National Night Out at the Larkspur Swim and Racquet Club was held on Tuesday 6 Aug 2019
This was a fun and rewarding event at the pool, and was very successful in promoting police/first responders/state and local officials and We community partnerships and neighborhood awareness. We hope the pool continues to sponsor this event. We have a few photos in the gallery.
The Larkspur Annual Civic League Hosted Neighborhood Picnic Sat, 01 Jun 2019.
To all who attended, thank you. We hope you had a great time. Thanks as well to the LSRC for hosting and assisting, and our volunteers as well. The weather looked a bit “iffy” at the start of the day, but cleared up nicely just in time. Wishing all the best as the summer season begins.
General Membership Meeting 01 May 2019
Sidewalks
Sidewalk Initiative Status Update Slides – presented to General Membership Meeting 01 May 2019
Sidewalk Initiative Update 01 May 19“14 Mar 2019
The Civic League Board of Trustees sponsored a meeting between residents on the southeast side of Edwin (school side), the board, and Virginia Beach Utilities Traffic Division to answer questions/issues in the ongoing discussion of whether a sidewalk on that side of Edwin is feasible, desirable, and supported by property owners. The meeting was held on 22 Aug, 6:30 pm at the Kempsville Rec Center. Seven of a possible thirty-one owners attended.
1. Sidewalk Initiative – At this time, the project is on hold. The latest poll of affected property owners indicated that there is less than 75% approval, which is required to move forward. We will revisit this project from time to time.
a. Fact finding, process determination, benefits, impact, and petition process for a possible sidewalk on the KMES side of Edwin, at the request of a number of residents.
b. A special meeting for residents on the southeast side of Edwin (school side), the Civic League Board, and Public Utilities Traffic Division was held on 22 Aug 6:30 pm at the Kempsville Rec Center. Our intent was to let residents ask questions and raise issues/concerns and continue to determine if a sidewalk is feasible, desirable, and supported by affected residents. Seven out of a total of thirty-one potentially affected property owners attended.
As of that time we do not have sufficient support to ask the city for a sidewalk. Our thanks to Mr. Brian Proctor, Va Bch Public Utilities for providing important information to attendees from the neighborhood.
a. The Civic League Board mailed the below letter to property owners on the east (school) side of Edwin Drive the week of 18 Mar 19. The intent of the letter was to provide the details of an initiative to determine if a sidewalk along Edwin to connect to existing walkways at the LSRC pool and the bank at Independence and Edwin. In the letter we ask for an informal, non-binding response as to whether or not potentially affected property owners would support this project. We presented this as a topic at the civic league meeting on 01 May 2019.
Letter to Property Owners:Subject: Edwin Drive Sidewalk Initiative Proposal
Dear Larkspur Neighborhood Edwin Drive Residential Property Owner,Over the past year, the Larkspur Civic League Board of Trustees has received requests from Larkspur residents to investigate the possibility of having a sidewalk installed within Larkspur and along Edwin Drive between Princess Anne Road and Independence Blvd.
The civic league board is not in a position to endorse or negate any sidewalk project, however the board feels that it is in a position of responsibility, within its role, to conduct research, facilitate the discussion, and enable the stake-holder parties the opportunity to make an informed decision to support or not support a sidewalk request.
Thus, in order to be responsive to resident requests, several members of the Board of Trustees were tasked to research the feasibility of requesting such a sidewalk and to gain an understanding of the process in order to ensure that affected stake-holder parties, principally affected property owners, have a voice in determining whether this initiative could or could not go forward to the city.
As a result of our research, I am writing you, the property owner, to familiarize you with the details we have gathered to date, and the process that the City of Virginia Beach Public Utilities Traffic Engineering office requires that we follow.
A sidewalk cannot be installed without a minimum of 75% of the affected property owners agreeing to the project. An affected property is one on Edwin, or a side yard on Edwin, on the side of the street where the sidewalk is proposed to go.
The desire for sidewalks within Larkspur has been a topic off and on over the years. It has become a current topic again, in large part due to the number of families with younger children that have been moving into Larkspur in the past several years. Many of these families lament their inability to safely transit Edwin Drive for walking or jogging with their children; and in particular walking to Mt. Trashmore Park at the northern end and to the pool, school, and/or churches at the southern end.
With the continued development in all directions in the Kempsville area, traffic volume has increased, with Edwin Drive experiencing more and more daily traffic. At this time, approximately 6,000 vehicles a day transit Edwin. In the United States, about 64,000 pedestrians are killed each year. While not all of these deaths occur in neighborhoods, the fact remains that a child (or adult) can ride a bike and run on sidewalks, or in the street. It is far more dangerous for people to be in the street. In Larkspur, this is particularly acute where Edwin narrows south of the power line crossing. Not only is not having sidewalks more dangerous for children, it is also a challenge for some of our more senior residents.
The expected benefits of a sidewalk on the South East Side of Edwin Drive would include:
• The enhanced safety of our residents as the principal benefit, achieved by physically separating pedestrian and vehicular travel.
• Improved opportunities for safe and healthy recreational activities for adults as well as children.
• Improved mobility to access the park, pool, school, and other facilities.
• Projecting an outdoor and child friendly view of Larkspur. As a side note, the younger families moving in generally upgrade/modernize their homes, which in turn promote the viability of Larkspur as a desired neighborhood and resultant property values. To that end, a sidewalk may improve property value.
Members of the Board of Trustees contacted the City of Virginia Beach, Public Utilities Traffic Engineering and learned the following:
• A minimum of 75% of the affected properties would have to have an owner sign a sidewalk partition for the project to begin. Affected owner(s) are those where the right of way would be used, including front and/or corner lot sides. A copy of that petition is included in this mailing simply for information.
• The city supports and promotes sidewalks for safety and as neighborhood enhancements.
• There is a city budget for sidewalks, meaning that there is no out-of-pocket added cost to residents for sidewalk construction.
• A sidewalk along Edwin fully meets the three criteria of Connectivity (Princess Ann Rd to Independence); School Zone (Kempsville Meadows Elementary); and Destination (Park, School, Pool)
• The south/east side of Edwin (school side) best meets the criteria with connections to existing wide sidewalks at both ends of Edwin.
• The city owns the right of way in front of each property. The property owners are stakeholders however, because they maintain that right of way and are also affected positively or negatively depending on their individual perspective.
• Trees, shrubs, landscaping or other obstacles that encroach the right of way would have to be removed. The residents would be asked to move them, but if they do not, the city would move them when construction began.
• The city will replant three trees for any one tree that would have to be cut down.
We will include a briefing of this sidewalk imitative in the agenda for the next General Membership Meeting scheduled for 01 May at 7:00 pm at Kempsville Meadows Elementary. Several weeks after this mailing and prior to the meeting, several board members will personally contact owners directly.
If there seems to be sufficient support we will designate a specific period of time and hand walk the petition for signature. We will mail this information and an official petition to non-resident property owners.
If we obtain 75% or greater support from the property owners, we will work with the city with respect to a timeline for construction, and inform the community through our web site, other social media, our periodic newsletter, and successive General Membership Meetings. If we do not obtain 75% support, we will also so inform through the same means as above, and shelve the project for the foreseeable future.
In summary, I hope I have outlined and satisfactorily addressed the issues for all of you.
Younger families with children are asking for this. In the aggregate the neighborhood quite likely would benefit from a continuous sidewalk along Edwin and the safer child/senior-friendly neighborhood feel that it would provide. We also know that the collective concerns and views of potentially affected property owners must not only be heard, but must be respected as the final word.
We look forward to hearing from you as to whether or not we will be able to add what could be a significant neighborhood enhancement.
Included below is an informal non-binding survey form to get a general idea of the level of support or non-support. Please either mail it in the return envelope, go on our website at https://larkspurvb.club/projects/ and fill out the form there, or email me at mikeandersonriverside@gmail.com.
Please plan to attend the 01 May 2019 General Membership Meeting.
Most Sincerely,
Mike Anderson
Larkspur Civic League Board President
General Membership Meeting of May 01, 2019:
- An update on a Sidewalk Proposal for Edwin Drive. At the request of a number of residents, we tasked the Civic League Board of Trustees to explore this as a possibility. Jim Stone provided an update to the membership on what we have found out so far, and possible next steps, as well as how we will respond to the voices of affected owners should this move forward. We had hoped to have a representative from the Virginia Beach Public Works, Traffic Engineering on hand to answer any additional questions or concerns, but he was unavailable due to prior commitments. Slides can be viewed / downloaded here. Projects
- Neighborhood Watch Program. Pat Molnar provided an update on this important program, how it works, and how you can become involved.
- Mike Anderson asked for your support in soliciting new members of the Civic League Board of Trustees. Several current members’ terms are expiring and we would welcome new members willing to help out on our Board of Trustees. It does not take up a lot of time, and you would be contributing to our great neighborhood in doing so.
General Membership Meeting of Jan 16, 2019:
- In addition to regular business, guest presenters included Mr. Gary Zalas from the VBPD Community Engagement Office, who presented programs offered for seniors i.e., The Operation Lookout Expanded Program, Project Lifesaver, Senior Citizens Police Academy, Medical Prescription Take back program, TRIAD and more, as well as answering questions.
- We also were honored to hear from Mr. Dan Edwards, the Kempsville representative on the School Board, on upcoming changes and the overall outlook of our public school system. Thanks to both for their time.