May Newsletter and Events

• Upcoming Events
• Saturday, May 9: Second Saturday Hike @ Indian River Park
• Saturday, May 16: Adopt-A-Garden @ Oaklette Bridge
• Thursday, May 21: Bi-Monthly Meeting - River Otters
• Saturday, June 6: Adopt-A-Park @ Indian River Park
• Thursday, June 18: Welcome Summer Evening Potluck Picnic
• News
• Chesapeake City Budget
• Philmont Avenue Sanitary Sewer and Stormwater Improvement Project
• Chesapeake Healthy Landscapes
• April-early May Recap

Upcoming Event

Saturday, May 9: Second Saturday Hike @ Indian River Park

• 
  8:30 am to 10:30 am
• Location: Indian River Park entrance at Rokeby Ave. and Main St. (2003 Rokeby Ave.) 
• Join us for a hike along the nature trail and through the park. Learn about the history of the park, the native trees and plants in this century old forest on the Indian River flood plain, and its value to maintaining the health of local butterfly, bird, and wildlife populations. Note: the forest trail has uneven surfaces and minor elevation changes.
• Please pre-register at https://forms.gle/1jzZz4X7qrTX7Vxs9 (suggested but not required)

Saturday, May 16: Adopt-A-Garden @ Oaklette Bridge

• 
  From 9 AM to Noon
• Meet at Lilac Avenue and Indian River Road. Park along Lilac Avenue by the Norfolk Highlands Primary School.
• We will be weeding and mulching our gardens along Indian River Road at the Oaklette Bridge. 
• Please wear closed-toe shoes, a hat and bring work gloves and other items that may be useful.  Bring your favorite hand-weeding tool, if you have one. We will have water and snacks, but we also always encourage folks to bring their own water in reusable bottles to minimize the use of plastic bottles. Participants under 18 years of age must have adult supervision.
• Please pre-register at https://forms.gle/SB5gcB3GX7L2Wg2t9 (suggested but not required)

Thursday, May 21: Bi-Monthly Meeting - River Otters

• 
  7 pm to 8:30 pm
• Location: Oaklette United Methodist Church, 520 Oaklette Drive
• Our guest speaker will be Victoria Dunch from the Elizabeth River Project, who will talk to us about the return of river otters, once a rare sight, to the Elizabeth River, including the Indian River.  The resurgence has inspired a new collaboration between the Elizabeth River Project and the River Otter Ecology Project, a national organization promoting community science to support water conservation efforts nationwide.  
• All are welcome.  We'll also have the latest community news and updates!  There will be light refreshments.

Saturday, June 6: Adopt-A-Park @ Indian River Park

• 9 am to Noon
• Location: We are partnering with Southern Volkswagen Dealership for this event and will be staging the cleanup from the south end of their parking lot, at 1248 S Military Hwy.  Please be sure to register at the link below so we can provide updated parking information.  
• Our focus will be a cleanup of the floodplain inside Indian River Park.  There are areas along the edge of the floodplain that need trash collection, but we will also work inside the floodplain which is muddy and wet.  If possible, bring rubber boots and clothes that can get muddy.  Please wear closed-toe shoes, a hat and bring work gloves.  Long pants recommended.  
• We will have water and snacks but, we also always encourage folks to bring their own water in reusable bottles to minimize use of plastic bottles. 
• Participants under 18 years of age must have adult supervision.
• Please pre-register at https://forms.gle/ig4wqRufzSduA2Ns6 

Thursday, June 18: Welcome Summer Evening Potluck Picnic

• 
  6 pm to 8 pm (come out anytime during the event)
• Location: Picnic Pavilion behind Oaklette United Methodist Church, 520 Oaklette Drive; park in the side lot along St. Lawrence Dr.
• Rather than our usual monthly meeting, in June we'll have a potluck picnic out behind the church.  Bring a dish to share and join us for some camaraderie as we roll into summer.  The Friends will set out tables and chairs, and provide a main protein dish (likely chicken).  We suggest bringing a comfy lawn chair.
• In the event of rain, we will move the event inside the church's fellowship hall.
• To help coordinate who is bringing what, we set up a Sign Up Genius form at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C094DADA92FA2FA7-63952039-friends

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News

Chesapeake City Budget

The City Council is in the process of reviewing the proposed budget for the City and is scheduled to vote on the final budget at their meeting on May 12.  The proposed budgets can be found at https://www.cityofchesapeake.net/176/Budget-Department.  

In the Capital Improvement Program, the Friends of Indian River were pleased to support new funding for two critical items for the Indian River Area:

• Project 30-310 Blue Heron Landing Midblock Pedestrian Crossing - across Indian River Road to provide safe access to Blue Heron Landing Park.  This is a very high priority for our community.
• Project 28-310 Military Highway Trail - to build 4,200 linear feet of 10-foot wide multi-purpose trail between Smith Avenue and Paramont Avenue and from Rokeby Avenue to Auburn Drive on South Military Highway.   Currently, there are no sidewalks or any pedestrian or bicycle infrastructure in this area.  Combined with the Rokeby Intersection improvements (project 41-290), which we understand now includes the needed pedestrian crossing at Rokeby Avenue (an issue we raised last year and were happy to hear was resolved), this will provide critical safety improvements along Military Highway.   We look forward to working with Public Works to discuss the alignment of the trail.

We have also been briefed that the Indian River Road Traffic Calming and Bike Lanes will be implemented as soon as May (project 40-270 in the current budget).   This is another critical safety improvement that we are keenly awaiting.   

We continue to ask that some of the funding set aside for  project 42-270, Streetscaping and Landscaping of Various Gateway Corridors, be applied to the Indian River area.  Streetscaping was another key element of the Indian River Planning Area Study and Redevelopment Strategy,

We also support the funding for other projects underway in the area, including:

• #26-300 Indian River Strategic Acquisition of Real Property - This project funds the purchase of commercial and residential property along key transportation corridors within the Indian River Planning Area to support implementation of the Indian River Planning Area Study and Redevelopment Strategy
• #15-300 Chesapeake Pedestrian Access Improvements - funds improvements to pedestrian crossings at 33 signalized intersections [that] include high-visibility crosswalks, pedestrian signal poles, push buttons, and curb ramps with detectable warnings.
• #65-230 Philmont Avenue Sanitary Sewer and Stormwater Improvement Project
• #52-250 Norfolk Highlands Stormwater Improvements 
• #72-270 Cuffee Community Center Pool 
• #05-260 Broadlawn Apartments Stormwater Outfall Improvements 
• #61-270 Providence Road Crossing Replacement (replacement for the existing damaged cross pipes under Providence Road near lake)
• #20-300 Urban Forestry & Tree Inventory Plan - This will include the development of an Urban Forest Master Plan
• #27-300 Wayfinding Signage - This project funds the design and implementation of a scalable wayfinding sign ‘family’ consisting of entryway, gateway, and both pedestrian and vehicular wayfinding signage.
• #16-290, Indian River Façade Improvement Grant

Philmont Avenue Sanitary Sewer and Stormwater Improvement Project

This project, which will install sanitary sewer piping along Philmont Avenue, where homes are still on septic systems, and also make improvements to the stormwater drainage system, is finally getting ready to start.  The City is holding an Open House on Monday, May 11, 5 pm to 8 pm at Sparrow Road Intermediate School to share information about the project.  

Chesapeake Healthy Landscapes

It's spring and we are encouraging folks to sign up for the Chesapeake Environmental Improvement Council (CEIC) Chesapeake Healthy Landscape Program.  This program recognizes and encourages residents to take steps to create healthy landscapes on their properties.  Participants who sign up can receive an information kit and a landscape flag as recognition for their efforts.  

To be recognized, they are looking for commitments to Protect Your Trees, put the Right Plant in the Right Place, Consider Wildlife, Reduce Lawn Maintenance, Reduce Runoff, Avoid or Remove Invasive Plants, and Limit Chemical Usage.  Learn more and sign up at Chesapeake Healthy Landscape Program.

 The program dovetails nicely with the Elizabeth River Project River Star Homes program.  River Stars are also eligible for additional cost-share funding for living shoreline and conservation landscaping projects.  

We're hoping that the Indian River will be the top area for sign-ups in the Chesapeake.  

April-early May Recap

In early April, we met up with the Tidewater Appalachian Trail Club for a hike in Indian River Park.   The Trail Club goes out to explore different trails around the region every Tuesday.  This outing was a great opportunity to show off Indian River Park to first-time visitors.

Mid-month, volunteers came out to pull the winter weeds out of our native plant garden at Indian River Park.  The before-during-after pictures show the amazing difference!   Now we need volunteers to help maintain the garden through the rest of the year.  If interested, please e-mail us at info@friendsofindianriver.org.  

And we started out May with Clean the Bay Day.  Fifteen volunteers braved the rain to come to the cleanup at Blue Heron Landing Park, around the Oaklette Bridge, and along Indian River Road.  Overall, we collected about 150 lbs of litter, including an awful lot of small stuff like cigarette butts (little nicotine pollution packets, stuffing from a toy, straws, bottle caps, etc.

We also tabled at the CEIC screening of The Lorax movie at the Central Library for Earth Day.  It was a fun event and a chance to work with our partners and reach out to the community.  And we had a chance to meet the Lorax and Smokey the Bear!

Thank you to the volunteers who helped this month!

Have an idea for an article for our newsletter?  Send your submission, max 250 words, to us at info@friendsofindianriver.org along with a photo and we'll consider it for our next edition.