View this newsletter online at http://www.friendsofindianriver.org/
- Upcoming Events
- Saturday, March 15: Indian River Park Hike
- Thursday, March 20: Monthly Meeting - Abandoned and Derelict Vessel (ADV) program
- Saturday, March 22: Adopt-A-Road Cleanup along Indian River Road
- Weed Warrior Wednesday @ Indian River Park, March 5 and 12
- News
- Indian River Design Guidelines
- February Recap
- Spring Membership Drive
Upcoming Events
Saturday, March 15, 2025: Indian River Park Hike
- 8:30 am to 10:30 am
- Location: Indian River Park entrance
at Rokeby Ave. and Main St. (2003 Rokeby Ave.) which is located just south of Military Highway, i.e. across Military Highway from the Fire Station. - 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/2UDkv6RHqmBULQpj6 (suggested but not required)
Thursday, March 20, 2025: Monthly Meeting - Abandoned and Derelict Vessel (ADV) program
- 7 pm to 8:30 pm
- Location: Oaklette United Methodist Church, 520 Oaklette Drive
- Our guest speaker will be Vince Bowhers, the Restoration Coordinator for Lynnhaven River NOW who will talk to us about the Abandoned and Derelict Vessel (ADV) program. This effort funded through a NOAA grant is working to remove 100 ADVs from coastal Virginia waterways and to create a statewide program to prevent ADVs. We will also have a short business meeting.
- All are welcome. We'll also have the latest community news and updates! There will be light refreshments for the meeting.
Saturday, March 22, 2025: Adopt-A-Road Cleanup along Indian River Road
- From 9 AM to 11:30 am
- Meet at Lilac Avenue and Indian River Road. Park along Lilac Avenue by the Norfolk Highlands Primary School.
- It is the Great American Cleanup and we need your help. Join us for a few hours to clean up the mile of Indian River Road from the city limits at Wingfield Avenue all the way to MacDonald Road and at Blue Heron Landing Park.
- We are also asking all business owners along Indian River Road - and everywhere really - to make sure they sweep up in front of their storefronts as part of the effort. And if you can't make it out for our organized cleanup please take 15 minutes and cleanup the street and ditches in front of your home; pass the word to your neighbors!
- For our main cleanup on Indian River Road, the city will provide garbage bags and orange safety vests. Please wear closed-toe shoes, a hat and bring work gloves and other items that may be useful. Participants under 18 years of age must have adult supervision.
- Please pre-register at https://forms.gle/J6t7F6YPEezg5pYf7 (suggested but not required)
Weed Warrior Wednesdays, March 5 and March 12
- From 1 pm to 3 pm each Wednesday
- Location: Indian River Park entrance at Rokeby Ave. and Main St. (2003 Rokeby Ave.) which is located just south of Military Highway, i.e. across Military Highway from the Fire Station.
- We are teaming up with Parks, Recreation and Tourism (PRT) to do Weed Warrior Wednesday at Indian River Park, weather allowing, Two more Wednesday have been added in March, Our focus will be to deal with invasive Linden Viburnum and Chinese Privet infesting the park. Please come out to help for one or more of these dates if you are available. PRT will provide hand tools to those who sign up, but please bring your own loppers or pruning saws if you’d prefer.
- Please wear closed-toe shoes, long pants, a hat and bring work gloves and bring water in reusable container.
- Team size for these events will be limited, so please sign up at the PRT Sign-Up Genius at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040c4aacae2eaaf58-fall#/
Indian River Design Guidelines
Our group thoroughly reviewed and commented on the draft and support the revisions that will be presented at the meeting. The document is an important next step in advancing the commercial revitalization goals in the Indian River Small Area Plan. It does a good job of describing the qualities, deficiencies, and redevelopment objectives of the commercial corridors in our community. Public input for developing the guidelines highlights the recurring themes of better pedestrian and bicycle safety, enhanced landscaping and green space, and encouraging new destination-style businesses such as coffee shops, eateries, and a grocery store.
Overall, our group found the document's contents to be very positive and, especially for the Indian River Road corridor, our communities "Main Street", describe a path to transforming the community to a more pedestrian-friendly shopping street with landscaping, trees for shade, and sidewalks. The Guidelines support efforts to implement urgently needed pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements along Indian River Road and Military Highway. We appreciate that the plan adopts Dark Sky and Bird Safe lighting and window standards.
We thank the Planning Department and the consultant team for their diligent work on these guidelines and their strong emphasis on getting community input.
February Recap
Winter found us in February and disrupted our event schedule somewhat. We had to cancel our February Invasive Species Workshop due to the snow but Parks, Recreation, and Tourism (PRT) was able to hold two Weed Warrior Wednesdays in which we made a big dent in the population of invasive Linden Virburnum. They have two more Wednesdays scheduled in March. The Virginian Pilot did a story on the effort -
Weed Warriors help control invasive plants in Chesapeake parks – The Virginian-PilotWe did hold our hike for the Great Backyard Bird Count hike around the civic campus between the Indian River Community Center and the High School in mid-February. We spotted some 21 species with some of the less common sighting including Northern Shovelers, Gadwalls, and Ruddy Ducks.
Our president, Rogard Ross, also attended the February 25 City Council meeting to keep the focus on implementing pedestrian and bicycle safety improvement along Indian River Road, particularly with the approach of warmer weather which will increase use of the new Blue Heron Landing Park. VDOT's Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Action Plan (PBSAP) identifies Indian River Road in Chesapeake as one of the Top 1% statewide roadway segments in priority to review for safety projects and other planning needs. It was noteworthy that two other speakers at the meeting raised similar safety concerns for around Cedar Road and Greenbrier Parkway.
Spring Membership Drive
It's time for our annual spring membership drive. The Friends of Indian River are an all-volunteer, local, 501(c)(3) non-profit, and we depend on member contributions to advance our mission to improve the quality of life for all the residents of the Indian River neighborhoods. Our fiscal year ends March 31 and our fundraising goal is $1800; we are currently at $1233. Help us reach our goal. You can become a member, renew your membership, or just make a contribution online at
http://www.friendsofindianriver.org/p/membership.html
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.
