Retirement community’s expansion plans irk neighbors
At 92, Heidi Kunsch enjoys living in a condo on the bay.
She moved to Virginia Beach a few years ago to be closer to family. Her partner recently died from cancer, which was really difficult for her — especially during the pandemic. She said she has focused on appreciating the little joys in life.
But that could all change if the city council on Tuesday signs off on a nearby retirement community building a 22-story glass tower and a seven-story memory center with assisted living.
The new additions to Westminster-Canterbury On The Bay would be about 60 feet from her condo and would block her view, she said. Kunsch said she can’t cope with listening to construction over the next five years.
“I don’t have that many years left,” Kunsch said, echoing the sentiments of other residents of Ocean Shore Condominiums. “I just cry about it if I think about it. I have to put it out of mind because I can’t even sleep at night if I think about it.”
The new building will provide oasis for other seniors who want to live in a retirement community, according to its supporters.
Westminster-Canterbury on Chesapeake Bay has been around since 1977 and grown substantially over the years. In 1998, the city allowed the company to construct a 14-story building with 146 independent living units. If this expansion is approved, the campus would feature a total of 905 units and 1,096 parking spaces.
On top of housing with water views and a health care center, the proposed at least $200 million project will add two new restaurants, a multipurpose room, fitness center and aerobics studio, theater, outdoor terrace and landscaped gardens. The building will have solar energy and green roof technologies.
Ben Unkle, CEO of Westminster-Canterbury on Chesapeake Bay, said he has real sympathy for adjacent property owners, but he said they were never promised that no one would build next door. He said any building his company would put on there would still obstruct some of the property owners’ views.
Construction would start on the shorter building first, likely in 2021, and last for up to two years. The taller tower would take up to three years to construct.
Unkle said he hopes the council focuses on the larger problem the city has — a shortage of available housing for seniors. He said the new tower needed to be 22 floors to ensure the units would be affordable and not increase the costs for existing residents. He said demand has remained the same during the pandemic, and residents are happy to live in a community where they are not isolated.
Kunsch said she invested a lot of money renovating her condo, but is considering moving to avoid the disruption.
“I would really hate to leave my place, but I know I can’t stop it,” she said. “I can’t fight City Hall.”
Her neighbor Mary Sykes, 76, already sold her condo and left at the end of August. She lived at Ocean Shore for 15 years. Her dog has seizures and she feared the construction noise would be harmful to him.
“I don’t know how many good years left I have and I did not want to live next door to construction for 5 years,” Sykes said. “It was not really what I wanted to do. I loved it there. But for my own heath and the health of my dog, I felt like I had to sell.”
On Monday, the clerk’s office reported 50 people had registered to speak during Tuesday’s council meeting at the Virginia Beach
Convention Center.
If the council gives a green light to the new development, Ocean Shore Condominiums will challenge the decision in court within 30 days, said Jeanne Lauer, the group’s attorney.
Under question is the 250-foot height of the proposed tower, which is taller than would typically be allowed for senior living housing. Planning Director Bobby Tajan has said that the council has the option to waive height requirements through the conditional use permit process. Lauer disagrees with this interpretation of the law.
Lauer sent a letter to the council on Sept. 14 stating that the zoning
law does not allow the city to allow Westminster to construct a 22story building at all in the proposed location. Zoning law says senior living housing may not exceed 165 feet, Lauer said. She said her clients hope “the City Council will make the right decision and reject the Westminster Canterbury plans for a 22-story tower because it cares about the citizens that it has now and cannot be bought with shiny buildings and promises of swelling coffers.”
This isn’t the first condo association that has bumped heads with Westminster.
In 2019, residents of the Casa del Playa Condominiums said Westminster-Canterbury purchased enough condos to take over the complex. Condo owners were forced to move out. Casa del Playa would be knocked down to make way for the 22-story development.
Todd Solomon, president of Shore Drive Community Coalition, a group that represents civic leagues and condo organizations in the Shore Drive area, said the group opposes the 22-story building because his members don’t think it fits with the residential neighborhood. He fears if the council allows it, it will pave the way for more high rises in the area. He also said the city did not facilitate enough civic dialogue and council members have not been responsive to their concerns.
“We don’t want a Town Center on Shore Drive,” Solomon said. “Once developers know they can get council to buckle, the developers will start lining up to build high rises on Shore Drive.”
Another issue for the project will come down the road. Westminster plans to request at some point to relocate a public beach access point to their northeastern property line to accommodate the construction of the independent living building. The relocation would require support from nine council members.
The problem is three of 11 council members — Rosemary Wilson, Jim Wood and Louis Jones — have announced they have conflicts and will not be able to vote on the project. Wilson’s boss holds a seat on Westminster’s board; Wood owns property nearby; and Jones, a funeral director, has a written agreement with Westminster to remove bodies and refrigerate them until next of kin can be reached to make burial arrangements.
On Monday, City Attorney Mark Stiles declined to comment on the height restrictions and questions about relocating beach accesses. He said he plans to brief the council on the issues on Tuesday so it would be inappropriate to comment before then.
On Monday, R.J. Nutter, the attorney for Westminster, said the city could nix relocating the beach access point and just add a new one.
Westminster-Canterbury will also return to the council in the coming months for approval of two elevated pedestrian bridges that would link the proposed buildings and the facilities on the existing ones.