BY STEFANIE BOWMANN, Eastern Shore Post
The latest draft of the Cape Charles beachfront master plan is a scaled-back version that focuses on preserving the natural feel and simplicity of the beach and improving visitor safety and accessibility.
The first draft, presented in October 2024, received public backlash for emulating larger vacation destinations like Ocean City and Virginia Beach.
The new plan features less pavement and fewer plazas. Plans remain for Gazebo Plaza and Mason Avenue Plaza, but these areas will be smaller than originally designed.
Food trucks will be moved to Mason Avenue Plaza, where they will have access to electricity. This arrangement will improve the aesthetic of the beachfront and decrease noise.
On the beach, the height of the dunes will be lowered, improving the view of the horizon and decreasing the amount of sand blowing onto Bay Avenue and residential lawns. The dunes currently reach heights of over 20 feet on the south end of the beach.
Sand also will be trapped by a curb wall that is part of a complete transformation of Bay Avenue.
In the current location of the sidewalk on the west side of Bay Avenue will be a 10-foot-wide “sand trap” maintenance zone with a seat-height curb wall on either side.
Next to that will be an 18.5-foot-wide sidewalk, a 22-foot-wide parking strip, and two 11-foot-wide driving lanes, with parallel parking, an 8.5-foot-wide sidewalk, and a hedge wall on the residential side of the street. The grass strip currently running down the middle of Bay Avenue will be removed.
The new Bay Avenue parking layout will provide 129 regular parking spaces and 106 golf cart spaces for a total of 235 parking spots, a 47% increase.
The new parking arrangement is expected to improve safety because the golf-cart parking area is on the west side of Bay Avenue, which will minimize the number of children crossing the street to enter the beach.
The updated beachfront master plan also includes restrooms and accessibility to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which were among the top requests of Cape Charles residents.
There is currently no cost estimate for the project, but the improvements are expected to be pricey, and the town has applied for a U.S. Department of Transportation Rural and Tribal Assistance grant in the maximum amount of $750,000.
This is a five-year pilot program in its second year, with a total of $27 million in funding available and no local match requirement.
The application was submitted by Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, or VHB, the firm that Cape Charles paid $99,000 to create the beachfront master plan.
The grant funds would help pay for planning, design, and engineering costs associated with the project.
Richard Wiatt Jr., VHB landscape architect and project manager, noted that by including safety, accessibility, and resiliency improvements in the plan, the grant application has a favorable chance of success.
