Virginia Beach program focuses on neighborhood revitalization.

• Position: News & Numbers

The City of Virginia Beach, Virginia, strives to be a Community for a Lifetime. To this end, the City Council has added neighborhood revitalization as one of its key goals, based on the assumption that vibrant neighborhoods lead to a high quality of life. The city is embarking on the PREmier Homes and Neighborhoods program (the "PRE" is for preserving, renewing, and enhancing).

In late 2005, the City Council asked the Planning Commission to recommend amendments to the city's development ordinances that would help preserve the character and value of neighborhoods and housing, and assist in their preservation and enhancement. In early 2007, five recommendations were made: establishing tax incentives for home owners that promote reinvestment; establishing renovation guidelines that would be tailored to specific neighborhoods; establishing a "design center" to provide home owners and builders with assistance, promoting renovation that is compatible with the look of a given neighborhood; providing home owners with information and help in obtaining financing and design assistance; and adopting a "Comprehensive Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy" to ensure this kind of assistance would be ongoing.

This project is based on the idea that preservation is a good investment, and that citizens will voluntarily undertake effective means of preservation--with a little help from government. "Intervention to prevent decline is far more cost-effective than allowing

decline to occur and then addressing it," according to Preserving, Renewing, and Enhancing Housing and Neighborhoods in Virginia Beach, the city's housing and neighborhood preservation plan. City officials feel that Virginia Beach will receive direct and indirect economic benefits by encouraging preservation, including: a ripple effect of increased home improvement efforts, as individuals see their neighbors making improvements; reduced energy costs; additional employment opportunities, as more people get more work done to their homes; increased revenue from permits, fees, and licenses, as well as increased sales tax revenue from the sale of materials used in home improvement; and fewer expenses for crime prevention and code enforcement.

Citizen participation is vital...