NORFOLK, Va. — Norfolk City Council approved up to $40 million in financing for stormwater and wastewater projects Tuesday night, as one resident urged city leaders to do more to address persistent flooding across the city.
The council approved two separate revenue bond measures during its Aug. 25 meeting: up to $5 million to help finance a portion of the St. Paul’s Blue/Greenway Project and up to $35 million for improvements to Norfolk’s wastewater system.
The projects are part of Norfolk's broader Capital Improvement Plan, or CIP, the city's five-year blueprint for building, maintaining, upgrading and replacing public facilities and infrastructure. Norfolk's adopted FY 2027-2031 CIP includes about $1.17 billion in planned capital spending, including significant investments in stormwater, wastewater and other flood-resilience projects.
Flooding is specifically identified as one of the factors the city uses when evaluating potential capital projects. The CIP calls for considering whether projects address flooding in neighborhoods and major thoroughfares, along with health and safety concerns, infrastructure maintenance and opportunities to leverage outside funding.
The votes came as flooding remains a concern for residents following recent rounds of heavy rain in the city.
During the public comment portion of Tuesday's meeting, Norfolk resident Tiara Lassiter told council members she believes flooding has become an increasingly costly and potentially dangerous problem.
“Rain should not shut the city down,” Lassiter told council.
Lassiter acknowledged Norfolk's vulnerability to tidal flooding and severe weather but argued the city's infrastructure needs greater attention.
“This problem did not start with you, but I'm praying and hoping that it ends with you,” Lassiter said. “I would like some type of resolution for all of this excessive flooding.”
She described residents dealing with flooded vehicles, water damage to homes, towing expenses and higher insurance costs. Lassiter also raised concerns about whether residents would be able to safely leave the city during an emergency evacuation if major roads were flooded.
“I don't want to die here because we couldn't get out, because we had a hurricane and everybody had to evacuate and the majority of the streets are flooded,” she said.
Lassiter suggested several steps she believes the city could take, including adding more signs warning drivers about flood-prone areas, repairing and cleaning drainage infrastructure and considering flood walls and flood gates.
Her comments came the same night council approved financing for projects that fit into Norfolk's larger effort to upgrade aging infrastructure and address flooding.
One ordinance authorizes Norfolk to issue up to $5 million in Storm Water System Revenue Bonds to help finance the St. Paul’s Blue/Greenway Project. According to city documents, the project is intended to mitigate flooding, restore Newton's Creek and create a multifunctional park designed to improve stormwater management, ecological health and recreation in the St. Paul's area.
The Blue/Greenway is already a significant city investment. Norfolk's current CIP shows more than $32.3 million has been appropriated to the project to date, with another $1 million planned in FY 2028.
The financing approved Tuesday would come through Virginia's Community Flood Preparedness Fund. The state initially authorized a 20-year loan at an annual interest rate of 1.2%, which city officials said is considerably lower than what Norfolk could obtain by issuing the debt directly on the market.
The Blue/Greenway is only one piece of Norfolk's planned stormwater spending. The city's five-year CIP also includes drainage projects in East Ocean View, Glenrock and Overbrook/Coleman Place, among other projects. Altogether, Norfolk plans about $34.4 million in Storm Water Fund spending from FY 2027 through FY 2031.
Council also approved a separate ordinance authorizing up to $35 million in Wastewater System Revenue Bonds.
That money will help cover previously approved wastewater capital projects across Norfolk, including sewer main replacements, pump station modernization and projects intended to reduce infiltration and inflow into the wastewater system.
The city's current CIP calls for $110 million in wastewater spending over five years, including $105 million toward improving the wastewater collection system.
Norfolk plans to finance the projects approved Tuesday through Virginia's Clean Water Revolving Loan Fund, which the city has used for wastewater projects through more than 20 separate issuances since 2003.
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality authorized a loan of up to 20 years at an annual interest rate of 0.5%. The financing also includes $2.5 million in principal forgiveness, which the city says will reduce the overall debt ultimately passed on to local utility ratepayers.
Both measures are revenue bonds. Norfolk's CIP explains that non-General Fund projects, including stormwater and wastewater projects, are supported through other revenue sources such as user fees rather than taxes.
The city's flood-resilience plans extend well beyond the two measures approved Tuesday. Norfolk's CIP also includes the massive Coastal Storm Risk Management Project being developed with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. That project calls for an extension of the Downtown Norfolk floodwall as well as storm surge barriers, levees and pump stations over the next decade.
For Lassiter, however, the concern is what residents experience now.
“Citizens suffer great loss every time it rains,” Lassiter said.
She ended her remarks by pointing to images that have become familiar after significant flooding in Norfolk — people taking boats, canoes and even jet skis into flooded streets.
“I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person who sees all of the boating and the swimming and the canoeing and the jet skiing,” Lassiter said. “It's like, what in the world?”
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