VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Virginia Beach City Council heard from dozens of residents Tuesday night as it weighs whether to sell the city-owned Virginia Beach National Golf Course to Dragas Companies, with supporters and opponents making their cases before an expected council vote next week.
The developer has proposed investing nearly $40 million into the nearly 190-acre property, replacing the golf course with a mixed-use community that includes 659 for-sale homes, parks, trails and open space. City leaders have said the golf course has operated at a loss for years and estimate redevelopment could generate about $3.4 million annually in new tax revenue.
Supporters of the sale said the proposal addresses multiple city needs.
"Most of us can agree the project checks a lot of boxes," one resident said.
Others urged council to reject the sale, arguing the city should preserve one of its few publicly owned golf courses.
"First of all, I oppose the sale of our golf course! our golf course!" one opponent said.
Some speakers said they were not taking a position for or against the project but asked council to slow the process, saying more community feedback and answers to outstanding questions are needed before any vote.
"I'm not here opposing this project or supporting this project. What I want to do is encourage you to vote long enough to gather some additional public input," one resident said.
District 2 Councilwoman Barbara Henley, whose district includes the golf course, also questioned the process. She said she was not involved in early discussions about the proposal and believes additional options should be considered before moving ahead.
"I think the thing we really need to do is to say there's no way in the world we're going to be ready to deal with this next Tuesday," Henley said.
Henley said she was left out of preliminary conversations about the proposal.
"I wasn't a part of these preliminary discussions were apparently going on," Henley said.
She also suggested the council may not have fully explored its options.
"It's very likely that there's something besides the Dragas proposal that maybe would be better since there were so many questions about it," Henley said.
Council is expected to decide whether to move forward with the proposal next week.
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