Fourth of July 2026 – What to expect

Parade participants: 9:30/9:45 gather where Beech Street meets the bike path. Allow Emergency vehicles to be first, followed by antique vehicles and anything fragile. Continue to line up, scooting forward (south) to avoid spilling into Shore Drive. Be aware the streets are not closed to traffic. Parade marshals will guide you. Parade starts at 10.

Parade viewers: The route goes south on Beech St. Left on Poinciana. Left on Bayberry, ending at the park. Please move into the park right away to clear the street.

Water balloons: This is not part of the civic association event, but we understand the neighbors make it happen and it’s a hit – pun intended. Please be very considerate of parade participants and don’t throw balloons at them. Also be careful to avoid injuring yourself and others, being aware that there are small children in the area. Finally, please pick up at least as many spent balloons as you threw.

Party in the Park: After the parade, come join your neighbors and friends at the Cape Story park, where there will be light breakfast items (sausage biscuits, fruit cups and donuts) provided by the civic association and ice cream cups provided by Krissi Wood of Atkinson Realty.

Short program: 11:15 Everybody please gather by the flag for the short program: Singing of the National Anthem, Pledge of Allegiance and presentation of awards to parade winners.

Live Music: Brian Harrell from Hotcakes will be performing on the keyboard! Along with popular fun songs, he’ll sing The Star Spangled Banner and a few traditional patriotic songs. Feel free to join in!

Membership table: Please stop by the table near the bulletin board to be sure we have your correct contact info. If you haven’t paid your $20 dues yet for 2026 you can easily do it there. Have fun, be safe, see you there!!!

Thank you to our newsletter editor Chris Cahoon for another fantastic edition of the Skipjack. Please click on the image link below to read our digital newsletter full of information about our amazing neighborhood.

E-bikes and E-motos have become a hot topic in the City, especially in our neighborhood along the Cape Henry Trail. At the April Civic Association meeting, residents brought up many questions and concerns. The information below is being shared in hopes to address some of the concerns.

Residents are reminded to call the Police non-emergency number at 757-385-5000 to report any E-bike violations.

The City’s Parks and Recreation Department provided the following answers to questions raised at the association meeting.

Q1 – Are electric motor driven cycles (without pedal assistance) illegal to ride on the Cape Henry Trail (CHT)? > These are the small all electric no pedal mini dirt bikes that are now pretty prevalent in small biker gangs around our area. Based on the City Code section below and the No Motorized Vehicle signs already posted on the CHT, I would think these type of bikes are illegal and enforcement by the police is possible.

A1 – You are correct that these are illegal on the trail. The vehicles you described do not meet the legal definition of e-bikes and are instead categorized as motorized vehicles (we generally refer to them as “e-motos”). Because they are motorized, they are prohibited on the CHT.

The difficulty with these vehicles, unfortunately, lies in the practicalities of policing them. To help address the issue, Parks & Recreation and the Police Department, along with our Communications department, have launched a webpage to help residents and tourists understand the rules of the road and the differences between legal e-bikes and e-motos: https://communications.virginiabeach.gov/hot-topics/e-bikes

Q2 – You discussed this with us at a meeting, does the City still prohibit posting speed limit signs on the CHT? > I wasn’t sure if the Task Force had discussed this and maybe fast tracked their installation with Traffic Engineers. Something like a 28 MPH which would cover anything over the allowed Class 1, 2 and 3s? We understand that even with signs, enforcement will be the crucial point.

A2 – Both State Code and Virginia Beach City Code regulate speed limits on and off the roadways. E-bike standards typically have motorized speed caps of 20 mph (Classes 1 & 2) and 28 mph (Class 3). Adding and enforcing speed limit signs on shared-use paths like the CHT would be highly difficult to police. Additionally, traditional road bicycles can naturally exceed 20 mph without motor assistance.

That being said, one of the Task Force’s recommendations being presented to City Council focuses on updated signage to better educate citizens on these issues. The Task Force is scheduled to present its findings on April 28, at which point the City Council will determine the next steps.

Q3 – Is there a draft or final study from the Task Force? > I see from the website that the last meeting date was March 6, 2026. Is there anything online and available for the public to review? Mayor’s E-Bike Safety Task Force | City of Virginia Beach

A3 – Safety Task Force presented recommendations to City Council on April 28, 2026. 

The sand truck haul to renourish the beach between 2428 Ocean Shore Crescent and 2317 Mariners Mark Way is underway. The contractor, Virginia Carolina Civil, will be excavating about 84,000 cubic yards of beach-quality sand from the sand stockpile adjacent to the Lynnhaven Municipal Boat Ramp facility and the Maple Street sand stockpile site. The sand will be hauled via dump truck and placed on the beach. The contractor will access the beach at the Oak Street beach access entrance. Earth-moving equipment will grade the sand to build the beach.

The contractor’s work hours are between 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Work hour adjustments may occur if deemed necessary by the City of Virginia Beach Department of Public Works. Expect to see an increase in dump truck traffic along Oak Street. Sections of the beach will be closed for the public’s safety and to allow the contractor to complete the beach renourishment work. The contractor will have safety personnel on-site for public safety. The project is to be completed by June 14, 2026, (weather or other logistical reasons permitting).

Should you have questions or concerns, please contact Ryan Firenze, E.I.T., with the Department of Public Works/Coastal Division at 757-385-8985 or RFirenze@vbgov.com.

Hello Cape Story Neighbors and Happy Yellow Season, I mean Spring. Please enjoy our quarterly newsletter so wonderfully put together by the amazing editor extraordinaire, Chris Cohoon. Click on the following link or either of the images below to read the entire publication.

Click here to read the Spring 2026 Skipjack – Skipjack

Cape Story’s Super Shamrock Marathon Volunteers

Thank you to our amazing newsletter editor Chris Cahoon for another wonderful edition. Please click on the image link below to read our digital newsletter full of information about our wonderful neighborhood.

Thank you to our amazing newsletter editor Chris Cahoon for another wonderful edition. Please click on the image link below to read our digital newsletter full of amazing information about our neighborhood.

National Lighthouse Day commemorates the day in 1789 that Congress approved lighthouses, beacons, buoys and public piers for a young United States of America.

On Thursday August 7th, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., guests can climb the old and new Cape Henry lighthouses in Virginia Beach for National Lighthouse Day.

Please be advised, turnout for this event can be high. There is minimal parking and no off site satlite parking. But you can ride HRT’s Route 35 to Atlantic and 81st/82nd Streets. Bus information can be found here https://weloveshoredrive.com/bayfront-shuttle-route-35/

Anyone 18 yrs and older will need to present a valid REAL ID. More information about this event and how to access the base/lighthouses can be found here https://www.whro.org/arts-culture/2025-08-05/tour-the-historic-cape-henry-lighthouses-on-thursday-lighthouse-day

At the November 2023 Cape Story by the Sea Civic Association meeting, a safety improvement presentation was given by Steven Lambert, VB Parks and Recreation.  This presentation was in response to safety concerns being raised at previous meetings.  Specific concerns were raised regarding the intersections of the Cape Henry Trail and the long streets of the Cape Story neighborhood (Beech, Oak, Maple, Sandalwood, Bayberry, Wake Forest and Kendall).  The main concern being the large volumes of use by residents conflicting with vehicle drivers that don’t slow down or pay attention to the intersection. You can read the meeting minutes here https://capestory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/11.13.23-csbts-minutes.pdf

The November 2023 meeting resulted in the following Improvement Idea list shown below.  The most important item being how to improve the actual intersections.  The attendees supported moving Stop Signs from the Trail users to the street for vehicle users.  The back-up option was adding speed tables to the intersections.  Speed tables are part of the City’s traffic calming program. 

After a year of meetings and research by the City’s Parks and Recreation and Traffic Engineering, it was determined by the City Traffic Engineers that placing Stop Signs for vehicles at multi-use trails was not legal.  In lieu of pursuing Speed Tables through the Traffic Calming program, which takes a long time and requires 80% of the residents to approve, the City suggested installing Raised Crosswalks.

Raised Crosswalks (3 inch height) are similar to Speed Tables (4 inch height) but their process for approval only requires the four adjacent homeowners to agree versus 80% of the entire street.  The Raised Crosswalk designs are shown below.

Compared with Speed Tables and Speed Bumps, the shorter height of a Raised Crosswalk creates less vehicle noise when driven over, no adverse impact to Emergency Vehicles and minimal incline for Trail users.  An example of a Raised Crosswalk can be found on Laskin Road between Artic and Pacific at the Oceanfront (see image below).

A video of the Raised Crosswalk on Laskin can be found below, click on the image to watch the video.  A sound meter app was also used to record cars traversing this Raised Crosswalk. The video and sound analysis were recorded roughly 60 feet from the Crosswalk.  The resultant sound from vehicles traversing the bumps, even the one filmed that was traveling roughly 35 MPH (25 MPH is the neighborhood speed limit), was approximately 75dB.

Cape Story by the Sea Civic Association will be pursuing the City’s recommended installation of these Raised Crosswalks for safety improvements.  The topic will be discussed and voted on at an Association meeting.  If approved, homeowners adjacent to intersections will be contacted and provided the details mentioned above and asked to support or oppose the project.  Intersections with all 4 homeowners approval will be added to future City’s Parks and Recreation budgets for design and installation.  The City has recommended starting with the two intersections next to the Cape Story Park (Sandalwood and Bayberry) due to the higher pedestrian traffic in that area.

Any questions or concerns can be sent to the Civic Association President at  csbts.president@gmail.com