​The Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Board (CBPA) is a nine-member​ body appointed by the City Council to review requests relating to the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Ordinance (CBPAO). 

Members serve three-year terms.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​The City of Virginia Beach adopted the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Ordinance (CBPAO) on Jan. 1, 1991. This ordinance affects all properties in Virginia Beach that drain into the Chesapeake Bay watershed in the northern third of the city.

The ordinance is an effort to enhance water quality by protecting environmentally sensitive areas adjacent to waterways, tidal shores, and wetlands, as well as highly erodible soils. These sensitive areas, called resource protection areas (RPAs), are closest to the shorelines that have an intrinsic water quality value or are sensitive to the impact of development. 

All other lands in the watershed are called resource management areas (RMAs). The RMA is intended to protect the integrity of the RPA and extends from the RPA boundary outward to the watershed boundary limit.

Application Information 

Filing Deadline

​The deadline to file an application to be heard by the board is prior to the first of each month. If the application is complete, it will be heard at the following month’s CBPA hearing.

Fees

The CBPA variance application fee is $450 and should be made payable to the City Treasurer. It covers the costs of the public notice sign(s), legal advertisements in The Virginian-Pilot/Beacon, and postage for mailing notices to property owners adjacent to the subject site as required by the state.

Meetings

The CBPA Board meets on the fourth Monday of each month at the Municipal Center, 2401 Courthouse Drive, Building 1. Informal sessions are held at 9 a.m. in the City Manager's Conference Room 2034 for staff to brief the board on agenda items. Public hearings are held at 10 a.m. in the City Council chamber. Please be advised that scheduled hearing dates may change due to holidays or the closure of City offices.

Copies of the proposed plans, ordinances, amendments, and/or resolutions are available for public review online and by appointment in the Planning Department & Community Development at Municipal Center, Building 3, 2403 Courthouse Drive, Virginia Beach. Staff reports are available online five days prior to the meeting.

For reasonable meeting accommodation due to a disability, call the department. If you are hearing impaired, contact Virginia Relay at 711 for TDD service.

Supplemental handouts and letters of support or opposition that are provided to the CBPA board members are available upon request. Please contact the staff liaison if you wish to review these documents.

CBPA Board Members

Staff Liaison