Norfolk City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to let the city borrow hundreds of millions of dollars for flood control and street repairs by passing three separate spending measures.
The first measure authorizes the city to issue stormwater system revenue bonds to help finance drainage projects across the city. A second measure allows the city to issue wastewater revenue bonds for wastewater system improvements. The third measure allows council to issue up to $200 million in tax-backed bonds to fund capital improvement program projects.
Norfolk’s five-year Capital Improvement Plan sets aside more than $70 million for flood and drainage projects citywide between 2027 and 2031. That includes over $31 million for the city’s major coastal protection partnership — the downtown flood wall and related projects — with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Millions more will go directly to neighborhood fixes, including $20 million to overhaul old drains in East Ocean View, $8.7 million to rebuild Ocean View sea walls, $6 million to replace roadside ditches with storm pipes in Glenrock and $6 million for new drain systems in Overbrook and Coleman Place.
The spending plan also funds raising low-lying sections of Hampton Boulevard, clearing blocked culverts on Military Highway and building water-absorbing green space in St. Paul’s.
The vote comes as heavy rainfall continues to batter city infrastructure. Earlier this month, a downpour that meteorologists and National Weather Service officials called a “one-in-100-year” event dropped over six inches of rain in a matter of hours on neighborhoods like Ghent, leaving local auto shops swamped with flooded vehicles and doubling mechanics’ workloads overnight, WHRO reported. Recent storms also led toback-to-back interior flooding at the city-owned Wells Theatre after hundreds of thousands of gallons of rainwater broke through the building’s roof.
While council members passed the debt measures quickly, residents brought the focus back to the water during public comments.
Resident Tiara Lassiter told city leaders that basic rainstorms turn city streets into rivers, leaving residents stuck with ruined cars and rising repair bills.
“Citizens suffer great loss every time it rains,” Lassiter said. “Cars flooding out, homes receive water damage due to water seeping in… . It’s costing us more money. So the citizens should not suffer for the weather.”
Lassiter urged the city to clean out storm drains, build flood barriers and install high-water warning signs at prone underpasses to keep drivers safe.
Other residents pushed council to make sure flood relief reaches every part of the city rather than just high-profile areas. Speaker Gabe Harrell pointed to repeated weather alerts and severe rain events this summer, calling on city leaders to distribute drainage repairs equitably.
“Based on what I’ve seen and heard of the disproportionate impact of stormwater management in marginalized areas, I want to state that these provisions must be equitably distributed — not equally, equitably,” Harrell said. “So that means prioritizing drainage for areas like Young Terrace and Calvert Square.”
Both of those public housing communities — long prone to flooding since they were built over filled-in creekbeds in the 1950’s — are planned to eventually be torn down and redeveloped.
Harrell also urged the city to utilize green infrastructure instead of standard paving, pointing to contrasting conditions across local neighborhoods.
“What it can do is stop cutting down trees. What it can do is stop paving over the ground,” Harrell said. “It’s not a good example of equitable action, as currently Calvert Square residents have to walk through silt-covered sidewalks to get home every time it rains.”
