Posted on October 20, 2025
Norfolk is demolishing a large Ocean View beach ramp just months after construction due to storm damage and significant erosion, according to city officials.
Most of the $430,000 structure — which was built partly as an accessway for emergency vehicles — is being torn down following extreme beach erosion from several offshore hurricanes and nor’easters, said city officials.
“After looking at the condition of it, we do not have the area of beach for the emergency vehicles to get past the structure, and so the decision was made to go ahead and remove it,” said Tammy Halstead, an assistant city engineer with the Norfolk Department of Public Works.
On Wednesday afternoon at Ocean View Beach Park, crews from Sandbridge Marine removed wooden planks from the end of the ramp. Sea grass clung to the end of the ramp and water began to obscure it as high tide rolled in.
The structure includes a ramp on the left side and a stairway on the right. Worker Kevin Miller said the crews were just removing the ramp and would leave up the stairway.
Ocean View resident Jason Johnson watched from a nearby bench with his large dog. He said the ramp went up in May and is now partially submerged at high tide.
Norfolk spokesperson Kelly Straub said there are no immediate plans to replace the ramp.
Since the beginning of the planning and construction of the ramp in 2022, the beach around it has lost almost 35 feet of shoreline, Ward 5 council member Tommy Smigiel said in the Facebook post. He also said the ramp was scheduled to be removed prior to the most recent coastal storm.
The ramp was part of a $2.5 million, multi-year renovation project that demolished the former Greenies dive bar and constructed green space, shower and foot wash stations, benches and a food truck circle, among other amenities.
In the Facebook post, commenters expressed frustration with the ramp design and what they said was a waste of resources.
Part of the reason why the ramp is so large, Halstead said, is it allows emergency vehicles to access the beach. In photos shared by Norfolk officials during the construction of the ramp, the water line runs up several feet back from the structure.
But the storms within the last few weeks accelerated beach erosion, Halstead said, leading to the current situation.
“Mother Nature can turn on us at any time,” she said.
Norfolk has an agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers for long-term sand replenishment in the area, but due to the federal shutdown, the budget that would fund the federal portion of the project has not been passed, Smigiel said on Facebook. He said city officials hope the project can be federally funded in 2026 and completed in 2027. The last major renourishment project was in 2017.
“An emergency sand replenishment, assuming we could find sand, would cost about $4 million,” Smigiel added.
Ocean View residents have previously expressed concern about worsening beach erosion throughout the area, especially in East Beach. A spring survey by the city found the shoreline retreated at an average pace of about four feet a year from May 2024 to April.
