Pamela Brandy is steadfast. She’s sure about her faith; and she’s sure that she’s a Chesapeake resident.
It’s why Brandy was surprised to learn in 2021 that her home was being considered a Suffolk property, something she’s certain is false. It was the first in a series of issues surrounding her city of residence.
“I know where I purchased my home at and I know where I’ve been sleeping at,” Brandy said. “My house has not gotten up and moved and neither have I.”
Brandy is a 32-year resident of Pughsville, a historically Black neighborhood founded at the edge of then-Nansemond and Norfolk counties by formerly enslaved people after the Civil War. It’s also a bisected community, split between Suffolk and Chesapeake.
But the boundary has never been formalized, causing angst and frustration among residents who’ve dealt with incorrect tax bills and contradictory voting information.
The cities plan to finally determine a permanent boundary and are hosting town halls near Pughsville on Sept. 8 at Western Branch Community Center in Chesapeake and Sept. 29 at Bennett’s Creek Recreation Center in Suffolk. Formal public hearings before each city council will follow.
Officials say the confusion stems from inconsistencies in historic maps, as reported by the Suffolk News-Herald in 1996. The two cities began work to clear up the discrepancies that year. Former Suffolk City Manager Al Moor, who was the city’s director of public utilities at the time, said that work halted in 1997 during legal battles over water rights with Chesapeake, Virginia Beach and Norfolk.
Chesapeake officials in June said some of the old maps cut through the properties of some residents, “but there was no rhyme or reason to it.” Over time, the cities agreed on which plots would be assessed by Chesapeake and which by Suffolk.
The proposed border mostly aligns with a boundary that was hashed out organically over the years to clear up questions about property taxes and utility services. The proposal won’t affect school jurisdictions but would see Chesapeake transfer 12 parcels of undeveloped land to Suffolk.
The conversation hasn’t soothed Brandy’s concerns. Brandy, president of the Pughsville Civic League for the Chesapeake side – there’s a Suffolk one for the other half of the neighborhood – lives half a street from the boundary. For her, it raises past and current issues.
The first came up in 2021 while canvassing the community during the lead-up to the November election. She said several Pughsville streets in Chesapeake weren’t appearing in the voter activation network, an extensive online database used by Democratic Party canvassers.
“It was said that those residents are Suffolk residents,” Brandy said. “The devil is a liar; that’s my street.”
Later in the year, Brandy said she and several other Chesapeake residents were told they were supposed to report to the voting precinct at New Hope Baptist Church in Suffolk to cast their ballots rather than her usual precinct at the Taylor Bend YMCA. She chose to vote early at the Chesapeake registrar’s office instead.
“They didn’t know where or which ballot to give me,” Brandy said. “I don’t know if my vote was actually counted.”
Mary Lynn Pinkerman, Chesapeake general registrar, said some of the confusion was a result of the way the voting districts are cut. They do not have to follow city boundary lines, making Pughsville Chesapeake’s only split precinct, with parts of the community falling into districts more associated with Suffolk.
“They’ve kind of been caught in the middle,” Pinkerman said.
Pinkerman said the city began training poll workers for Pughsville separately from other elections officials after the discrepancy was reported. Brandy was assigned to vote at her usual precinct in 2024.
But voting issues were just the start for Brandy. The next year, in 2022, she checked on her property’s legal documentation at Chesapeake’s courthouse while helping another resident review documents related to a Suffolk easement purchase. Brandy was again surprised to learn her property was listed in Suffolk.
The Suffolk court had the same information when she and Carolyn White, the wife of the civic league’s Suffolk side president, went to investigate. Brandy eventually received a letter from the city assessor confirming her residency in Chesapeake.
Brandy said in November of that year, she also began to see Suffolk utility taxes added onto her bills from Dominion Energy. She said she couldn’t get answers about what prompted it, and that several other Pughsville residents saw the same changes.
“Some didn’t have a problem because they’re paying 75 cents less than the city of Chesapeake,” Brandy said.
Dominion communications officials said they first learned of the issues in May 2024 and called them unique. Cherise Newsome with Dominion said the utility company found that 35 properties, all on the Chesapeake side, were being misbilled due to “an imprecise municipal boundary.”
“Moving forward, Dominion Energy will bill these customers based on the revised municipal boundary established by the respective cities,” Newsome said. “Billing updates for these customers will begin later this summer.”
Brandy said her latest bill, after nearly three years, no longer includes Suffolk taxes.
Brandy and White believe some of the issue stems from maps created when Suffolk redrew council borough boundaries in 2011. The Virginia Department of Transportation met with Pughsville residents in 2022 to discuss updates to the Bowers Hill Interchange. White stated that the maps they saw were unfamiliar and they believed them to be the same ones used in 2011.
“Pam questioned where did this map come from,” White said,” and they said Suffolk.”
The saga has left them skeptical about the cities’ priorities. Brandy believes that racial factors were at play. Several in the community say longstanding drainage issues and development pressure have contributed to simmering feelings of neglect and apathy.
“The cities act like they don’t know about us and they don’t care about us,” she said.
Suffolk and Chesapeake officials say they want to ensure they aren’t overlooking anything while formalizing the boundary, which is why they are holding community meetings. Brandy and White, though, said damage has already been done resulting in discouraged voters and continued uncertainty of where their utility tax dollars are going.
The cities say back taxes will be addressed by their real estate assessors prior to any property transfers. Brandy said she wants a refund.
“Plus interest.”
