City Council approved a curfew that would prohibit people of all ages from being in a portion of the Oceanfront during the final weekends of April.
But council decided in a 10-1 vote that the curfew would start at 9:30 p.m., rather than 9 p.m. as originally proposed, and limited it to Friday and Saturday nights this coming weekend and on April 24. It would not apply on the final Saturday of the month when an event is scheduled.
The step comes after police have struggled with controlling crowds and dealing with violence, including a shooting that left eight people injured this past weekend on Atlantic Avenue.
After the vote Thursday, Mayor Bobby Dyer told reporters that the council had listened to many speakers in opposition, including those who feel it will hurt tourism.
“This was a designed compromise after we listened and appreciated what the community said,” Dyer said.
During the meeting, Councilmember Jennifer Rouse said she’d struggled with the decision and wished there had been options with less economic impact. She cast the lone no vote.
The curfew area is between Pacific Avenue and the Atlantic Ocean from Rudee Loop to 31st Street. The curfew ends at 5 a.m.
The decision followed public comment, as well as an appeal from Police Chief Paul Neudigate. He requested the curfew to counter what he described as a safety crisis.
He showed video of two recent shooting incidents involving multiple wounded people, including Saturday’s shooting, which evolved over a matter of 12 seconds.
“It shouldn’t just be a consideration,” Neudigate said of the curfew. “Council, it’s a necessity to ensure that 12 seconds doesn’t turn into a lifetime of grief for our community.”
Virginia Beach lowered the citywide curfew for unaccompanied minors by an hour to 10 p.m. in February over concerns about large unpermitted gatherings.
After a shooting early last month at the Oceanfront, the council enacted a weekend-only curfew starting at 7 p.m. for unaccompanied minors in the same area as the all-ages curfew. It runs through the end of this month, a time when large gatherings tend to happen before the resort area's main tourist season.
John Zirkle Jr., president of the Virginia Beach Hotel Association, said broad restrictions like the curfew could deter visitors and residents from coming to the resort area. They could support a temporary curfew this weekend, he added, but hoped time periods could be adjusted and that it could be revisited before the following weekend.
“The chief showed you some pretty scary videos today,” J.D. Johnson, who owns Nightmare Mansion on Atlantic Avenue, told the council. “I know scary. I do a haunted house. Fear is a powerful tool. Shutting down the strip is not the correct tool.”
Zuri Hodnett noted that many speakers were businesspeople, but she addressed the council as someone who enjoys the resort and said there should be more things for young people to do.
As with the unaccompanied minors curfew, the new temporary curfew has exceptions for emergencies; traveling to and from work; attending specific events, such as religious services, assemblies or activities protected by the First Amendment.
Jamal Gunn, chairperson of the Virginia Beach Human Rights Commission, said the commission held an emergency meeting on Wednesday and decided to support the new curfew.
“We understand the pushback there may be from citizens who feel this might be an overreach or an overreaction,” Gunn told WHRO before the vote.
He said the curfew is targeted and temporary and he understood the desire to do something to prevent violence. He said observers from the commission would visit the Oceanfront this weekend to help make sure people feel safe and that their rights are being respected.
