NORFOLK, Va. — At times, it was a tense meeting and at other times, there was a lot of hope.
It didn't matter who was happy or upset about what because all the people at the Mary D. Pretlow library wanted was to see what they think is best for the now former Greenies site in Ocean View.
“Ocean View has solid footing on its bayfront side and is successful. There's no question if you put this land up for sale, someone would jump up and do that,” one Ocean View resident said at the meeting.
The long-time, popular bar was demolished recently, and the property now sits in the hands of the city. On Monday night, leaders held a meeting to squash any rumors on what will happen to the site and also get public input on what they’d like to see there.
“Now it's taking this back to the drawing board. Our planning staff is going to look at all of these comments and bring it to a smaller group to see how we move forward with this,” said Norfolk Councilman Tommy Smigiel.
The options shown Monday varied from a park to parking spaces to a mixed-use building to a new restaurant. Most people were vocal about what they wanted.
“My personal preference is for a bar restaurant, independently owned,” one woman said.
“We need a new restaurant with a view and in my opinion, anything else, would be considered gentrification,” another resident said in front of city leaders.
But, a common theme popped up a lot from speakers: preserve the view of the water, and make the most of it.
Councilman Smigiel said with a list of different ideas, knowing what people want and don't want, now it's finding a compromise that will hopefully work for Ocean View.
“I don't know the key to success but I know the key to failure is trying to please everyone. I don't think that's going to happen here on this project, but we're going to do the best we can to include our residents' voices,” he said.
Councilman Smigiel said there’s still no timeline on what will go up in place of Greenies, but because the city values residents’ input and want what’s best for them, they’ll take the time needed to be able to do that.