NORFOLK, Va. (WVEC) — It's not just candidates on the ballot.
On Tuesday, Virginians got to decide on two proposed constitutional amendments. One offers a possible fix to a constant problem in Hampton Roads: flooding.
Both amendments were approved.
Norfolk Councilwoman Andria McClellan said it's important to understand the flooding constitutional amendment.
The approved amendment means homeowners can get a tax break if they improve their home's resilience to flooding.
The second approved amendment will remove a restriction on where a surviving spouse of a disabled military veteran can have his or her principal place of residence in order to receive a property tax exemption, according to the Department of Elections.
"Anything that we can do to encourage property owners to improve their properties with flood mitigation is extremely important. We can either pay for it now or pay for it later," said McClellan. "We can incentivize property owners to be part of the solution and that's what's really going on here.”
That means if you put in the work to improve your home's resiliency to flooding, you can get a tax break. But it only applies to current homes.
"It has to be a current property that is occupied. This isn't for future development in a floodplain,” said McClellan.
McClellan supports the amendment because she believes it'll keep more people in the Hampton Roads area.
"If we were going to completely retreat, who's going to operate the biggest naval base in the world? Who's going to staff the second busiest port on the east coast? Who's going to go work at the shipyards? All three of those are pillars of the economy, and we have individuals who live in properties that are in flooded areas,” said McClellan.
But not everyone is as fond of the idea. Some environmental groups are worried that any future mitigation efforts may impact the water.
"We don't want to do that, so for example, we might specifically say mitigation or tax relief could be provided for a living shoreline. Which would add water quality benefits as well as flood mitigation,” said McClellan.
McClellan adds that if the law passes, it will take a long time before it goes into effect, and even then, the mitigation efforts would have to be created based on the area that you live in.
"If it is left fairly broad as it stands, and it goes through the municipality, each municipality has the option of what type of flood mitigation efforts they would want to make available," she explained.
SEE ALSO: 2018 Virginia Constitutional Amendments
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