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Landstown - West Landing 230 kV Transmission Line
City of Virginia Beach, Virginia

Showcases:
Landstown to West Landing
John Rolfe Parkway
Sandy Bottom Nature Park

Williamsburg Environmental Group, Inc. (WEG) provided full-service environmental consulting services to Dominion Virginia Power (Dominion) as part of the multi-million dollar Landstown to West Landing 230kV aerial transmission line and substation project located in the City of Virginia Beach, Virginia.  The proposed transmission line is approximately 7.3 miles long and will result in the conversion of 32.52 acres of jurisdictional wetlands from forested to scrub shrub.  The proposed line is necessary in order to provide greatly needed thermal improvements to Dominion’s electrical facilities and maintain existing levels of service to the growing number of customers located in the southern section of Virginia Beach.  The project included wetland delineations for three (3) proposed alignments. Environmental information was combined with project construction and planning costs as well as right-of-way acquisition and private property damage to analyze the proposed alternatives.  WEG worked closely with Dominion to create a resource management plan and a conceptual mitigation plan that not only mitigated for permanent impacts but enhanced many portions of the proposed corridor. 

Additionally, in an attempt to assess the functional characteristics of existing wetlands along the proposed transmission line, an Evaluation for Planned Wetlands (EPW) functional assessment was performed by WEG.  This assessment, in combination with a proposed planting, re-vegetation, and monitoring plan, clearing and construction provisions (including the use of large air-crane helicopters in place of land cranes), and crane preparations/set-up areas, and selected management alternatives, satisfied the goal of achieving or improving functional capacity in most wetland areas.

WEG provided regulatory support throughout the project’s permitting process, which involved coordination and negotiations between various regulatory and advisory agencies subsequent to submitting the permit application.  In addition to regulatory support, WEG performed Threatened and Endangered Species inventories of the site, including a habitat walkover with expert David Webster, of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington to verify the existence of Great Dismal Swamp Shrew habitat along the proposed alignment.  Archaeological coordination was also provided by WEG.

Construction was performed in May and June of 2008. Throughout the construction process, WEG provided monitoring services and have recently begun an aggressive herbicide application initiative to control invasive species in accordance with a Vegetation Enhancement and Monitoring Plan developed by WEG specifically for the project.

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