CHESAPEAKE, Va. — The plans for the Osprey Aerial Adventure Park in Chesapeake have gotten the seal of approval.
City leaders predict that the park featuring a ropes course, ziplines and a nature walk will be open for business in 2024.
The plan is to utilize the existing trees on-site to be a base for the courses. Osprey Aerial adventure park will also be modeled after the adventure park at the Virginia Aquarium in Virginia Beach.
"It gives citizens of Chesapeake another avenue for children and families to have entertainment without leaving the city. It also helps to protect some of the land in Chesapeake," explains Councilman Don Carey of Chesapeake.
Long-time residents like Wayne White will soon share the street with the undeveloped project. He thinks the park is going to cause a couple of problems. According to the description, the hours of operation will be from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week with peak season from May to September.
"We will have to see how it goes but honestly I think ten o'clock sounds like it could be a little too late," expresses White.
While neighbors like White think it'll be good for tourism, the traffic for this adventure park won't be all fun and games.
"Worse things could go in there it's a unique concept a fun idea it looks like but as far as traffic goes here at the intersection and the entrance being on our road, I think it's going to create some headaches," says White.
White says there's only one way in and out of his street that leads to his house. So, the concern here is seeing some backup from cars trying to go into the park and cars trying to get off of Wayne's street.
"If the entrance wasn't on St. Brides East this wouldn't be a problem at this intersection. We asked if they can move the entrance to off of battlefield but the city has said that can't be done or using the old fire station entrance," explains White.
Councilman Don Carey says those suggestions by the citizens won't work because it poses a hazard to the city gas pumps in the back of the fire station. The city says they wanted to mitigate the traffic of city trucks and vehicles with citizen traffic with a dedicated turn lane into the park.
"Using the location that we have at this time is the best option. We're going to put in a dedicated turn lane which will still get individuals in and out of the park without drastically increasing traffic at all," says Carey.
Councilman Don Carey told us the next step is determining when ground will be broken, which will require another process of approval.
