August 20, 2021 Issue of the Gloucester County Town Crier

August 20, 2021

A publication by Gloucester's Department of Community Engagement and Public Information

New Turn Lane Established on Brays Point Road

VDOT crews + contractor crews finished construction recently on a new right turn lane on Brays Point Rd. to northbound Route 17. Gloucester County added this project to its secondary road plan in 2019. New turn lane adds capacity at intersection, and near Woodville Park.

Teen Training Day Scheduled for Next Week

Check out this great opportunity for teenagers in the community to learn how they can positively impact someone else's life - maybe even save a life!

Hosted by Gloucester County Virginia Government's Emergency Management Department, the Teen Training Day will help determine the level of interest in establishing a Teen C.E.R.T. (Community Emergency Response Team) program in the County.

For more information, or to register, call 804-693-1390 or e-mail [email protected].

Gloucester Proposes Increasing Minimum Freeboard Requirements

On August 11th , Gloucester County’s Floodplain Management Committee approved a recommendation to the County’s Board of Supervisors to increase the County’s minimum freeboard requirement from two feet to three feet. Freeboard is the elevation of a building’s lowest floor above the Base Flood Elevation (BFE). If the building is in a Coastal A or V Zone then Freeboard is defined as the distance between the BFE and the lowest horizontal structural member of the first floor.

An informational meeting for contractors and home builders to help understand the proposed change is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 31 from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. at the Gloucester Main Library’s Community Room, located at 6920 Main Street. Interested members of the public are also welcomed to attend this meeting, and an opportunity will be provided for questions and answers.

For more information, click here.

Children and Families Encouraged to Take Part in Every Kid Outdoors Program

With the school year beginning, it’s a great time to take advantage of the Every Kid Outdoors Program from the National Park Service. The program was created in 2015 in an effort to get more children and families to visit our national parks, and it has been renewed and expanded over the years to now include a wide variety of public lands.

Free Passes

The program is very simple: every 4th grade student (or home school equivalent) in the United States is entitled to get one Every Kid Outdoors pass which is valid from September 1, 2021 – August 31, 2022 (so it is valid all the way through next summer). The pass will admit that student, any other youth under the age of 16 in the party (other youth do not have to be 4th graders), and up to 3 adults free to any site which charges an entry fee. This does not cover other fees like parking fees, camping permits, etc. but covering the entry fees can represent a significant savings to families. Any eligible student/parent can visit https://www.everykidoutdoors.gov to print the free pass or to get more information.

Educators are also able to print out passes from the website for all of their 4th graders, plus there are activity guides that can be downloaded. All you will need to do is visit https://www.everykidoutdoors.gov/educators.htm, download any activity guides you would like, and fill out the information to print out the passes.

The activity guides were developed by the National Park Service, and they are easily adaptable for school use. The four activity guides are:

1. Exploring Federal Lands & Waters

2. Environmental Stewardship

3. Our Nation’s Native Peoples

4. Citizen Science

Where the Pass Can Be Used

The pass can be used at most fee-based sites administered by the following federal agencies:

• National Park Service

• Bureau of Land Management

• Bureau of Reclamation

• National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration

• United States Fish & Wildlife Service

• United States Forest Service

• United States Army Corps of Engineers

Gloucester’s Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department to Host a “Movie in the Park”

Back by popular demand, Gloucester’s Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department will host another communitywide movie night, this time being a “Movie in the Park.” The newly released Disney film, “Raya and the Last Dragon” will be shown on the large screen Saturday, Aug. 28 at Woodville Park, Ordinary. The movie will begin at 7:30 p.m.

For more information, visit here

To purchase tickets, visit here