Hampton City Council Work Session – August 12, 2026

The Hampton City Council held a work session on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, beginning at 1:00 p.m. in Council Chambers at 22 Lincoln Street, Hampton, Virginia. All seven council members were present (Councilmember Michelle Ferebee arrived shortly after roll call). The session featured four staff presentations: the Fort Monroe Authority Annual Report, a briefing on the Peninsula Coastal Storm Risk Management Feasibility Study, the Office of Youth & Young Adult Opportunities Annual Report, and the Safer Communities Application and Appropriation proposal. The council then held a closed session and reconvened to certify it.

Fort Monroe Authority Annual Report

• Jay Joseph, Chair of the Fort Monroe Authority Board, and Scott Martin, CEO, presented the annual report. Fort Monroe currently receives about 1.3 million visits per year.
• The authority is pursuing adaptive reuse of historic buildings for housing, bringing 300–350 new residents to Hampton. The first building is fully leased; Building 100 (designed by the same architect as the Library of Congress) became occupied in mid-August 2026; redevelopment of the medical arts building and arsenal is planned next, representing about $45 million in private housing investment.
• The state budget includes $12 million to bring utilities to the inner fort and $1.5 million for a beach restroom and café facility. The first sculpture of the African Landing Memorial will arrive on August 29, 2026.
• The Landscape Action Plan, led by Hargreaves Jones, has engaged nearly 1,500 community members. Key themes include improving pedestrian connectivity, reducing pavement (about one-fifth of the 565-acre site is paved), restoring approximately 100 acres of marsh, and reusing existing buildings before constructing new ones. Public workshops will be held September 16 (Peninsula) and September 17 (Norfolk). Sixty-percent drawings are due in September, with delivery to the governor in December.
• Vice Mayor Brown praised the plan's economic potential and asked about water metering; Scott Martin confirmed that all future users will be metered, noting the Army's single meter currently results in paying to treat roughly 400,000 gallons per month while only about 50,000 gallons are used.

Peninsula Coastal Storm Risk Management Feasibility Study

• Olivia Askew, Resilience Officer, and Scott Smith, Coastal Resilience Engineer, briefed the council on the draft report. The study is 100% federally funded at $3 million, but the Army Corps capped the effort, limiting it to non-structural measures (e.g., home elevations, floodproofing) and excluding structural solutions like levees or floodwalls.
• City Manager Mary Bunting emphasized that the city continues to advocate for structural solutions and that caveats were added to the report. She noted that the draft assumes no structural improvements and that implementing the non-structural plan would require elevating about 300 homes per year for 10 years at a cost of roughly $100 million annually—not realistic given contractor capacity and financial constraints.
• The draft report, released in July 2026, is open for public comment until September 6, 2026. An in-person public meeting is scheduled for August 13, 2026, at Fox Hill Neighborhood Center.
• Key findings: more than 45,000 Hampton assets are at risk, including critical infrastructure; the focus-area inventory contains nearly 27,000 structures, 94% of them single-family homes. Future flood damages are estimated at more than $10 billion, with approximately $7.6 billion in Hampton alone.
• The early actionable plan would address up to 21 critical infrastructure facilities and almost 4,000 residential/non-residential buildings across Hampton and Poquoson. The non-federal share for Hampton is estimated at nearly $1.5 billion over 10 years, with a benefit-cost ratio of 1.11. Focus areas in Hampton are Aberdeen, Buckrow, and Fox Hill; other areas, such as Mercury Central and Downtown, were excluded because structural measures are considered more appropriate there.
• Council members asked about selection criteria, outreach methods, and the meaning of map colors. The study team clarified that colors only differentiate areas and that outreach includes social media, e-news, and a Resilient Hampton newsletter, but no postal mailings for this effort.

Office of Youth & Young Adult Opportunities Annual Report

• Hugo Morrison, Interim Director, presented the annual report for FY2026 (July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026), highlighting progress under the Hopeful Hampton initiative.
• Summer youth employment: 332 applications received, 330 young people interviewed, and 146 youth placed across 52 host sites. The program spans multiple sectors, including a new partnership with Joint Base Langley-Eustis, which required real ID/passport compliance.
• The Hopeful Hampton Divergent Program served 13 young people in two 12-week cohorts; 12 completed the program. The city invested $72,581.99, with approximately 87.5% going directly to program services. Cost per participant was about $5,583; per completer about $6,049. Since the program's inception, 40 participants have been served, 35 with successful outcomes, 13 currently working, and 14 high school graduations.
• Opportunity Connect invested $10,157.30 in housing and family stabilization, assisting four families with emergency housing, one with emergency food, and addressing five stabilization cases overall.
• The city invested $108,345.08 in outside agency partnerships and mini-grants (e.g., Catch More Kids, Milan's Project, Love, Let Our Voices Empower, Give Back to the Bloc), supporting mentoring, crisis response, and violence prevention.
• Violence statistics for individuals age 25 and under (through July 30, 2026): gunshot injuries decreased 60% from the five-year average of 52 to 21; fatal shootings decreased 69% (from 13 to 4); non-fatal shootings decreased 58% (from 39.8 to 17).
• Youth Violence Prevention Week surveys showed 80% of respondents increased their understanding of youth violence prevention, and 64% reported an improved perception of neighborhood safety.
• The new Urgency of Now Center at Rip Rap Road will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony on August 26, 2026, at 1:00 p.m.
• Council members praised the program, asked about case management (the office uses the Casebook system), noted the difficulty of finding violence interrupters, and requested continued expansion of successful models.

Safer Communities Application and Appropriation

• Hugo Morrison and Mary Bunting presented the proposed use of $3.12 million from the Virginia Safer Communities program. The application is due August 31, 2026.
• The proposal is organized around six investment areas aligned with state pillars: prevention and youth opportunities ($612,000); safe neighborhoods and stabilization ($927,200); violence interruption and community safety ($178,000 as transcribed, though described as the largest category—a potential transcription discrepancy); healing and recovery ($225,000); community partnerships ($215,000); and strategy, innovation, and sustainability ($158,513).
• About $1 million of the award was already pre-allocated in the FY27 budget to continue existing programs (e.g., Riverside Hand-in-Hand housing support, Hopeful Hampton Divergent Program, and re-entry services).
• The plan includes new ideas such as a portable skating rink, portable basketball court, inclusive recreation improvements, expanded credible messenger capacity, trauma-informed services, and a full-time grant coordinator.
• Council members expressed general support, with Councilmember Martha Mugler noting the challenge of hiring additional violence interrupters. Staff will finalize the application and submit it by the August 31 deadline.

Closed Session and Certification

• At 2:56 p.m., the council voted 7-0 to enter closed session to discuss the investment of public funds in the LaSalle Corridor, a potential mixed-use project in Coliseum Central, disposition of publicly held real property in Downtown Hampton, acquisition of real property in Hampton Roads Center North, and appointments to various boards and commissions.
• The council reconvened in open session at 6:10 p.m., unanimously certified the closed session (7-0), and adjourned at 6:10 p.m.

Key Outcomes

• All four presentations were informational; no formal action was taken on them.
• The council directed staff to proceed with the Safer Communities application based on the proposed framework.
• The closed session motion and the closed session certification both passed unanimously (7-0).
• No public comments were heard during the work session itself, but the Army Corps study has an open public comment period through September 6, 2026, and an in-person meeting on August 13, 2026.
• Upcoming dates: Fort Monroe public workshops (September 16–17), African Landing Memorial sculpture arrival (August 29), Urgency of Now Center ribbon cutting (August 26), and Safer Communities application submission (August 31).