The Pleasure House Point Tidal Wetland Mitigation Bank, owned and operated by the City of Virginia Beach, is Virginia’s first municipal tidal wetland mitigation bank. This ±12-acre site has ±8 acres of tidal habitat, including low and high marsh, sand flats, shallow water habitats, and maritime woodland plantings that provide mitigation for City projects and neighborhood dredging projects for impacts to tidal wetlands within the Lynnhaven River Watershed of the lower Chesapeake Bay.
The Challenge
Between approximately 1970 and 1972, the broad expanses of tidal wetlands at Pleasure House Point were buried under more than a million cubic yards of dredge spoils. The City of Virginia Beach and partners preserved the area in 2012 to protect about 80 acres from development and specifically set aside the ±12-acre site for a future tidal wetland mitigation bank. WSSI* began working with the City in 2012, providing the preliminary investigations, documentation and regulatory coordination necessary to secure formal approval of the mitigation bank.
Our Solution
WSSI completed wetland and protected species evaluations, 100% Design Plans, Mitigation Banking Documents, Sea Level Rise resiliency evaluation, and drainage analysis, and managed subconsultants who contributed to the project. WSSI also provided site signage and participated in citizen, stakeholder, and City Council briefings.
WSSI staff worked with the City of Virginia Beach and a state and federal-level Interagency Review Team to obtain agency approval of the Conceptual Layout, Final Mitigation Bank Prospectus, final plans, and as-built survey.
The restored wetlands provide the City with a sustainable solution to mitigate unavoidable impacts on tidal wetlands for City projects and improve the health of the local ecosystem. The bank improves water quality through filtering pollutants in the watershed, providing aquatic and riparian habitat, and supporting sea level rise resiliency for the bank’s wetlands while providing improved and expanded recreational trails and a new pedestrian bridge.
Project construction was completed in December 2025.
* The City contracted Kerr Environmental Services, which WSSI acquired in 2018.
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Mitigation Concept Plan for Pleasure House Point Tidal Wetland Mitigation Bank designed by WSSI. -
Tidal vegetation planting from September 2025. -
Plant inspection and planting at the Pleasure House Point Tidal Mitigation Bank, September 2025. -
The final planting inspection at Pleasure House Point Tidal Mitigation Bank in December 2025. -
Photo from the January 2026 site visit.
Project Facts
- Owner
City of Virginia Beach - Location
Virginia Beach, VA - Size
12 acres