NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — City leaders are once again on the search for sand to replenish areas along its coastline where erosion has taken its toll.

In a presentation to Norfolk City Council Monday, Tammy Halstead, an assistant city engineer, explained that while most of the city’s seven-plus miles of beach are due for a complete renourishment in 2026, several areas will need sand this winter to bridge the gap.

Specifically, in the vicinity of Toler Place in West Ocean View Avenue, Ocean View Park and Little Creek Inlet, the beach can be less than five feet wide at high tide.

In recent months, Halstead said the city has experienced some abnormally high, high tides, leading to steep drop-offs from the dunes.

“Mother Nature keeps taking the sand away, so we got to keep bringing them back,” Halstead said.

While the cost of the fix isn’t yet known, Mayor Kenny Alexander suggested the city look at beginning to stockpile sand, as the the need for interim repairs becomes more constant.

A picture of the erosion at Toler Place in Ocean View (Courtesy: city of Norfolk)

This past winter, roughly 12,000 cubic yards of sand from the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel Expansion project was placed at East Beach between 21st and 27th Bay Streets in order to replace sand that had been washed away since the United State Army Corps of Engineers replenished the beach in 2017.

Halstead said the city wanted 14,000 cubic yards, but received all they could from the HRBT.

Now, the hunt is on for sand for this winter.

“I don’t think you will ever run out of sand,” Halstead said. “The quality of sand we’re looking for in particular is a problem. You don’t want uneven sand that has an odd feel, the larger, larger grains. You want the good clean sand that’s beach friendly.”

While Halstead thinks the city could find sand at Willoughby Spit and Cottage Place in Norfolk, they have also reached out to neighboring Virginia Beach.

“Virginia Beach does have a project at Pleasure House,” Halstead said. “So they’re expecting to do some excavation with some sand that was dropped at that site with the Corps when they were doing a previous dredging project. So we’re looking at possibly obtaining some sand from that effort.”

Speaking of the Corps, Halstead said it has become clear nine years between renurishment efforts may not be enough.

“:”We are looking at having the Corps do another study due to advances in technology and the science of wave action,” Halstead said. “We’re hoping to reevaluate that to see if we could get a lesser period.”