VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — The Virginia Beach city manager has said he intends to initiate the process to move or alter the city’s Confederate monument as soon as possible.
Acting City Manager Tom Leahy sent a letter to City Council Friday saying he intended to start the process of covering, removing, relocating or contextualizing the monument, as laid out by Virginia state law.
The process begins with a public hearing, which Leahy recommended the city schedule for July. The process to hold the public hearing and then determine what exactly to do with the monument requires a minimum of 60 days under law, Leahy said.
The process, however, will likely take longer, he added.
Leahy said the city doesn’t have authority to move or change the monument until the new state law goes into effect July 1 — that law allows localities to take action on monuments they own.
Leahy also wrote in the letter that he planned to ask the Historic Preservation Commission’s Princess Anne County Confederate Statue Roundtable to reconsider its 2019 recommendation to leave the monument where it is and add context and “balancing elements” covering the city’s African American heritage.
The roundtable’s recommendation would cost an estimated $322,400.
If City Council votes to cover, remove, relocate or contextualize the statue, it must first be offered for relocation or placement in a museum or with a historical society, government or military battlefield.
Should City Council decide to relocate the monument, the city is already exploring potential sites where it could go. It currently sits at the northeast corner of the municipal complex.
Portsmouth
Portsmouth City Council is also following the process similarly to Leahy’s recommendation for Virginia Beach.
Portsmouth officials met Wednesday and set a public hearing for July 28 on the removal of the Confederate monument on Court Street.
That same night, protesters gathered at the monument, vandalizing and beheading the soldier statues.
A 45-year-old man was critically injured when one Confederate soldier statue fell on top of him.
Moving statues anyway
Leahy’s letter comes just one day after Norfolk announced it would remove its Confederate monument, “Johnny Reb,” from its pedestal in downtown.
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The decision was made in the interest of public safety. The monument is 80 feet tall and the statue of Johnny Reb weighs 1,500 pounds at 16 feet tall. Without a crane, attempting to remove the statue would be unsafe.
Moving the monument itself will take longer, the mayor said.