Dan Kavanagh, who’s been executive director of Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission for the past 25 years, has announced that he is retiring, effective Monday.
Kavanagh made his announcement during the Jan. 20 MPPDC meeting in Saluda. He said he is retiring from MPPDC both to enjoy a bit more time with his family as well as to devote more time to two unrelated business ventures that he’s been involved with for some time.
Kavanagh, 62, said simply "it is time" when asked why he surprised the commission with his announcement. "I’ve had a wonderful time." He added that he will continue to reside in Deltaville.
Among major accomplishments the commission has taken during his term as executive director, Kavanagh said, are setting up the Chesapeake Bay Public Access Authority, which has taken steps to improve what had been shrinking public access points to Chesapeake Bay waters; support for the Middle Peninsula Regional Airport, located near West Point, which can handle corporate jets on its 5,000 foot long runway, and efforts to support businesses, especially small businesses, in the six-county region.
He has served in government positions for about 35 years, having previously served as a county administrator in West Virginia.
When he leaves MPPDC, Kavanagh plans to devote more time to the custom fishing boat business he operates with his son Jay on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, as well as a business he has restoring English motorcycles.
His wife Regena is a reading specialist at Middlesex Elementary School. They have another son Jackson, who teaches in Richmond.
Originally from Bay City, Mich., Kavanagh said he went to that city’s Central High School with members of the rock band Bay City Rollers and with pop star Madonna.
No Discharge Zones
In other business at the meeting, the commission discussed the concept of No Discharge Zone (NDZ) designations for some local waters. No particular waterways are being recommended for the special designation at the present time, with the commission to review the concept in more depth at an upcoming meeting.
The Clean Water Act prohibits the discharge of untreated waste into United States territorial waters, a report said, and the act mandates that all commercial and recreational vessels with an installed toilet be equipped with a U.S. Coast Guard certified Marine Sanitation Device.
The state’s NDZ strategy is "targeting impaired tributaries with low flushing/low volume," a report said, "excluding major rivers and (the Chesapeake) Bay." The NDZ designation applies only to treated discharges, excluding gray water.
A few NDZs have been established in the state, Kavanagh said, including Smith Mountain Lake and Bedford, Franklin and Pittsylvania counties in 2000, Lynnhaven River in Virginia Beach (2007), and Broad and Jackson creeks and Fishing Bay, all in Middlesex County, in 2009. An application is being finalized for Owl Creek/Rudee Inlet in Virginia Beach, and several applications for NDZs are in preparation on the Northern Neck.
MPPDC also adopted its 2011 meeting schedule. The commission will meet on the fourth Wednesday of each month through October, on the third Wednesday in November and December; the commission will not meet in August.