Judge stops enforcement of Virginia Beach Oceanfront curfew

A Virginia Beach judge halted the city from enforcing its Oceanfront curfew, which had been set to resume Friday night.

Circuit Judge Tanya Felton made the ruling after nearly seven hours of argument and testimony.

Three business owners had asked the court Monday to issue a temporary restraining order on Monday, citing what they called severe economic harms and the restriction on their freedom of speech and movement over last weekend.

The plaintiffs' lawyer, Kevin Martingayle, successfully argued that the ordinance was overly vague and expanded the authority that was given to the city by state and local laws.

Over and over again, lawyers for the city and the businesses repeated the law that a curfew restricting the movement of people on public streets can only be passed by city and law enforcement officials if there is an imminent threat of a disturbance that constitutes a clear and present danger.

The decision to pass the ordinance was based on past incidents of violence in the area of the curfew zone – most notably on the intersections of Atlantic Avenue and 18th and 17th Streets – and typically on warm weekend nights in March and April.

Felton questioned how, without explicit evidence, a clear and present danger to the public could be predicted for the future, especially one over the course of several weeks.

"It's like building a huge house to cover up a manhole," Martingayle argued.

Felton also ruled that the businesses suffered irreparable harm. Not just in the form of lost revenue, that could be resolved through compensation, but they suffered harm to their Constitutional rights.

The owners of Peabody's, Abbey Road Restaurant and Pub, as well as several Sweet Frog locations testified that their usual ability to communicate their political opinions and how the city's decisions affected them to city and law enforcement officials was curtailed.

The language of the ordinance - including exemptions for people traveling to and from work - made it unclear whether or not they had to ability to walk on the sidewalks and perform these rights.

Mayor Bobby Dyer said he was disappointed in the outcome.

"My intentions and the city's intentions were designed to really curb violence," he said. "We were really making sure that we had a safe weekend in a weekend that has historically been problematic with violence, shootings and, I believe, homicides."

Dyer said he's working on forming a task force to work on solutions for the violence.

"We're going to pray for a safe weekend and a really good summer season where people can come to the beach and enjoy the beach and feel like they're safe."

City Council member Worth Remick, who initially supported the curfew but later sought to cancel it, said he was surprised by the outcome.

"We were advised this could be struck down in court," he said. "I get it. I thought the threat was last weekend and we achieved what we needed to achieve."

Representatives for Oceanfront businesses quickly praised the decision.

"I'm glad they heard us," said Debbie Lou Hague, president of the Virginia Beach Restaurant Association. "Some of my restaurants are definitely going to be happy about this because they lost a lot of money."

Attorney Tim Anderson also was seeking to stop the curfew on behalf of Stephanie Vann - a woman who said she was arrested in violation of the curfew while smoking a cigarette outside her apartment. The hearing in that case was scheduled for later Thursday.

After the ruling, the charge against Vann was dismissed.

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This story was originally published April 23, 2026 at 3:13 PM.