HomeProgress-Index, 04/03/2007
Downtown vision unveiled
By F.M. Wiggins, Staff Writer
PETERSBURG — An 88-acre waterfront park, at a possible price tag of $5 million to $12 million, complete with a boardwalk and amphitheater, was just one of several recommendations the Regional/Urban Design Assistance Team presented Monday evening.
The team, which has worked in the city since Friday, presented its final plan last night to a gathered audience of more than 200 at the Petersburg Regional Arts Center.
“People said that they couldn’t believe that this plan was done in just four days, and it really wasn’t,” R/UDAT team leader Jane Jenkins said. “But we were only able to do in those four days because of more than a year’s worth of work that’s been done by the steering committee.”
The R/UDAT steering committee first met in January 2006 and started developing plans for the team to come visit and develop a plan for the downtown. The plan, called “Re-envisioning Petersburg Together,” presents a future vision of downtown Petersburg that will vitalize the downtown core, acquaint its citizens to its riverfront and establish an agenda for future action.
Jenkins said that the success of the R/UDAT plan depends on the people of the city and their participation in making the plan happen.
Other than the park, the plan makes recommendations including: opening Washington, Wythe and Bank streets to two-way traffic; revitalizing Sycamore Street with further mixed-use development; and inclusion of a grocery store and bakery in the downtown area.
However, the plan recommends that the $5 million to $12 million for the park be budgeted within the next three years. The park would be an 88-acre open space with an art trail, boardwalk and amphitheater. According to Charles Zucker, the park should connect open spaces near the harbor, the diversion channel of the Appomattox River on the north side of Pocahontas Island and the Appomattox River to the west of Pocahontas Island.
R/UDAT team member Charles Zucker said that the park should also incorporate other possible recreational areas in the downtown area aimed at youth, possibly to include a skate park under the Martin Luther King Jr. Bridge.
Zucker said upon first arriving in Petersburg, the team members’ reactions to the downtown was one of amazement.
“When we were all taking the tour and we turned onto Sycamore Street from Washington Street, we all thought, ‘Wow, this is a really neat place,’” Zucker said.
Zucker further said that the plan should serve as a road map.
“I have this saying that if you don’t know where you’re going, then any road will get you there,” Zucker said, adding that the plan should serve as a guide to the destination of a revitalized downtown. “This is not a pie-in-the-sky plan. This is something that can be a reality.”
The report delivered Monday evening divided the downtown study area — from Market Street to Interstate 95 running east to west and from Wythe Street north to the Appomattox River — into 13 smaller areas.
Zucker described how the primary goal with each of the areas was to preserve the city’s character.
“One of the icons of the city is the courthouse clock tower,” Zucker said. “So that’s something you should be able to see.”
Zucker said that height of structures built as in-fill should preserve a view of the clock tower and the statue of Lady Justice on top of it. He added that such structures should also have varying heights of four to six stories to preserve the somewhat jagged skyline of the city.
Other recommendations Zucker discussed included turning Washington Street into a boulevard by putting in a wide median, converting the street to two-way traffic and providing trees along both sides of the road.
The recommendation met with a applause from the gathered audience.
“This is probably the best R/UDAT I’ve worked on,” said Zucker, who has worked on more than six such processes. “What made this one the best is probably that the steering committee really worked hard and we had a great team.”
The next steps, however, are now in the hands of the community.
Derrick Woody, another of the team members, said that the plan could be a 20-year plan but that work could begin immediately. He added that 20 years, in relation to planning and development, isn’t very long.
Woody said that while funding can be a challenge, the team is prepared to offer the city assistance in finding as much funding as possible once the plan is finalized and adopted by the city.
Several sections in the plan developed by the team speak specifically to the city developing zoning regulations for new development downtown and potentially having the city sell parcels of land it owns in the study area.
Mayor Annie M. Mickens described the plan as a document showing quality community planning and thanked the team for its hard work in putting the plan together.
• F.M. Wiggins may be reached at 732-3456, ext. 254 or fwiggins@progress-index.com.
