THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 22, 1994 TAG: 9409200132
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
The City Council could begin setting direction for downtown public housing as early as November.
Assistant City Manager Ronald W. Massie has recommended that the council devote its Nov. 1 policy meeting to the issue. The Planning Commission and the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority would participate, he said.
Ideas generated from the discussion, Massie suggested, would be referred to the Mayor's Downtown Development Committee, a panel of high-ranking city officials and downtown business leaders.
Last week, the planning commission asked the council to study the future of downtown's public housing neighborhoods as part of the multimillion-dollar revival of the central business district.
Tidewater Gardens, Young Terrace and Calvert Square lie within blocks of the planned $270 million MacArthur Center upscale shopping mall.
Mayor Paul D. Fraim embraced the idea of upgrading public housing to complement MacArthur Center. ``There really needs to be an integrated plan to bring the neighborhoods along at the same time,'' he said.
One way to study the public housing issue is to include it in an update of the downtown master plan for the year 2000, said James Gildea, manager of strategic planning for the Department of Planning and Codes Administration.
Gildea proposed that the mayor's downtown committee create a work group to oversee the housing study. He proposed that tenants be included in the discussions along with representatives from the council, planning commission and housing authority.
``I may be a little ahead of the curve, but that's what I think will evolve,'' he said.
It's too early to say what recommendations will emerge for changing the housing.
Some advocates want to model Tidewater Gardens, Young Terrace and Calvert Square after the Diggs Town neighborhood in Campostella.
The Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority is in the middle of a $17 million effort to give a suburban townhouse ambiance to that once drab-looking complex. Features include porches, shutters and landscaping and replacing dark courtyards with well-lighted streets.
Achieving this goal may not be simple. One big hurdle is money.
David H. Rice, executive director of redevelopment and housing, said the federal goverment has changed how it spends money for public housing improvements. He doubted that Norfolk would get another huge grant for renovation.
More likely, the federal government would give smaller chunks of money over several years for phased remodeling.
That would mean downtown public housing could not be upgraded in time for the October 1996 opening of MacArthur Center. ``But we certainly can have a plan and be started by then, which is the important thing,'' Rice said.
Making downtown public housing look like Diggs Town also may pose design problems. The three downtown neighborhoods have tighter layouts of buildings, streets and courtyards, Rice said.
``We think they need to be improved, that the appearance needs to be changed, that the density needs to be reduced and we have to change how we manage them,'' Rice said. ``But we have to be very innovative.''
Rice also wants to bring about dramatic social changes.
He wants public housing restored as a place where households spent only a few years stabilizing themselves before living in private homes. Now, many families are entrenched for several generations.
Rice also wants a change in federal rules that require public housing to serve only poorest families.
``There should be a mix of people, a mix of incomes. That's what they were like when they started,'' he said. ``They should not be just a collection of people with a collection of problems and the lowest incomes.'' by CNB