THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 13, 1994 TAG: 9411120061
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SERIES: The Grand Plan: Portsmouth Charts Course for the 21st Century
First in a series
SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 304 lines
A HYMN BOOK, a bandwagon and a flag for the future of Portsmouth.
That's the way Ray Gindroz, a Pittsburgh consultant, sees the work he and his team and many Portsmouth people have been doing for seven months.
``First, as a hymn book, a plan ensures that everybody is singing from the same page,'' Gindroz said Tuesday. ``To get everybody working together, you need the same vision.''
Then, he said, with everybody working toward the same goal, the plan becomes a bandwagon that people want to be sure they join.
``Rebuilding, recharging takes energy,'' he said. ``Whatever people are doing, it needs to be seen as working on the plan. It's got to be a bandwagon.''
Finally, he said, the city will print up posters of the plan.
``In other cities where we have done this, we find they posters stay around,'' he said. ``They're like a flag.''
Before the city does anything else concerning Olde Towne/Downtown, it needs to finish Kings Crossing, planning consultant Ray Gindroz said Tuesday.
``The presence of the unfinished building is very negative,'' Gindroz said.
Making it a suite hotel, the use favored by council, has ``mixed chances,'' he said. A rental apartment complex probably would be a better use at this time, Gindroz said.
``For now the city should retain ownership, letting the value increase,'' he said. ``Then it could become a means of funding other projects on the water.''
Gindroz advocated a partnership with a private developer for finishing the building.
``Instead of selling at a loss or spending millions to finish it, I think you should set up a deal with a developer but retain ownership,'' he said.
He suggested moving Portside merchants to the ground floor retail space.
In the overall long-term plan, Gindroz favors moving Portside to the foot of High Street on a new inlet reaching to Water Street.
Income from Kings Crossing ultimately could pay for dredging new inlets along the existing Seawall, he said.
With Kings Crossing finished and the new High Street inlet in place, Gindroz advocates making High Street the main stop for the Elizabeth River Ferry.
The proposed 10-year-plan for Portsmouth evolved out of six months of study and meetings between the consultants and local residents.
A draft of the final proposal was presented at a City Council work session Tuesday.
Gindroz suggested that the next step Downtown would be private development at the inlet south of City Hall.
You need to think of some sort of park down there, private or public,'' he said. Gindroz suggested the use of land abutting Interstate 264 for a park visible from the highway, enhancing the main entrance to Downtown.
Parking lots and public buildings on the waterfront waste the city's greatest asset, he said.
He advocates moving the jail, courts and City Hall off the water's edge.
Asked by Councilman Jim Hawks where vehicles would park, Gindroz said the city should find creative ways to deal with parking Downtown.
``First, you put auto intensive uses on the south end,'' he said. ``Second, there are ways of tucking parking in behind businesses and residences.''
The plan recommends parking in the center, surrounded by retail or other uses on city-owned land adjacent to Central Fidelity Bank; addition of a parking building on the lot next to the Federal Building to accommodate more vehicles; and a layer of parking under new development all along the waterfront.
How does the city attract people from Norfolk, Councilman Cameron Pitts asked.
``You need to get some kind of signature piece at the end of High and get the ferry boat there,'' Gindroz said.
Gindroz said the city needs a task force immediately to determine what should be at the foot of the street on the waterfront.
Long-term the attraction would be the city as ``a living museum.''
The proposed plan calls for additions, such as a lighthouse, on the waterfront.
The Downtown waterfront is a priority on the Gindroz list of 10 initiatives as projects to be started immediately.
The presence of the water around Portsmouth is ``stunning,'' Gindroz said, but ``when you approach on land, you don't sense the water at all.''
The water from the naval hospital to the naval shipyard is Portsmouth's ``front yard,'' he said. ``In the future every effort must be made to relate the city to its waterfront.''
The proposed comprehensive economic development plan constantly focuses on a vision of Portsmouth as a ``shining city on the water.''
THE ELIZABETH RIVER
ASSETS: The river can be viewed as the Main Street between the riverfront areas in Norfolk and Portsmouth. It provides both visibility and interesting access for tourists making their way from Norfolk to Portsmouth.
The level of public investment along the Norfolk waterfront has succeeded in changing the city's negative image in the region. Its festival market place, maritime museum, conference center, baseball stadium and other attractions tractions have created a tourist destination.
Olde Towne Portsmouth, as a piece of living history with museums and attractions along High Street, offers the beginnings of a different kind of tourist destination - particularly with its potential for a waterfront marina and boating activities. Portside, as a concept, is very successful, offering a connection between land and water with its cafes and scheduled events.
LIABILITIES: Traversing the river to Portsmouth is not the journey it should be. The city's best qualities are invisible from the water. Not even Portside is visible until the very last moment. The ferry lands far from the High Street retail areas and visitors frequently come without ever seeing the historic houses and environment of Olde Towne.
RECOMMENDATIONS: Many of the items in the entire plan focus landside uses to the waterfront, in many cases marina development.
An overall strategy would be to collaborate with Norfolk and other cities in the region to improve water transportation across the Elizabeth and even extend it to the Peninsula and beyond.
The tourist value of the region could be enhanced by a system of linkages across the water between the regional attractions. Portsmouth as a unique ``living history'' environment should be part of that system.
The Elizabeth River should be seen not as a ``Berlin Wall'' but as a Main Street serving two downtowns and connecting the region.
THE WATERFRONT
ASSETS: Portsmouth has an extraordinary waterfront. It is not only extensive, but also varies in character along its length. The deep water port areas of the Elizabeth provide access for large ships; Crawford Bay offers excellent anchorage for a wide range of pleasure boats; Scotts Creek provides hurricane-proof anchorage for marinas; and the Western Branch offers magnificent vistas and opportunities for use.
The image of the city as seen from the water is spectacular.
LIABILITIES: With the exception of the industrial port areas and some of the residential waterfronts, this remarkable resource is under-used. The opportunity exists to create a living, working and recreational resource for the region, but in many places the pattern of land-use development either ignores or blocks access to the waterfront. For example, uses such as the jail, parking lots and garages are wastes of waterfront property.
Efforts such as the promenade along the seawall are, in some cases, insufficiently related to land-side uses or to patterns of pedestrian movement in the city.
Furthermore, the seawall, as presently configured (with exception of the area around Portside), effectively blocks access to the city from the water. There are very few places where boats can dock.
RECOMMENDATIONS: Consider relocating Portside and the ferry terminal to the end of High Street with a revised configuration for the park and waterfront to provide better tourist access to High Street.
Consider residential/marina development for the current Portside area.
Consider transforming Crawford Parkway into a linear waterfront park, closing two lanes of the four-lane traffic.
In addition, the consultants recommended some short-term uses for the vacant PortCentre area. The site, they said, needs an image upgrade in order to be marketable.
Their suggestions included:
Consider the old Coast Guard base site and the area adjacent to it as a ``festival place'' for carnivals and support services for the summer festivals.
Build on the recent experiment with a recreational vehicle (RV) park during the Seawall Festival.
Improve access to the waterfront.
Install a marina in the inlet over the Downtown Tunnel.
Work with the Navy to capitalize on the historic and tourist value of the naval shipyard.
Long-term potentials could include an upscale office and industrial complex, a residential/marina project and commercial development.
The consultants also recommended development of a parking complex in the area to accommodate up to 6,000 vehicles. They suggested that trolleys and water taxis be used to transport people from the parking facilities to Downtown locations.
HISTORIC DOWNTOWN
BUSINESS CORE
ASSETS: There have been many efforts to revitalize Downtown that should be built upon. The streetscape program for High Street creates a positive image that is beginning to show results in the first four blocks of the street. The restoration of Olde Towne, which began years ago, has played a large role in the Downtown revitalization effort.
The core of an unique environment for retail activity and tourism already is in place with five downtown museums, plus the Commodore Dinner Theater, the TCC arts complex, specialty retail stores and a number of historic buildings in the Olde Towne area. Most importantly, this character of environment is immediately adjacent to a waterfront with the capacity for marina and boating facilities.
LIABILITIES: Regional patterns of business, industrial and retail activity have changed dramatically in the past 30 years. Downtowns are no longer the regional location for major retail and business headquarters. Waterfronts have become more valued for residential, cultural and recreational uses.
In the recent past, much of the Downtown development was aimed at preserving its role as a major office and retail center. This has resulted in uses and buildings in Downtown that do not support its unique character and unique role within the region.
The large number of open parking areas, particularly along the waterfront, the office and industrial buildings and structures that block access to the waterfront and destroy the city's historic scale and character, have all diminished Portsmouth's ability to become an unique place in the Hampton Rods region.
RECOMMENDATIONS: Short-term efforts should recognize Downtown's future role as an unique regional resource. It has the potential to become a living, shopping and working environment based on its historic character and on its waterfront.
As a living historic environment, it could be an unique tourist destination for the region. Most importantly, it can establish a new regional image for Portsmouth, which, in the long run, would make the rest of the city and its economic development more marketable.
Specific initiatives would include completion of Kings Crossing as a residential building or an all-suites hotel; development of antiques mall housing a number of stalls for independent dealers; continued attraction of small retail specialty shops.
Ideally, High Street should be developed as a retail center up to Chestnut Street with some activity spilling over north into Olde Towne.
HISTORIC OLDE TOWNE
ASSETS: Olde Towne is truly a regional asset. The variety of architectural styles, the quality of streetscapes, and the care and pride exhibited by homeowners are all impressive.
Events organized for Olde Towne such as the Halloween Ghost Walks and the Living History Tour throughout the year indicate the appeal of such an environment.
Its regular grid of streets leading to the waterfront on two sides offers opportunities similar to Old Town Alexandria and Annapolis in which a historic living environment, a piece of living history, can be integrated with active recreational waterfront.
LIABILITIES: The edges of Olde Towne are showing signs of deterioration. Underdeveloped and deteriorated properties around the periphery of the neighborhood have come to be perceived as centers of crime, which undermine public safety and security in Olde Towne. Recently constructed buildings and parking areas as well as a number of rental buildings that are not well maintained compromise the area's historic character.
Property values are not increasing at the same rate as comparable districts in other parts of the country.
The traditional relationship between Olde Towne and the waterfront has been obscured . . .
As a result, Olde Towne is invisible to the region. It cannot be seen from the approaches into town, it cannot be seen from the water because it is hidden behind structures that do not have the same image and character.
RECOMMENDATIONS: The report makes very specific suggestions to connect the waterfront, Downtown and Olde Towne, including the following:
Dredging of additional inlets into the shore between the existing inlets at Portside and just south of City Hall.
Realigning Crawford Parkway to straighten it and to install a park on Crawford Bay.
Redevelop the Holiday Inn site with a new hotel/marina complex.
Take out the western end of the parking garage to make more space for residential development along Crawford Parkway.
Build condominiums in the air space over the Signet Bank parking lot on the water.
Construct marina development at end of London Boulevard and create a floating Lightship Museum.
Build a new Naval Shipyard Museum south of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad building.
Move the city jail off the waterfront and use land for tax-paying entities.
Take out City Hall Plaza. Move city offices to another location and make office space available for private business.
Develop a marina complex and facility for large boats, including cruise ships and river boats, in South Harbor below existing City Hall.
The consultants also suggested that the Olde Towne Civic League form a corporation with the city to begin upgrading the fringes of the community. The consultants recommended that the group begin work in the 600 block of London Boulevard, where property has deteriorated and could be demolished if it is not restored. MEMO: EDITOR'S NOTE
This article represents the first of a four-part series by staff
writer Ida Kay Jordan on the proposed 10-year master plan for the city.
The proposal, as presented by consultant Ray Gindroz, consists of four
parts.
Today's installment focuses on Olde Towne/Downtown. An installment
focusing on the Effingham Corridor/Park View will be included in the
Thursday/Friday, Nov. 17/18 edition; an installment on Scotts Creek
Marina and Campus Civic Center will be included in the Sunday, Nov. 20
edition; and an installment on Midtown will be included in the Thursday,
Nov. 24 edition.
In hopes of encouraging citizen debate, discussion, input and/or
participation before a decision is made, The Currents will request
comments through Infoline and letters to the editor upon completion of
the four-part series.
In addition, The Currents is planning to reprint the installments in
a special section prior to the public hearings tentatively scheduled for
later this month or in December.
For more information on the proposal or access to the entire report,
please contact Economic Development at 393-8804.
- Joseph P. Banks
Portsmouth editor
THE CONSULTANT
Ray Gindroz, head of Urban Design Associates, a Pittsburgh firm, has
been involved with plans for many cities, specifically with several
historic areas.
An urban design teacher and critic, Gindroz taught at Yale University
for 20 years. He also has been an adjunct professor at Carnegie-Mellon
University from which he received degrees when it was Carnegie Institute
of Technology. In addition, he studied in Vicinza, Italy, at Centro per
gli studie el architettur.
ILLUSTRATION: Color drawing on cover
File photos
The charm of Olde Towne's historic areas should be preserved and
blended with increased development of the waterfront.
The charm of Olde Towne's historic areas should be preserved and
blended with increased development of the waterfront.
Color map
KEYWORDS: REDEVELOPMENT PORTSMOUTH DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANT by CNB