THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 25, 1995 TAG: 9503250311
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines
Pretty much without city help, Colley Avenue and 21st Street in Ghent have grown into a vibrant area where people shop, stroll and dine.
Now the City Council has decided to encourage the area's development with a new set of zoning rules designed to encourage the type of pedestrian-friendly development that gives the area its urban charm.
``We describe the area as an up-scale, eclectic, urban district,'' said Claus Ihlemann, president of the Ghent Business Association and a member of the Ghent Task Force. ``We thought it very important to do what we can, long-term, to preserve it.''
Passed by the council Tuesday, the rules require that new businesses be built close to the street, with any parking set behind or beside a business. The rules prohibit the normal pattern of suburban development, in which a shopping center or store is placed beyond a carpet of parking.
Although they do not affect existing businesses, the rules would prohibit new auto repair shops and car dealerships. Buildings that are extensively renovated in the future would have to conform to the new setback and parking regulations.
The regulations, called ``Pedestrian Commercial Overlay Districts,'' are the product of more than a year of work by the Ghent Task Force, a committee of planners, business people and residents. It was a sign of the committee's preparation that the rules passed without opposition before the council.
If the new codes are considered successful, they could be used to enhance or preserve other vital neighborhood urban shopping districts such as the 35th Street corridor or Granby Street by Riverview and Colonial Place.
With the 21st Street regulations, the planners are essentially trying to encourage a pattern of development that is already in motion and has enjoyed some success, but which was sometimes disturbed by new development.
Posing a particular problem are chain stores and restaurants that build according to set, suburban models, Ihlemann said. For example, Blockbuster Video and Hardee's have built their standard suburban stores that sit back from the street and have large, free-standing signs.
``If a decision is made in Atlanta or Chicago, the people making the decisions don't know our neighborhood,'' Ihlemann said.
The new rules would push future buildings up to the street and prohibit the free-standing signs. Ihlemann noted that Hardee's was recently renovated.
``With Hardee's, we found out that if they had found out earlier what the neighborhood was trying to do, they would have remodeled their restaurant differently,'' Ihlemann said. ``They just didn't know.''
The Palace Shops on 21st between Llewellyn and Colonial avenues have been referred to as the model for what 21st Street should look like. The stores, which include Ihlemann's Decorum furniture and Turn The Page bookstore, are built up to the sidewalk and have parking in the rear.
The new zoning rules are one step in a plan to make Colley Avenue and 21st Street more user-friendly. The next steps may be putting in benches, new light poles and fancier sidewalks.
Ihlemann acknowledged that turning 21st Street into a pedestrian-oriented street would pose problems. With its long blocks and gap-toothed pattern of development, it is a challenge for people to walk from one shop, past a vacant parking lot, to another store down the street.
Still, both 21st Street and Colley Avenue contrast with Granby Street downtown, where the shops also front on the street but are largely vacant.
City Planning Director John M. Dugan pointed out that Colley Avenue and 21st Street fit into an existing, dense and prosperous neighborhood of homes and apartments that gives the businesses their primary market. The neighborhood of families, elderly people, singles and young professionals encourages a diverse set of businesses that attract people from around Hampton Roads.
``None of those things apply to Granby Street,'' Dugan said.
By comparison, Granby Street downtown is surrounded by vacant parking lots and office towers that are empty after 5 p.m. Although the Freemason neighborhood is nearby, as well as some apartment buildings, only about 1,000 people live in the downtown district. That compares to 15,000 in the greater Ghent area, Dugan said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
In 1947, 21st Street was more accessible to pedestrians
Color photo by Richard L. Dunston, Staff
The 1995 photo shows how much the area has changed
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN, Staff photos
Palace Antiques Gallery, above, at 300 W. 21st St., is an example of
what Norfolk City Council hopes to encourage. The store sits on the
street, and parking is in the rear. Blockbuster Video, below, at 407
W. 21st St., is fronted by a parking lot - exactly what the city
plans to avoid.
KEYWORDS: ZONING ORDINANCE 21ST STREET BUSINESS DISTRICT COLLEY
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