THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 1, 1996 TAG: 9608010492
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 57 lines
What's in a name?
Plenty, say business owners in the Mid-Town Industrial Park.
The commercial zone that lies between upper Church Street and Monticello Avenue is actually in Norfolk's downtown, and most of the businesses there are more accurately described as ``commercial,'' not ``industrial,'' business owners told city planners Wednesday.
City officials and a spokesman for the Pittsburgh architectural firm the city has hired to redesign the park and nearby Church Street areas met with the business people to get input for a master plan - a vision for the future of the commercial zone.
Church Street is about to undergo a major street-widening project that will displace most of the small businesses that serve the Huntersville neighborhood to the east of Church Street.
In contrast to a meeting the night before on a master plan for Church Street, the atmosphere at Wednesday's gathering was positive. Though more park space, neighborhood improvements and local government incentives are needed, the business owners said they are superbly sited to grow.
Tuesday night, Church Street residents and small business owners lashed out at state and city officials, accusing them of targeting Huntersville's black-owned businesses for demise.
A proposed plan for the industrial park will be brought to public hearing in about six weeks. If it gets the nod from the park's business owners, it will go before the City Council as a recommended change to the city's general plan, adopted in 1992. But urban planners are prepared to redraw their proposal, if necessary, to reflect what the business community wants.
The industrial park's formal denotation is not the only thing that irks the business people; navigating to and through the park can be a maze, they say.
Just to the north of the park, Granby Street veers suddenly to the right, leaving the unwary driver traveling south on Church Street, and St. Paul's Blvd. becomes Monticello Ave. as one drives north from the downtown.
And, in order to make deliveries to the park's businesses, drivers of large trucks must sometimes weave through adjacent residential neighborhoods, make their way down narrow, one-way streets and frequently pause for as long as 20 minutes waiting for trains to cross the main thoroughfares.
A train trestle has not been planned for, and business owners said they want that issue addressed.
The businesses that occupy space within the industrial park are primarily ones that provide services - a roofing company, a safety valve repair company, for example. They are the kinds of businesses that folks seek out, rather than ones that serve the neighborhoods they are part of - barber shops or small grocery stores.
Things the industrial park business owners don't like include crime, vacant buildings - ``perfect addresses for crime,'' said Robert Gaskins, owner of a park business - pedestrian traffic, lack of transitional and buffer areas between the park and adjacent residential areas, inadequate police presence and poor access from interstates. ILLUSTRATION: VP Map by CNB