DATE: Tuesday, October 14, 1997             TAG: 9710140234

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   72 lines

CITY WORKSHOP TO ADDRESS FUTURE OF PORTSIDE, HARBOR

PORTSMOUTH - The future of Portside and the harbor it fronts will be discussed Thursday at a Vision 2005 work session with planning consultant Ray Gindroz.

The fate of the popular community gathering place is tied to a longstanding plan to build a hotel nearby on what is now the Signet Bank Building parking lot. Portside could survive in a different form, perhaps as a year-round, permanent facility. Or it could be moved to another location on the downtown waterfront.

The possibilities will be explored at the 9 a.m. meeting in the Portsmouth Partnership room of the Central Fidelity building downtown. City Manager Ron Massie said citizens with ideas about Portside's future may present a recommendation at that time.

The tent-topped marketplace closed Sunday night for the season - and ostensibly forever - despite growing public pressure to save it.

Although some elected officials, including Mayor James Holley, have said unofficially that Portside will be open again at the same location, no action has been taken, Massie said.

``The leases provide 90 days after the closing date to notify the merchants of our plans for next year,'' Massie said. ``But I don't expect it to take 90 days.''

Before introducing the Navy's Steel Band at the season's final gathering Oct. 9, Councilman Thomas Benn told the Portside crowd, ``We certainly shouldn't close this without plans to replace it.'' He said a new and better Portside could be an asset to a hotel.

Last Thursday night was busy at Portside.

``We've been coming here since it opened,'' Wayne Coble said.

``We bring our grandchildren here, and we all enjoy it,'' added his wife, Ruth Coble.

Myles and Nancy Standish moved back to the area after retirement and live in Western Branch.

``It's wonderful here,'' she said. ``I never feel uncomfortable.''

Pat Webb of Chesapeake works for the Navy in the downtown federal building and says the folks in her office go to Portside for breaks, for lunch and ``then we come back at night.''

``You meet a lot of nice people here,'' she said. ``We hate to see it close.''

Portside is a canvas-covered structure that is open six months of the year. It was designed as a temporary facility in 1983, when the city spent $1.1 million to build the marketplace, a nearby visitors center and a stage over the water. The site at that time still was considered a potential location for another high-rise apartment building resembling Harbor Tower.

Although conceived 14 years ago as a visitor's center in conjunction with the Elizabeth River pedestrian ferry, Portside evolved into a popular gathering place for people who live or work in Portsmouth.

For several years, the city has threatened to close the eateries under the tent and said that would happen when the second ferry dock opened at the foot of High Street.

High Street Landing opened this year, and fans of Portside immediately began to lobby to keep their meeting place open. Thousands of people have signed petitions, and many more have written letters to City Council members.

``There's no place like this,'' said George Bushbaum, who lives in nearby Admiral's Landing. ``You can come down here and enjoy seeing people you know.''

Last Thursday, Bushbaum met an old friend, Luther Melton of Hodges Manor, at Portside.

``They shouldn't close this place,'' Melton said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/File photo

Portside, the tent-topped marketplace on Portsmouth's waterfront,

closed Sunday night for the season - and possibly forever, despite

growing public pressure to save it. It was designed as a temporary

facility in 1983.

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