Planning is under way for the Lehigh project, consisting of a park and river terraces near Rocketts Landing. (Photo by Ashley Luck)
Now that the T. Tyler Potterfield Memorial Bridge is open, the Tregedar Green project is completed and “The Path Untraveled" public art project is installed, Richmond's Planning and Development Review department is focusing on the downriver portion of the city's Riverfront Plan, adopted in 2012.
“We are doing the planning for Lehigh Terraces now; it’s the next project and hopefully we will have most of the planning done by the end of the year,” says Mark Olinger, the city's planning director. “We don’t have the funding to do all of it right now, so our goal is to get planning done and put funding in for next year’s budget and see if we get some money to keep moving it forward.”
Mark Olinger, director of Richmond's Department of Planning and Development Review (photo by Ashley Luck)
Olinger spoke about riverfront development updates during a discussion held by the ChamberRVA on Tuesday at the Boathouse at Rocketts Landing.
A park and river terraces are planned at the site of the former Lehigh Cement Co. The downriver plan also includes the removal of Dock Street and reconstruction of part of East Main Street to incorporate a roundabout, says Olinger.
At the Lehigh site, there will be a playground and splash area for children and families, among other additions. The earlier downriver plan showed a lot of trails and pathways; the amended plan is simplified, providing an open and usable area along the river, Olinger says.
On the Intermediate Dock side, there will be a working dock put in this summer, as well as restroom facilities and spaces for vendors, among other additions. The changes will enable the docks to be used as they haven't been in a long time, Olinger says.
The development and construction of the Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens along the Intermediate Dock is also underway; Stone Brewing currently operates a store at the site that offers beer tastings and growlers for sale.
The GRTC bus rapid transit line, under construction between Willow Lawn Shopping Center and Rocketts Landing, will offer public transportation access to the area, and there will be additional pedestrian connections to neighborhoods, such as sidewalks to Church Hill and the expansion of access from Gillies Creek, Olinger says.
"The riverfront will look completely different in the next five years," says Nathan Burrell, the James River Park System's park manager, noting that the last riverfront plan was done in 1972. Burrell says the 550-acre park system attracted 1.4 million visitors in 2016.
“Sixty percent of those 1.4 million visitors from last year were not city residents,” Burrell says. “That’s great — we love to the bring those county residents in to the city. But we need to continue to grow and bring more people, and this plan is a great way to do that."
Details of the Riverfront Plan can be seen in these images from the city's Department of Planning and Development Review:
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