THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 20, 1994 TAG: 9410200423
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA MCNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SMITHFIELD LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
By the end of November, pleasure and commercial boats of almost any size will be able to make their way into the Pagan River and to the town.
A project to dredge the Pagan will be completed by the middle of next month, U.S. Rep. Norman Sisisky told a group of town officials gathered on the banks of the river at Smithfield Station on Wednesday.
``Smithfield is really going to benefit from the economic development that the dredging will help bring,'' the Democrat from the 4th District said.
One of those developments is at Smithfield Station, the upscale restaurant and marina where the meeting was held. Owner Ron Pack has just completed a project that expanded the marina and added a boardwalk and a reproduction of a river lighthouse.
But speculation about development was directed Wednesday toward a project announced about two years ago by Joseph W. Luter III, chairman of the board of Smithfield Foods.
Luter wants to locate his company's headquarters on the bank of the river at historic Wharf Hill, a place where large boats once loaded and unloaded freight and mail in the town, which acted as a port for the entire area.
Luter's plans also include building a walk along the river, specialty shops, a restaurant and townhouses.
Sisisky said the dredging, which has been going on since the first of October, will allow more boaters easier access to shops and restaurants such as those planned by Luter.
At a cost of $425,000, the river channel is being dredged to a depth of 7 feet along a five-mile stretch, said Meade Stith, chief of operations and readiness for the Norfolk district of the Army Corps of Engineers.
Stith said the project guidelines could eventually take the river's depth to 10 feet if local officials could show a demand for an even deeper channel.
The dredging was made possible through a federal navigation project, Town Manager Kenneth L. McLawhon said.
Sisisky said the Pagan River project stood out because of its potential to boost commercial development. ILLUSTRATION: U.S. Rep. Norman Sisisky updated Smithfield officials on the
Pagan River dredging.
by CNB