THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 25, 1996 TAG: 9610250532
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 84 lines
Residents and business owners Thursday night gave mixed reviews to a redevelopment plan that would save businesses on one side of Church Street and put new, urban-style homes beside them.
Feeling burned by past redevelopment efforts, many weren't sure whether the plan was an attempt to improve the neighborhood or push out existing residents in favor of those with more money.
The meeting ended with everyone agreeing to come back and hold a one-day gathering, often called a ``charrette,'' where the community could hash out the redevelopment plan, a related road-widening plan and the health of the surrounding Huntersville neighborhood.
The sketches of the proposed plan were presented Thursday at the United House of Prayer by Acquanetta Ellis of the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, and Barry Long of UDA Architects in Pittsburgh.
The plans showed homes with front porches set alongside existing small grocery stores, barber shops and coin-operated laundries, whose facades were shown restored and redone. Homes and stores would front on the sidewalk. Parking would be in the back off small lanes or alleys.
The plan fit into current theories of urban planning in that it aimed to create a more urban-style street oriented toward people on foot rather than in a car.
``Church Street is not really a pedestrian street now,'' said Long, a city consultant. ``But it used to be,'' and making it that way again is an essential part of the proposed plan, he said.
The plan also includes a proposal to build a strip shopping center at one end of Church Street. This would be more suburban in style, with businesses set back behind a parking lot.
Prompting the redevelopment plan is the scheduled widening of Church Street between Goff and Granby streets, an $11 million state road project already approved by the City Council. Under the plan, most buildings on the west side of the street would be cleared so Church Street could be expanded to four lanes with a median strip.
Although some people said they liked the plan, they were generally outspoken by those with complaints.
Some thought the nice-looking homes would be out of the price range of people living in the area already. Others thought the plan might be an attempt to convert the neighborhood, now largely black, into a white area. Others objected to businesses being moved because of the road widening.
Yvonne Watkins questioned whether business losing their buildings could realistically be expected to move into the proposed strip shopping center. Where would they locate during the years of road widening and the subsequent development of the shopping center? Ellis said the delay could be reduced because work on the shopping center could be started before the road widening was finished.
Michael Davis, a former resident, presented an alternate plan in which an old brewery on the street would be converted into a festival-style marketplace of businesses that would revitalize the neighborhood.
Roy Perry, a resident and activist in the city on poverty issues, gave several impassioned speeches that criticized the plan as being out of reach of the area's current residents. He said any worthwhile plan should address jobs first.
``This is just an excuse for a land grab,'' Perry said.
The Rev. Anthony Paige, a planning commissioner, won the support of everyone by proposing the all-day conference.
``We are trying to do a year's work in 10 minutes,'' Paige said.
Ellis said they would schedule the conference soon, probably on a Saturday. But including the road-widening in the discussions could be problematic, she said, because it is already under way. Rob Brown, a transportation official in the city's public works department, said the road project possibly could be modified with the consent of the City Council.
Reception of the plan was hampered by apparent hostility toward the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority for past efforts. Several present said the authority had taken other businesses in the past, promising loans or relocation assistance that never materialized. Others mentioned the redevelopment of East Ghent and other areas, where low-income homes were replaced with upper-class ones.
Ellis said afterward that people's perceptions were not always complete or accurate, but that they should be dealt with.
``We have to deal with them, and make sure such a thing doesn't happen here,'' Ellis said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
L. TODD SPENCER
At the United House of Prayer for All People, Minnie G. Madrey of
Norfolk talks about the Church Street redevelopment plans. by CNB