Wetlands project gives residents a new outlook

NORFOLK

Less than a hundred yards from Lynn Noah's front porch, the Elizabeth River shone in the mid afternoon sun.

The waterfront - a prized amenity at most residential developments - has long been hidden from the view of the Grandy Village public housing complex. Buffered by reeds and brush taller than any Grandy Village resident, the water sat behind a thicket that harbored snakes and rodents.

Earlier this week, as backhoes and bulldozers worked to scoop earth and debris from 1.7 acres of prime waterfront property, Noah stood on the step of her front patio and enjoyed the scenery.

The work, paid for by Hampton Roads Transit, will remove tons of debris in favor of restoring marshes. It's the first of several upgrades planned for Grandy Village's waterfront, including a $4.1 million environmental-themed community center to be built next year. The facility will be unique to the city's public housing properties.

"We're taking advantage of an untapped resource," Russell Carlock, a senior architect with Norfolk's Redevelopment and Housing Authority, said. "There's this riverfront there that you can't get to."

The work is part of a long-term plan to remake Grandy Village, a complex of more than 300 apartment units tucked between Interstate 264 and the water just off Ballentine Boulevard, into a neighborhood with mixed housing.

The housing authority recently completed work on 11 duplexes that it hopes to rent to working-class families, and its future designs for the community include a midrise housing complex for senior citizens and market-rate waterfront apartments.

Along the waterfront Tuesday, Larry Higgerson watched as his crews scraped a layer of dirt from the future wetlands site. They have pulled everything from sections of curbing to concrete piles out of the earth, which Higgerson believes was once a construction dump. At the edge of the grounds, more than a dozen tires, some covered in barnacles, sat after being pulled from the brambles.

Eventually, most of the 1.7 acres will be lowered by about 10 feet. A sloping lawn will lead to tidal marshes filled with waist-high Spartina grasses. A peninsula of land dotted with pine trees will remain closest to the riverfront. A waterfront path will lead across the property, from the edge of the land to the new community center.

"It's definitely getting a face-lift," Higgerson said.

The $540,000 of work is also designed to offset damage done to 1.7 acres of wetlands along the 7.4-mile light rail line that will travel from the Eastern Virginia Medical Center in Ghent through downtown to Newtown Road at the Virginia Beach city line. Rather than pay the money into a generic wetlands conservation fund, HRT chose to spend the money here, six blocks from light rail's route, Carlock said.

"It's in the community, and it's a very nice project to do," Jayne Whitney, HRT's senior vice president for development, said.

Light rail is expected to start carrying passengers in early 2010.

The earth work will be mostly complete in time for a May 21 ceremony at the site that will provide public tours and honor American Wetlands Month. Grasses will be planted in the months after that, and HRT and the housing authority will monitor the project for five years, Carlock said.

The wetlands project also will reflect the community center's emphasis on environmental education. The center, slated to open by June 2010, will feature a preschool run by the Southeastern Tidewater Opportunity Project, three classrooms for Norfolk Public Schools use, a community room, a kayak and canoe launch, and a floating observation deck for educational programs.

"It's going to be one of the best projects we've ever done," Carlock said. "It's going to benefit not only the kids in our community but from all over Norfolk."

Staff writer Debbie Messina contributed to this report.

Meghan Hoyer, (757) 446-2293, meghan.hoyer@pilotonline.com