2020 plan reshapes Norfolk for light rail and pedestrians

NORFOLK

Nearly every major downtown project in the past five decades, from Waterside to MacArthur Center to the cruise ship terminal, was laid out in advance in a carefully crafted series of plans that called for buying up land and redeveloping it.

"The growth we've had downtown hasn't occurred by accident," Mayor Paul Fraim said. "It occurred because we had a vision."

The latest vision, Norfolk 2020, is now being completed, and unlike its previous versions, it includes few new major projects. Instead, it focuses on reorienting downtown to accommodate light rail and make it more pedestrian friendly.

"It's really about putting the finishing touches on downtown and making it a comfortable place for pedestrians to be," said Cathy Coleman, president of the Downtown Norfolk Council, a group that promotes downtown and its businesses.

Ray Gindroz of Urban Design Associates of Pittsburgh is leading a group developing the 2020 plan. He briefed the City Council on a draft Tuesday. Members responded enthusiastically.

Gindroz said downtown must encourage more pedestrian traffic for light rail to succeed. The $232 million project will extend from the city's medical center through downtown to the Virginia Beach border.

"We know transit systems succeed when people can walk to transit stations and enjoy it," he said. "When they can't walk comfortably, or when there are barriers, transit systems don't succeed."

The two largest barriers downtown are Brambleton Avenue and St. Paul's Boulevard, he said. Both are six-lane commuter routes that carry cars from the Norfolk Naval Station, Old Dominion University, the city's medical complex and downtown office buildings to other cities.

Unless both thoroughfares become less imposing, downtown's growth won't expand north across Brambleton Avenue or east across St. Paul's.

Gindroz proposed installing new stop lights on Brambleton Avenue to slow traffic. The city has used similar strategies along stretches of Granby Street, Tidewater Drive and other heavily traveled streets in which the lights are timed so that cars and trucks are forced to stop frequently.

Although the tactics are popular with neighborhood leaders, they are not always popular with drivers. Plans are already in place to build crosswalks at Boush and Duke streets at Brambleton Avenue. Gindroz said more are needed on St. Paul's and Brambleton.

In addition, within a decade, a major office and/or residential development likely will come to several acres of vacant, waterfront land adjacent to Harbor Park, Gindroz said.

High-rise condominiums or apartments could be constructed, with ground-floor restaurants and retail outlets to cater to fans attending Norfolk Tides baseball games.

"We think this will be a fantastic new address," Gindroz said.

He said other development should occur adjacent to light rail. He expects it also to move north of Brambleton Avenue along Granby Street.

Frank Duke, the city's planning director, said he hopes the plan will be finished and released to the public in early 2009.

Harry Minium, (757) 446-2371, harry.minium@pilotonline.com