In 1974, an idea for a river walk and outdoor recreation development near the North Fork River was causing excitement in Norfolk.
Community leaders were so enthused that they hired a professional engineering firm to study the feasibility of the mammoth undertaking and held numerous presentations to introduce the community to their riverfront development vision.
Though important government officials pushed the agenda, the issue eventually withered on the vine as interest was lost. In time, the project was shelved.
Now, 33 years later, the issue has resurfaced but with new momentum and an modified plan of attack.
Stan Staab, general manager of the Norfolk-based Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District, said the river walk idea will be more viable this time around if a public-private partnership is adopted.
"Last time, in my opinion, it was pretty much a government effort - the City of Norfolk, sanitary drainage, Lower Elkhorn are all government entities," Staab said. "And it was too big, too much, too expensive and maybe too grandiose at that point in time."
Staab said that since studying different river walks around the country, including those in San Antonio and Milwaukee, he has seen success where government and private entities work together.
Ideally, this kind of partnership would occur from the planning phase all the way through development. Ten committees of interested volunteers already have been established to study aspects of a North Fork river walk - from funding to promotion to design to housing.
But first things first.
A comprehensive plan needs to be drawn up before development can begin, even for the most rudimentary of tasks. But funding is needed to even begin the planning process. Development of a master plan for a Norfolk river walk could cost anywhere from $60,000 to $100,000, architects say.
"What we need first, I think, is a plan and we need some seed money for a plan," Staab said. "(Ideally) that plan would be developed jointly by the committees, and also the city, the NRD and others."
Staab said he hopes such a plan would then generate additional funds by appealing to private investors.
Joe Ferguson, director of business, industry and economic development at Northeast Community College, agrees that a master plan is a logical step but adds that everyone involved needs to get on the same page.
"I think we need to get all of the interested parties and all of the stakeholders together around a table, and I don't think that's ever occurred," Ferguson said. "Today the efforts have been fragmented. They've all been good efforts, but a project of this magnitude and with this apparent cost magnitude attached to it, it's going to require a lot of collaboration and partnerships - more than probably we've ever experienced in this community."
Ferguson said he applauds efforts of the group that's now setting up committees, but he fears they won't get very far without appropriate leadership.
"The committees are fine, but those are grassroots committees. Unless those committees have city officials on them, NRD officials on them, tourism officials, development officials and a group of obvious players - city parks and recreation people, the trails groups in town, the YMCA, the water park committee - nothing much can be done," Ferguson said. "Sooner or later, somebody is going to have to pay for this."
Ferguson said he agrees with the need for a comprehensive study on the North Fork River, followed by a strong visual concept of a river walk that could be presented to the community.
"We need to get a visual concept of it out in front of the community that is a realistic concept. It needs to be accompanied by an artist's rendering, or better yet, an actual model," Ferguson said. "Really, everything right now is just a picture in somebody's mind at this point; everybody has a little different view of it. Eventually, we have to boil this down to a common vision for the community."
He said it's important to take on development in a phase-by-phase approach.
"It's too big to comprehend right now because there are too many faucets to it and it's not practical to think we can accomplish all of it immediately," Ferguson said. "It's viable if we take it in small bites. I don't think the vision should be small, but I think we should approach it from a realist's perspective in a systematic process, both funding-wise and timing-wise."
