Since purchasing a 6.6 acre tract for a new public park on the northern riverfront, the City of Wilmington wants direction from the public on its development.
Underway is a public engagement campaign that officials say has a lot of gravity.
“This public engagement campaign offers community members a unique opportunity to be involved in the planning of a significant amenity that will impact the Wilmington community for generations to come,” Amy Beatty, the city’s superintendent of recreation and downtown services, said during a kickoff meeting at City Hall on Thursday.
She said city planners are going to have a presence at all corners throughout the year to gather input.
“We are going to try and be everywhere that we can be from now until December 31st, when our public comment period ends, in order to reach as many people as possible to refine that vision.
“We will be at festivals, markets, sporting events, schools–every place that we can think of where there’s a captive audience to solicit input and distribute our comment sheets,” said Beatty.
The city in December 2013 closed on the waterfront acreage–near PPD and the Cowan Street pump station–for $3.86 million. (The city approved $4.1 million for it.)
Related story: City council approves land purchase for new waterfront park
Since, officials have had visions of a “passive” park, meaning without any sports courts and with minimal hard improvements overall. Greenspace is embraced; it would be the ideal events lawn, according to the city.
The city design team’s favorite example of the possibilities is Discovery Green in Houston, Texas, a nearly 12-acre park completed in 2008. It includes numerous little sections, or “outdoor rooms,” around a great lawn and amphitheater that accommodate crowd events, like concerts or festivals, or multiple events simultaneously.
“We know in assessing our current needs that we do need a public venue, a gathering spot, where the citizens of Wilmington [can] have significant-sized events,” said Beatty. That wouldn’t just be for concerts, she added; it could be a good breakdown or grouping area for any of the large road races or triathlons in downtown Wilmington.
Right now such large gatherings eat up existing parking in the heart of downtown, which can get in the way of commerce, city and business officials say.
The park is also just a general positive, they maintain.
“The lack of downtown parks and open space has a critical impact on the urban environment,” says the city’s Vision 2020 plan, which plots the future of downtown’s riverfront. “Without inviting recreation opportunities or public gathering places, the reasons for visiting or staying downtown are reduced for both local residents and tourists.”
The site in a past life held the heavy-industrial operations of the Almont Shipping Company. Planners think there could be opportunity to showcase that history there with signage.
Just an idea, they said.
The city has set up an information page with a portal for the public to provide input at wilmingtonnc.gov/waterfrontpark.
The project is currently unfunded. The city hopes to, after the end of year, have a plan to work with and to move on grant opportunities.
Ben Brown is a news reporter at Port City Daily. Reach him at [email protected] or (910) 772-6335. On Twitter: @benbrownmedia
