NORFOLK — The city and Railroad District Business Association are looking for input to craft plans for the future of the Railroad District, an industrial neighborhood that’s been a target for redevelopment in recent years.
“We’re asking people to envision what the district could use, benefit from,” said Zachary Robinson, an urban designer with Work Program Architects, one of the firms helping conduct surveys on behalf of the city and the business association.
To solicit input from residents and businesses, the groups have organized a series of events this week in the district which continue through Thursday. The feedback they receive through surveys, business association meetings and stakeholder reviews will be used to craft a master plan for the neighborhood. Organizers plan to present the finalized master plan to the city in September.
“So that’s really our target goal — to get enough (responses) to put together a master plan and enough (responses) to help the associations in the area improve the businesses and get a cohesive relationship between the residents and businesses that make this place,” Robinson said.
Situated north of Ghent and mostly on the edge of Park Place, alongside railroad tracks that converge at the Norfolk Southern railyard at Lamberts Point, the neighborhood has drawn significant interest from developers in recent years. Monument Companies bought up swaths of real estate, transforming industrial warehouses into lofts and apartments. A $40 million mixed use redevelopment called The Railyard is also underway on the other side of Hampton Boulevard. The Meredith Companies project is renovating five historic buildings and constructing five others on properties on the western side of Hampton Boulevard near 25th Street.
With that development in the pipeline, Robinson said organizers want to identify both short-term and long-term needs for the area. Short-term, the survey can help identify where maintenance can be done and in the long-term, it could identify areas for city investment, according to Robinson.
Survey organizers kicked off the events with a charrette Monday at the 757 Makerspace and took the surveys on the road Tuesday by traveling van to visit the Fish’n Pig restaurant and the nearby Food Lion grocery store. Other chances to take a survey or learn more about the district include at 757 Makerspace from 2-4 p.m. Wednesday, Coalescence coffee shop from 3-5 p.m. and through a bike tour of the neighborhood led by Local Bike Shop NFK from 5-7 p.m. A closing event takes place from 5-8 p.m. Thursday back at the 757 Makerspace.
Linda Peck, who’s lived in Norfolk for over 50 years, was one of the people who came to the launch event Monday. She is also the executive director of the Norfolk Innovation Corridor, which seeks to attract tech companies to the city. Enhancing interesting and fun areas in Norfolk such as the Railroad District can help entice companies and their workers to locate in the city, Peck said.
Those interested in the future of district have shown no interest in trying to replace or push out the local industrial businesses, said Joe Nickol, principal at YARD & Company, another group helping craft the master plan.
“The industry that’s here is part of not only what makes it so strong today but why there’s such a strong constituency here,” he said.
So far, what they’ve been hearing from the community is an interest in doubling down on the growth of shops, restaurants, breweries and bars while continuing with mixed-use for light industrial and residential housing for the area, according to Nickol.
“But on the other hand, they’re also very quick to say, ‘We don’t want that to come at the expense of the anchors that have gotten us here, the community that lives here, the industry that got us here,'” Nickol said.
For example, the railway itself is seen as a double-edged sword — sometimes an inconvenience but its role in shaping the area’s identity and industrial backbone cannot be denied or forgotten, he said. The neighborhood’s sidewalks, crosswalks, intersections aren’t what they could be and the area still has problems with flooding, Nickol said. Even at Monday’s kickoff event, vestiges of a morning rainstorm could be seen in large puddles around a shaded gazebo constructed in the 757 Makerspace parking lot to host the listening sessions.
“Those are obstacles, so the needle we have to thread is, how do you create that kind of public investment without sanitizing the district — making it feel like any other place,” Nickol said. “This is a special place.”
Ian Munro, 757-447-4097, ian.munro@virginiamedia.com, @iamIanMunro
