Petersburg may be Virginia’s hardest hard-luck story. It tops the list for just about every kind of economic problem and social pathology you can think of. Yet the city has so much history and such a rich architectural heritage — one of the largest collections of ante-bellum buildings in the country — that its inhabitants never give up hope.
The latest blueprint for revival comes from a Regional/Urban Design Assistance Team, a week-long assembly of experts from around the nation who work for free with local citizens to create a vision for the future. Writing in the Progress-Index, Dulaney Ward, a local historian and co-chairman of the Downtown Harbor Initiative, details the group’s recommendations. Here are some of the highlights:
- Capitalize on the burgeoning arts and culture scene in Old Towne.
- Permit high-density residential and shops downtown.
- Seek a small conference hotel of 200 rooms and 500 banquet seats.
- Make downtown more pedestrian friendly; break up the super blocks.
- Build roundabouts at downtown entryways.
- Construct twin gateway buildings at the Interstate 95 entryway.
- Develop a signature 88–acre River Harbor Park and Trails along the Appomattox River.
- Permit more intensive residential development on the harbor’s edge, taking care to preserve viewsheds and pathways.
- Make the harbor a center for tour boats, displays of historic vessels, and pleasure boats tied up at docks and piers.
- Create an “Eco Lab” district along the river, and re-establish natural habitat along the river’s edge.
It’s an ambitious laundry list. Let’s hope the city can muster the resources and investment to accomplish some of these goals. The expansion of Fort Lee nearby, which will create a demand for more quality places to live, could provide the impetus.