A city moving ahead: Laying the foundation to revive downtown

Neuse River waterfront late 1970's
Downtown New Bern

 

Trent River waterfront last 1970's
Downtown New Bern



In the 1970’s, the Central Business District (CBD) and city were at a critical juncture. The new mall enticed merchants to the outskirts of the city, roadways and incompatible land uses fragmented the downtown area into many small and marginally useful pieces of land and the downtown tax base continued to deteriorate as residents and businesses moved to the suburbs.

On the positive side, some steps had been taken in an attempt to re-establish a healthy core. The new Highway 70 by-pass was under construction, the urban renewal site (14 acres on the Trent River waterfront) was cleared and available for sale to potential investors. Tryon Palace had been restored and focused its marketing efforts on attracting tourists. 

The downtown was still essentially intact even though the facades of many buildings had been slipped covered with aluminum, tile and other materials in an attempt to compete with the new mall and gaps in the street scape where burned down or demolished buildings, were not rebuilt.

All of this was seen as a base to establish significant change in the downtown area, requiring clearly articulated objectives that would be understood by all segments of the community, strong leadership and a workable plan of action to this end.

In November 1976, the Downtown Revitalization Committee and Urban Renewal Commission contracted with Stephens Associates, Raleigh, NC, to prepare preliminary development plans and a program for downtown.  A month was spent collecting and interpreting market information followed by an intensive two week workshop. The Revitalization Committee (acting client group) met every other morning to review the consultants work.

Conclusions and recommendations (in addition to bringing a new market of recreation, tourism and retirees, creating a locally funded nonprofit to spearhead and coordinate the effort) was creation and adoption of a general physical development policy consisting of the following elements and based on the historic pattern.

·  An open space pedestrian spine along Middle Street connecting to the historic residential area with the urban renewal site.

·  A water edge pedestrian park system along the Trent and Neuse River shorelines.

·  Straight streets extending to the water.

·  Parking and sidewalks along street.

·  Buildings abutting the street right of way, extending the entire property width and two or three stories.

·  Re-establishment of the original building facades.

·  New parking, trash collection and delivery area constructed in the middle of each block.

·  Pedestrian ways established to allow convenient access from mid-block parking to the streets.

·  Develop and enforce a CBD sign ordinance.

The recommended first phase of redevelopment to include:

·  Mid block parking, trash and service area construction.

·  Mid block parking to street pedestrian ways.

·  Building façade renovation.

·  Expanding sidewalks with plantings and a pedestrian crossing on Middle Street.

·  Housing in vacant upper floors.

Redevelopment projects for the future include:

·  Narrowing Broad Street, adding plantings.

·  Underground utilities.

·  A mall on Middle Street.

·  Open space acquisition and construction of water edge park-pathway system.

The Plan was approved and adopted by the New Bern Board of Aldermen on July 19, 1977.

Revitalization Committee: T. Doug Davis, Chairman; Charles  Kimbrell, Mayor; Frank Hargett, County Commissioner; Bailey Dixon, President, Merchant Association; W.J. Edwards, Redevelopment Commission. Ex-officio members: Harry Vatz, Renewal Authority; Charles Taylor, Housing Authority; Nicholas Scholz, Chamber of Commerce. Renewal Authority; John G. Dunn, Chairman; Sam P. Branch; William  Bryan; Walter Jones, Jr.; Harry Vatz, William Edwards, Executive Director. City Officials; Charles Kimbrell, Mayor; Board of Aldermen: Ben Hurst, Pete Chagaris, Tom Davis, Ed Armstrong, Ella Bengal; J.C. Outlaw, City Manager.

Implementation of the first phase and creation of a funding mechanism will be related in a future column.

Susan Moffat-Thomas

Executive Director