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Riverwalk/Maritime Project Update
In 1977, the Central Business District Plan was developed to gain a clear understanding of the problems involved in planning for the revitalization of downtown and redevelopment of its waterfront. The area north of the central business district bordering the Neuse River was primarily used for industry, marginal commercial business and dilapidated housing. Recognizing new land uses would occur in the redevelopment of the waterfront and to insure a healthy growth pattern, especially along the shoreline, the plan recommended the City obtain a 30' pedestrian access easement along the Neuse River shoreline to enable construction of a Riverwalk eventually connecting the entire shoreline.
In the 14 acre urban renewal area, the city retained ownership of a 30' strip along the Trent shoreline when they sold parcels of vacant land in the mid-1980's to a developer for construction of a hotel and marina and to the County which constructed a convention center on the end parcel in 2000.
Over the last 30 years, Swiss Bear worked with the City to develop strategies for the redevelopment of the waterfront and completion of a 1.5-mile Riverwalk from Queen Street along the Neuse and Trent River shoreline to Eden Street, adjacent to Tryon Palace. The vision is/was to eventually connect the Riverwalk to Lawson Creek Park via a pedestrian footbridge to link the downtown parks and attractions and serve as a catalyst for attracting visitors and private investment opportunities.
In 2009, to connect the Riverwalk to Lawson Creek Park and encourage more boating traffic to New Bern, Swiss Bear proposed creating a maritime park and marina with transient boat slips off of Jack's Island. With the City's approval, Swiss Bear applied and was awarded a US Fish & Wildlife (USF&WLS) grant of $646,650 for a marina and supporting facilities to serve 26-foot or longer non-trailerable boats. The grant covered approximately 48% of the total project which included a pedestrian footbridge. The estimated cost of the project was $1.5 million. The project was very complex and required working with many state and federal agencies for approvals, permitting and funding from non-governmental sources.
In 2010 the USF&WLS's Raleigh Ecological Services Field Office approved the BIG proposal, in terms of its potential impact on endangered species. To satisfy The North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources concern of endangering underwater items of archeological value, Swiss Bear contracted with Tidewater Atlantic Research, Inc. to do an underwater survey of the old shipyard basin, employing side-looking sonar, a towed magnetometer and a surface probe of the waters surrounding the end of the footbridge. Both surveys, funded through a grant from The Harold Bate Foundation, were completed in late 2009. Although there are no significant unknown artifacts in the basin, an area of interest did exist at the Eden Street end of the footbridge and NC Department of Cultural Resources accepted Swiss Bear's proposal to modify the plan to include a 100-foot radius protective zone around the sunken centerboard schooner wreck and to modify the path of the proposed footbridge to avoid the unknown items in its path at the Eden Street end of the bridge.
In September 2010, the USF&WLS approved an updated plan for the project based on changes including relocation of the dock masters office to a land site. The path of the planned footbridge was altered to avoid the unknown underwater object found in the survey and was adapted to include a 30-foot span over the periphery of the object so it would not be disturbed in construction and removal of the footbridge from the BIG proposal to enable Swiss Bear to apply for grants from state or federal sources.
Unfortunately, significant changes nationally and locally, affected the progress of this project.
In April 2011, the Swiss Bear Board reviewed the project, the many long-term challenges and reality of raising the necessary funds required to match the grant and complete the project. The current state of the economy and lack of funding opportunities led to the decision to discontinue efforts and focus on other projects.
It was an exciting project and had the economy remained strong, we may have been successful in bringing it to completion.
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