Morgantown Dominion Post
25 April 2007
By Cassie Shaner
Star City - Three WVU students presented city council with a suggested master plan for the waterfront area near the Edith Barill Bridge on Tuesday, including a large hotel, retail space, underground parking facilities, a waterfront deck and other improvements.
According to Bill Coffindaffer, Star City director of special projects, the proposal likely would cost "many millions of dollars."
Jared Herman, Anthony Amato and Richard Snediker, all seniors in the WVU College of Agriculture's landscape architecture program, presented the plan, which they teamed to create as their final project before graduation.
The plan's key feature is a town center that includes a large, threestory hotel facing the waterfront. A traffic circle leads to the main entrance of the hotel, which is surrounded by large double-front retail buildings. Leeway Street and Boyers Avenue would serve as the primary vehicle entryways.
Other ideas include moving the existing boat dock from the center of the waterfront to underneath the bridge, constructing a fitness center, and revamping the landscape.
"It just gives us an idea of what we can build in the future," said Jim Gaston, co-chair of the Star City Task Force. "There's a lot that can happen over the next 30-40 years."
Mayor Allen Sharp noted the plan is only a proposal and may or may not actually happen. He said another "master plan" was presented about six years ago.
"They're not going to happen in two or three or five years," he said of the changes. "The idea of something like this is to give you a guide to what could happen."