Morgantown Dominion
Post
27 July 2008
By Kathy Plum
Get Star City Mayor Allen Sharp and volunteer consultant Billy Coffindaffer talking about the town's riverfront development, and ideas flow faster than the Monongahela River.
"There is a feeling of community here that I think has played a major role in what has been done," Coffindaffer said. "I think what happened here is the people were just interested enough to do something."
Star City's riverfront revitalization program has its origins in a vision for recreation, captured in part of Monongalia County's Vision 2000 program. Beginning from a general intent of planning for the future, the visioning group split into smaller groups that eventually included Star City pursuing its own vision for the future.
Recreation, streetscapes, economic development and other angles were covered, as Star City considered how to improve the town from the riverfront up.
Alexander Karthar - of the WVU College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Science's Landscape architecture program - and his students donated hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of ideas, plans, drawings and miniature simulations. Once the town council accepted a plan in 2001, the work began in earnest and has continued, first under Mayor Edith Barill.
"We're still working on it to this day," said Sharp, who was involved first as a councilman and now leads the town of 1,366. "Actually, when we started, there was nothing there except the city garage and a rail bed."
The town has the vision but not all the cash needed. Star City has received federal ISTEA grants and recreational trail grants for work on the park, sidewalk improvements, lighting and streetscapes.
It worked with the Upper Monongahela River Association to improve infrastructure for boaters by making the dock larger, so it can now handle up to three untrailerable boats.
Consol donated about 6 acres and several buildings away from the recreational area so the city garage could be moved and the old garage torn down. A playground for youngsters, known as Tugboat Depot, a sculpture garden and the Kennedy Memorial were created with the help of local groups and individuals. There is also parking, a picnic area, gazebo, fishing pier, restrooms and rail-trail access.
This summer, sidewalks and bicycle paths will be completed on both sides of Industrial Avenue.
Earlier this year, council rezoned the riverfront from "light and heavy industry" to allow development of a "super block" mixed use, bordered by Leeway Street, Frontier Avenue, Boyers Avenue and University Avenue. Already under construction is a privately owned building that will include living space on the upper floors and retail on the ground.
That construction makes the Roverfront Overlay Business District more than just a dream. Sharp estimates an average of 50 people a day use Star City's riverfront park, named in honor of the late Mayor Edith Barrill, and "people using the park are actually using the trail, too."
Star City is far from done with the river, but, "I think on the upper side of the trail we've probably done about as much as we can because most of the rest of that is privately owned," Coffindaffer said.
That leaves plenty of area still to work with. One of Karthar's students proposed converting a barge to a floating restaurant. Funding isn't available yet, "but never say never," Sharp said cheerfully.
"We have some good big ideas that aren't dead, but they're not on the front burner," said Coffindaffer, who though not a resident of Star City believes firmly in its future.
He and Sharp yank out a document called "Star City's Riverfront Revitalization Plan," and talk about opening up Boyers Avenue back to University to increase access to the river. A "first-class plaza" could provide more recreational opportunities as well.
Ideas for the plaza include a spray park behind Tugboat Depot; benches; a portable stage; a 10-foot strip of sidewalk along the water, including 5 feet of brick paving; and tables with umbrellas. The area could provide space for waterfront dining, small festivals and family outings.
The sidewalk cafe idea is based on something similar in San Antonio, Texas.
"You take the ideas and you bend them to make them fit," Coffindaffer said. "Who says San Antonio can't be built in Star City?"
Another of Star City's riverfront development credos is not to replicate what's already in place. Morgantown's Hazel Ruby McQuain Park already has an amphitheater, for example, so Sharp and the planners don't want to build one in Star City. Instead, they hope to add to the river's recreational possibilities in an effort to make it a destination.
With ideas firmly in place, funding is the next chore.
"We don't have an idea of the costs, but we know it's going to be expensive," Sharp said.
But, "if you don't think bigger than what you've got today, you're never going to get anywhere," Coffindaffer said. "If we get this plaza developed down there like we want to - and I think we will - it will be a place where people can do a lot of things."