Port Orange officials 'shake the bushes' in hopes of fulfilling Riverwalk dream

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Courtesy illustration / Port Orange's long-stalled Riverwalk complex remains is back on the drawing boards, thanks to a unanimous vote of the City Council.

PORT ORANGE – Hoping to jump-start a stalled plan considered vital for Port Orange’s future, the City Council has unanimously approved asking developers to step forward and fulfill its Riverwalk dreams.

Riverwalk is intended as a new downtown jewel along the city’s Halifax River shore, extending 35 acres from Dunlawton Avenue almost to the city limits.

People would live, shop, dine and play at Riverwalk, giving the city another gathering place similar to the Port Orange City Center complex of public buildings, parks and recreation.

Planning began in 1998, but the national economic recession and collapse of the housing market left scuttled progress. To revive the project, up to $25,000 would be spent on advertising to let developers know the city plans to issue a formal 30-day request for proposals.

“You gotta shake the bushes. We’ve been at this for almost 12 years now.”

Allen Green, mayor of Port Orange on continued efforts to make Riverwalk a reality

A future vote would be needed to issue the formal request for development proposals.

“You gotta shake the bushes,” Mayor Allen Green said after Tuesday night's council vote. “We’ve been at this for almost 12 years now.”

Green said it’s important for the city to get something going after assembling roughly one-half mile of riverfront land.

“You’ve taken all that property off the tax rolls and you’re still maintaining it,” he said. “It’s negative numbers.”

The mayor estimated full build-out of the Riverwalk project site would take 15 years, adding, “This is the first step of a long trip.” 

Donald Burnette, a City Councilman, said the timing to seek a developer is good.

“We’re sitting on the edge of a recovery,” Burnette said. “There are people on the sidelines with money waiting for opportunities to do things. My feeling is if we wait too much longer . . . those people will do other things.”

Potential developers would not be required to comply with previously approved Riverwalk plans. Those plans included parks, public walkways, high-rise condominiums, a marina, retail and restaurants. Originally, the city envisioned working with one master developer for the entire site who would bring in partners.

Now the city will be open to any plans, for all or parts of the Riverwalk site from any developers.

City Council members also want to loosened up a requirement for developers to preserve at least 6.5 acres of riverfront for public access and to revise zoning at the project site to prohibit high-rise towers.

“They want to wipe the slate clean with regard to high-rise condos and look for a more appropriately scaled project to the area and economy,” said Donna Steinebach, assistant to the city manager. “They don’t want to scare off any developer who might want to bring in a project that requires a private waterfront, so long as we can preserve public access for the waterfront area.”

Steinebach said she plans to get the “biggest bang for the buck” possible with the advertising money and hopes to keep spending under $20,000.