Riverfront developers want input
By Ginny Farmer
Staff Writer
When two of the Chattahoochee River’s dams are breached within the next six months, whitewater rapids will come rushing down the Georgia-Alabama border, and tourists will come rushing to Phenix City and Columbus.
“This has the potential to be the biggest thing ever to happen to this city,” said Sammy Howard, chairman of the East Alabama Riverfront Development committee. “But we’ve got to move – we can’t drag our feet.”
After years of talk and hundreds of hours of meetings about developing Phenix City’s riverfront property, the public/private partnership between the City of Phenix City EARD is almost ready to turn words into action.
EARD has invited the citizens of Phenix City to attend a Riverfront/Downtown Materplanning Workshop May 27 at 6 p.m. at Chattahoochee Valley Community College.
This will be the first of three meetings dedicated to sharing information with and receiving feedback from the community about the future of Phenix City’s riverfront and downtown.
Thursday’s workshop will examine the existing physical conditions, development trends, whitewater development activities and EARD’s development plans so far.
EARD Sammy Howard said the plan’s completion will “change the face of Phenix City.”
The key to the plan is forging an agreement with the Housing Authority to relocate the residents of Riverview Apartments and place mixed-income residences, condominiums and restaurants where Riverview residents once lived.
Howard said the undeveloped land by the river is “prime” property for tourist attractions such as a riverwalk similar to the stone streets of Savannah, Ga.
Howard said the transformation is not far off, but may be complete within the next five years. EARD is a nonprofit organization dedicated to informing the public and generating interest in riverfront development.
Buses will provide transportation to the meeting at CVCC’s Key Hall, Phenix City Room, from the Phenix City Activities Center and the Chuck Roberts Activity Center at Riverview at 5:30 p.m.
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Contact Rebekah Nicodemus at Rebekah@phenixcitizen.com