A New Look For Riverside Avenue

Northbank Riverwalk Extension

It is not only private and nonprofit ventures that are a part of the development in the Riverside Corridor. The Jacksonville City Council recently approved plans to lengthen the Northbank Riverwalk to connect all the way to Riverside Park in Five Points. To clarify, Riverside Park sits directly across from the shops of Five Points and is not to be confused with the riverfront Memorial Park. Some hold a hope that someday the Northbank Riverwalk will eventually connect to Memorial Park. In the past, there was some opposition to such plans, as it would alter some of Jacksonville’s most valuable waterfront real estate, but some of the actors such as the Cummer have had a change of heart. Hope McMath, the Cummer’s Executive Director, has recently announced that the Cummer would not stand in the way of any proposals to lengthen the Riverwalk and would, in fact, welcome the opportunity for the public to have the space next to the river and a peek into the Cummer’s famous gardens.

“The Cummer is really interested in exploring how to leverage our campus improvements and innovative programming to create a closer relationship between the diverse entities along the Riverside Avenue corridor,” says McMath. “By bringing together the efforts of the business, nonprofit, arts and culture, and government sectors we can create something that is a model corridor of artfulness, walkability, economic vitality and environmental sustainability. It is through non-traditional collaborations that we will make Jacksonville all it aspires to be.”

The Northbank, one of Jacksonville’s finest assets, is finally getting some much deserved love and attention for the next couple of years. It is one of city’s few walkable arteries connecting two major parts of town. It is also undeniably the most picturesque. It is only natural that as Jacksonville looks to re-energize its urban core, this pathway along the St. Johns and its near surroundings are already playing an important role. This is a unique amenity that Jacksonville offers because of a beautiful river and the intensive work from the people that care about it.

The fruits of a brainstorm between a Riverkeeper exec and an architect

“In addition to the Riverwalk Project, I see great possibilities for our Riverwalk,” says Mr. Orth. “It is one of our greatest parks with significant public access to the river, but it could be even much better by making it more interactive, educational, and engaging. In the past, I have met with Melody Bishop, a local architect, who helped design the Riverwalk. The Riverwalk could be used as a tool to demonstrate the use of sustainable practices, like green infrastructure, and the use of native plants and their benefits. Here are some of things we discussed and ideas that could be incorporated:

Emphasize drought-tolerant, native plant landscaping. This contributes to our sense of place, has educational value, and provides habitat. It could have a butterfly garden or even a community vegetable garden somewhere.

Use of LID (low impact development) practices or green infrastructure to manage stormwater such as permeable pavers, swales, bioretention cells/rain gardens, even rainwater harvesting.

Educational components like discrete and coordinated educational/informative signage, and possibly some type of hands-on activity stations.

Play areas for kids which could as simple as rocks or simulated turtle shells that they can walk across, playgrounds, scavenger hunt, etc. This could also include interactive art installations.

Article by Morgan Henley

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