St Paul's Blue/Greenway

The site of St. Paul’s Blue/Greenway was historically a waterway connected to the Eastern Branch of the Elizabeth River formed through tidal action and a natural creek later named Newton’s Creek. The map to the right is rendered to highlight the high ground and extent of the creek and wetlands in 1889. Credit: Rendered by Waggonner & Ball, Library of Congress

As Norfolk continued to grow and urbanize, the area was progressively filled in; surface drainage was routed into an underground storm drain. The former creek became the current day floodplain.

Hydrologically, the site represents the downstream half of an urban drainage basin that extends a little over a quarter of a mile further north to Virginia Beach Boulevard. The principal drainage path flows through the Blue/Greenway site and then empties into an open-air channel under I-264 flowing into the Elizabeth River.

Mapping the historic high ground and boundaries of the creek and marshes can help inform the design of the new buildings, roads, and Blue/Greenway. The filled waterway and wetlands are prone to flooding and have unstable, subsiding, organic soils coupled with groundwater challenges.

The Virginia Stormwater BMP Clearinghouse was used as a guide for the design of the water management features. Constructed wetlands and dry detention basins manage both water quality and quantity. Water storage occurs between the average surface water elevation of +1.3 feet and the bank full rim elevation of +5 feet NAVD88. 

The combined above ground storage capacity of the current design is 32.7 acre/feet, or 10.6 million gallons.

This diagram delineates the areas of the Blue/Greenway that are reserved for future passive or active recreational green space. The majority of the land area is situated either on relatively higher ground, or is separated by a berm from the stormwater basins. A meadow along Tidewater, north of Freemason, will become inundated during large storm events, but is typically dry and can be used for passive recreation. The high ground open areas are also home the mature, shady oak trees. The purple ellipses on the map indicate locations that are large enough for plazas, playgrounds, and ball courts.

The Blue/Greenway is located in a vital nexus of urban transit and road networks. The Freemason Street realignment helps to reconnect pedestrians and vehicles across Tidewater and shared use paths link the St. Paul Area to the city’s growing bicycle network. The paths are sized to meet VDOT guidelines for shared use, including both bicycle and pedestrian requirements for safety. Off-street parking is not envisioned or required for the Blue/Greenway.

Gateway plazas will mark the entry points to the Blue/Greenway, including large urban plazas at Church Street, Tidewater Drive, and Brambleton Avenue, and smaller entry plazas at intersections. Paving, lighting, signage, art, and pavilions can help delineate the boundaries of the park, while inviting users to enter.

Cohesive lighting and street furniture selection for the Blue/Greenway and the St. Paul’s Transformation Areas can help define neighborhood identity. Coordination with the Office of St. Paul’s Transformation, RPOS, Norfolk PD, Stormwater, and other stakeholders will be necessary to determine the level and need of lighting in the Blue/Greenway, in relation to security and operations. 

Lights installed as part of the transformation area’s new streets can provide illumination to the multi-use paths along Freemason and Resilience Drive. Bollards or pole mounted lights can help define paths within the Blue/Greenway. Bridges and weir structures are highlighted and celebrated with linear LED fixtures, casting and reflecting colored light across the water surface. Plazas and entry spaces are marked and lit with light columns, which are visible from a distance. Modular light poles can serve as armatures for signage, security cameras, police call boxes, accent spot lights, power points, wifi, weather sensors, and many other smart city functions.

Benches, bicycle racks, trash collection receptacles, and other furniture will coordinate with those selected for the rest of the neighborhood. 

Hidden and constrained in an underground culvert for over 80 years, Newton’s Creek is daylighted, naturalized, and given space to flow and meander. The main channel of the waterway curves and courses within a wide floodplain, with a typical surface water elevation of +1.3 feet NAVD88. Wetland zones along Resilience Drive intercept and treat runoff from the new street network to the west, while stormwater is discharged from the upstream drainage network into the creek after passing through sediment and trash separator structures under the entry plaza. A remnant of the concrete box culvert is preserved to both educate about the history of the civil engineering, and to serve as a conveyance path for water draining from the wetland shelves into the main channel. 

The landscape is sculpted and shaped to preserve existing trees and high ground. Multi-use paths are located at the crest of berms that circumnavigate the Blue/Greenway to contain flood volumes and prevent inundation of Tidewater Park Elementary and Tidewater Drive. At Wood Street, a pedestrian bridge crosses the waterway, connecting both sides of the park. Along the eastern edge of the channel, sunken meadows serve as open space for passive recreation during dry periods, and stormwater detention during extreme storm events.  

At the head of the daylighted Newton’s Creek waterway, a new plaza provides entry to the park and the Tidewater Park Elementary School building. Under the plaza, the box culvert that channels runoff from the drainage watershed north of Brambleton passes through underground sediment and trash separating control structures before flowing out into the open air. Water is discharged via a preserved remnant of the box culvert, modified to act as an overflow weir. The long length of the weir increases the discharge flow rate and creates an expressive water feature.  

At this phase of the design process, Tidewater Park Elementary School is currently occupied and the layout of the proposed design preserves space around the building site. The main floor of the building is situated several feet below the current 100 year return period FEMA Base Flood Elevation (BFE) and is at risk for inundation during major storm events. Given the current elevation of the structure, the feasibility of renovating the classroom and support functions needs careful consideration. Alternatively, partial demolition and new construction can provide modern, sustainable spaces, while preserving the most significant architectural features. 

If the school relocates, the expressive, vaulted cafeteria roof and entry portico can be adaptively re-purposed as an open air pavilion or as a wing of a new community center, potentially housing the William A. Hunton YMCA. The height of the roof would allow for a raised floor, or the structure can be wet flood-proofed. A new addition built above the BFE can house new functions, such as a gymnasium, classrooms, catering, auditorium, etc.  

Stromberg-Garrigan & Associates (SGA) and Toole Recreation Planning were commissioned to undertake a parks and recreation needs assessment to facilitate planning the future park in the St. Paul’s Blue/Greenway. The St. Paul’s Blue/Greenway Background Report and Next Steps Action Plan is the result of many stakeholder interviews, community engagement sessions, and internal workshop events that took place from November 2020 to March 2021. The following is a summary of the findings, included as an appendix to this report. 

Tidewater Park Elementary School (TPES) is a grades 3-5 facility currently assessed at reaching 68% of its useful life. In 2016-2017, the roof was replaced as a priority repair project and is now the only building system or component to rate lower than 60% on the System Condition Index (SCI) scale (0% is new, 100% is end of useful life). Two building systems were assessed above 90% SCI: Window Systems and Built-In Furnishings. Currently the school faces severe storm drainage and flooding issues and, as of the 2017 assessment, there is no mechanical fresh air ventilation in classrooms.

Enrollment has been declining and is predicted to continue declining over the next five years. In conversation with representatives from Norfolk Public Schools (NPS) in February 2021, participants reiterated the predicted decline in enrollment and identified middle school-aged youth as a priority group for Blue/Greenway services. Potential facility reconfigurations have been considered by Norfolk Public Schools:

• Option 1: Close/Re-purpose Tidewater Park. Rezone students to Ruffner Academy K-8
• Option 2: Rebuild P.B Young on-site as PK–5 

The following priorities and concerns were derived from an interview in February 2021 regarding Norfolk Public Schools’ (NPS) perspective on how the Blue/Greenway should serve the area, especially regarding possible school reconfigurations. The conversation referenced the February 2020 Norfolk Public Schools Facilities Master Plan Draft document and its assessment of current school status and function: 

• Engage youth with positive, productive outdoor activities
• Middle school-aged youth should be priority group
• Preserve the activities that are currently available (basketball, youth fields) and provide additional support
• Potential for strong partnerships including integrating the YMCA and the elementary school and partnering with the food bank to provide youth with ability to grow their own food
• There is predicted declining enrollment for the elementary schools in the area; there are potential facilities reconfiguration options, as reflected in the 2020 Norfolk Public Schools Facilities Master Plan Draft document

At the corner of Freemason and Tidewater, a large urban plaza marks the entry to the St. Paul’s Area and Blue/Greenway. The eastern edge of the space is defined by the existing box culvert, where an overflow weir structure celebrates the return of the water from Newton’s Creek back into the drainage system. 

This urban plaza can be a space for markets, performances, and community gatherings. A potential shade structure or pavilion will mark the corner, and encourage gatherings. On the other side of the Blue/Greenway, along Resilience Drive, the power plant for the Tidewater Gardens Housing Development is scheduled to be the last building demolished. The building is simple and utilitarian, but it has good bones. It could be cleaned out, windows and doors added, and it could serve as a market shed, community center, or service building for the area. If preserving the building is deemed unfeasible, the high ground it occupies could be used for active recreation uses, such as hard courts or playgrounds. 

The preliminary design drivers of this zone were preservation of existing, mature oak trees, the excavation of the Phase 2 roads temporary sediment basins, the location of the Dominion Energy power duct bank corridors, and the existing land surface elevation. 

Multi-use paths are located in the duct bank corridors, and are elevated to contain stormwater volumes, protecting Tidewater Drive. A large dry detention basin and bioswale, which receive runoff from the adjacent transformation area, are planted with native meadow grasses and trees. The remainder of the space, has significant natural beauty and character, with shady oak trees and lawns, and can be used for passive recreation. Open spaces between the trees, where buildings have been demolished, could house play spaces and hard courts.  

Two options are shown below, one with bioswales or dry detention located adjacent to Mariner Street, the other is the inverse, with program space located on the high ground. Subsurface detention could be installed at the Phase 2 Temporary Sediment Basin location.