Executive Summary
The initial objectives set forth
by the City of Raleigh are to develop a comprehensive recreation
master plan for an eighteen mile stretch of the Neuse River from
Falls Lake Dam to Poole Road and detailed master plans for river
front parks at Milburnie and Anderson Point. Such plans are
intended to guide acquisition of sites for and development of
recreational opportunities. The planning process quickly revealed
an essential and exciting relationship between recreational
opportunity and the river's environmental context. Thus, the
primary objective for the whole project is the conservation of
the river while incorporating recreational opportunity within the
framework of the river's environmental systems.
This framework of environmental
systems has two major components: the 100 year flood plain and a
sequence of key upland sites along the river. Milburnie and
Anderson Point represent two such sites. When linked together,
these upland sites and the river's flood plain create a
regional-scale park of extraordinary richness and diversity. This
park, the Neuse River Regional Park, is a vision that was first
anticipated by earlier planning efforts of the City, and is
founded on the opportunities now at hand, the capabilities and
interests of the City at large, and the need to conserve and
experience the natural beauty of the Neuse River.
The principal components of the
Neuse River Regional Park Master Plan consist of the Conceptual
Framework, the Corridor Master Plan, the Anderson Point Park
Master Plan, and the Milburnie Park Master Plan. The Conceptual
Framework identifies general strategies and basic principles for
Corridor development, and outlines the broadest spectrum of
opportunity. The Corridor Master Plan builds upon the Conceptual
Framework to identify a specific strategy for linking flood plain
and upland sites into a regional-scale park. It also identifies
the specific physical components around which the regional park
is structured.
Of these physical components,
the critical ones are the Flood Plain, the Neuse River Trail, the
Arrival Parks, the Gateways, and Potential Park Land areas (key
upland sites). The Flood Plain and the Neuse River Trail are
inextricably linked as they wind their way together along the
river. The Arrival Parks are destinations in their own right, and
two examples are presented in the detailed master plans for
Anderson Point Park and Milburnie Park. The Gateways are small
parks that provide access to the Neuse River Trail, and the
Potential Park Land areas provide complementary activities that
are not appropriate for the flood plain. Each site is considered
relative to its relationship to the river and to its potential
for upland activity so that amenities and recreational
opportunities are offered to a broad range of people.
The Anderson Point and Milburnie
Master Plans are ready for immediate implementation, while the
Neuse River Regional Park Master Plan is necessarily broader in
its outlook and presents more flexible alternatives. It provides
a framework for public and private cooperation to incrementally
build a regional-scale park of great significance.
This master plan, including all
its components, emphasizes the relationship between resource
conservation and recreation value. Throughout the planning
process a committee of citizens and city staff guided by
professional consultants scrutinized specifics as well as
principles to strike a balance between active and passive uses,
conservation and development. The plan first delineates the areas
that require conservation to protect the Neuse River Corridor and
then describe how recreation can be accommodated. Next the plan
emphasizes the many ways people can enjoy the river; moving
along, crossing over, floating down, driving by, or even getting
in it. The plan addresses trail systems for walking and slow
recreational cycling as well as parkways and riverside drives
accommodating, in addition to pedestrians, vehicles and faster
bicycles. It also identifies upland sites where the park can
accommodate development for active and organized recreational
activities without disrupting the river's environmental systems.
In essence, the Regional Park blends all types of recreational
activities from bird watching to baseball without conflict, and
celebrates the river and the unique pleasures it provides.
In summary, this report presents
the opportunities and constraints of the Neuse River Corridor and
organizes them into a cohesive vision of the Neuse River Regional
Park. In addition it describes in detail plans for two river
front Arrival Parks and the short corridor between them. It
communicates the intent of the master plan committee and the City
of Raleigh staff which is to accelerate a course of action, begun
years ago, that will create the eighteen mile long Neuse River
Regional Park. This Regional Park represents both a challenge and
an opportunity. Its vision reaches to the future but its demands
ask much of us in the present. Assembling the pieces identified
in this report, one by one, will yield extraordinary rewards in
the present and for many generations to come.