State-Journal.com - River plan can't wait

The $150,000 Riverfront Development Plan for Frankfort has been delivered, and now it’s time for the community to start prioritizing and implementing it.

“They have some great ideas, and they’re actually making some headway on some of these things,” said Andrew Cammack, a South Frankfort resident and supervisor of Cove Spring Park and Nature Preserve, after Thursday night’s meeting in which the final plan was unveiled at the Capital Plaza Hotel. About 50 attended.

“The river trails are something I’m really interested in and they’ve got loads of great trails. I’m impressed.”

There are plenty of ideas in the plan for the four-mile stretch of the Kentucky River from the East-West Connector bridge to Buffalo Trace. Here are some of them:

>Transforming Old Lawrenceburg Road into Capital Parkway, a “grand entrance to the state Capitol complex.” The parkway would be “framed by wooded bluffs and naturalized open space.

“Seasonal plantings from the native Kentucky landscape” would be in the median. Running parallel to the road would be “a multi-use trail and traditional dry stone walls.”

In open space, an earth-formed sculpture and arboretum are suggested.

>Expanding Capital View Park’s mission to include environment-focused recreation and education. An environmental interpretation center, two docks and a pedestrian bridge from the park to the Capitol garage are in the drawings.

>Converting the former Frankfort Lumber site and adjacent parcels at Capital Avenue into a “significant riverfront mixed-use infill development.” Buildings would include ground level parking and river-related retail, restaurants, offices and residences above the parking structure.

>Expanding the South Frankfort neighborhood parks to include community gardens, a dog park and gathering square.

>Creating a new public landing on the north shore of Capital Avenue to get downtown residents, workers and tourists on the river. “A northside public marina can host transient slips, a tour boat stop and seasonal vendors.”

>Redeveloping the Capital Plaza into a ground-level central park and building an amphitheater by the river near the Farmers Market and Broadway.

Create more pedestrian crossings from River View Park to downtown, and redevelop Capital Plaza into human-oriented welcome gateway.”

>Recruiting mixed-use commercial and residential development along Wilkinson Boulevard and creating bicycle-pedestrian trails on both sides of the river.

>Renovating and making the lockmaster’s house in Bellepoint a historic site and building a pedestrian-bicycle bridge from the lockmaster’s house to Buffalo Trace.

Jon Hoffman, a consultant with JJR in Madison, Wis., that created the riverfront plan after a series of public meetings, said “good ideas can’t wait and implementation of the plan has already begun.”

He was referring to Kentucky State University’s purchase of the old Paul Sawyier Library for a downtown campus, which will include a science center and $290,000 environmental science boat.

Hoffman also said Frankfort has a new tourism trolley and plans are underway to buy a “river tour boat,” and to convert the downtown Good Shepherd Catholic Church to a Paul Sawyier Art Museum.

Lock 4 by Jim’s Seafood is also going to be renovated to help recreational boating and tourism, and Buffalo Trace has increased its tourism efforts, he said.

Frankfort Tourism Director Joy Jeffries passed a hat at two riverfront meetings Thursday to help raise funds for a $20,000 10-passenger tour boat and $994 was collected.

After the public meeting Chris Schimmoeller, an EnvisionFranklinCounty member, said she thinks the plan has a lot of potential.

She said connecting the trails would be a top priority for her.

Schimmoeller also said a “form-based code type of zoning is important to ensure high quality buildings that could have more than one use and would fit in with other buildings around it.”

She liked the proposal to change the name of Old Lawrenceburg Road to Capital Parkway, which “would redefine it from just a back alley.

“Another interesting thing was the proposal to create a real welcoming entranceway (into downtown) when you come down off the bridges onto Wilkinson Boulevard.”

Mary Hamilton, a professional storyteller who has a view of the Capitol from her home on Spring Hill Road, liked the amphitheater proposal.

“But higher on my priority list is for Frankfort to become a very safe walkable community, which would mean easy access to downtown no matter where you live,” Hamilton said.

“I think it would be great if people could get to Capital View Park without taking a car. Right now the bulk of the population in Frankfort can’t get to Capital View Park without driving.”

Michael Turner, a South Frankfort resident and insurance agent, said, “I think it’s a good idea to open up the river for the citizens of Frankfort. I’d like to see assurances from state government saying they’re going to support us financially, along with statements from local governments saying they’re in on this.”

Turner said he would like to see more walking paths along the river, “and I like the idea of the amphitheater. That would be great for smaller summer concerts or outdoor meetings in the summer where we can utilize a lot of the nature around us.”

Jim Call, bicycle-pedestrian coordinator for Walk/Bike Frankfort, said the plan has “plenty of things to dive into both short-term and long-term.

“I’m anxious to look in more detail at where this plan fits in with some of the things in our pedestrian-bicycle master plan. They had a little different twists on things and good ideas and I’m anxious to see how it all fits together.”

Call said a grant has already been approved to build a 1.5-mile bicycle-pedestrian trail from River View Park to the BP station on Wilkinson Boulevard.

“It will be a great link for people working in those state offices to downtown,” Call said.

Jeffries, the tourism director, said it’s a “community-developed plan,” and anyone wanting to help the riverfront development committee implement the plan should contact her at 875-8687.