Plans for new park on Roanoke River near Memorial Bridge
The Star City’s nationally accredited Parks and Recreation Department, headed by Steven Buschor, operates 68 parks and plazas across Roanoke. Get ready for number 69!
Roanokers may have noticed the removal of the aging Hannah Court Trailer Park behind Black Dog Salvage at the Memorial Bridge near Grandin Village. Removal of the trailer park alone will greatly reduce stresses on the ecology of the Roanoke River, which has been subjected to pollutants from road, yard, pet, and sewage run-off from the trailer park for years.
The new park (click image to enlarge) will contain a half-mile walking trail, an environmental buffer-zone and a reforestation area. The border of the park along the Roanoke River will be flanked by a bench-cut–averaging approximately 30-50 feet in width– monitored by the United States Army Corp of Engineers.
Bill Tanger with Friends of the Rivers of Virginia told a source close to the Harbinger that more efforts are underway to improve the flow and water quality of the Roanoke River. For example, the small dam just past the site for the new park along the River will be removed. The removal is slated to take place on February 16, 2009. This will be a boon to groups like the Float Fishermen of Virginia as removal of the dam will allow greater access to spawning areas and increase the depth of wading pools downriver.
Mason Adams of the Roanoke Times has reported that the new park at the former Hannah Court Trailer Park is funded in part by Novozymes Biologicals, which contributed $250,000 toward the new parking lot and the walking trail “as part of a deal reached when the company pleaded guilty to two incidents of violating the Clean Water Act in 2004 and 2005.”
For additional Roanoke River coverage on the Harbinger, click HERE and HERE.
