Norfolk fishers may soon have another public spot to cast their lines on the Lafayette River.
The city of Norfolk plans to install a 160-foot-long, $1.3 million fishing pier at the northern end of the Granby Street Bridge near the intersection of Granby Street and Willow Wood Drive.
“We’re trying to look at the site from a standpoint of ‘How do we improve this and make it safer, make it aesthetically pleasing, make it more functional?’” said landscape architect Mike Fox with Stromberg/Garrigan & Associates, Inc.
While local fishers said they are happy about another legal, public fishing spot in the city, some nearby homeowners are concerned about trash and parking, according to comments at a public input meeting Tuesday. A group of project architects, engineers and city staff members presented the plans to a group of around 40 attendees.
The city has allocated funding for a 160-foot fishing pier that would jut out from the western side of Granby Street Park. Another unfunded conceptual second phase would add a 250-foot boardwalk connecting the pier back to land in a second location, creating a small waterfront trail loop.
Though the project is still in the design phase and not finalized, architects and engineers said potential amenities include 10 parking spaces, benches and covered shelters. At this time, public restrooms are not planned.
The project is being funded by the federal American Rescue Plan Act, the March 2021 $1.9 trillion pandemic stimulus law. At a City Council retreat in March 2022, then-City Manager Chip Filer presented the fishing pier project as part of $24 million in community capital improvement projects. The blueprint was approved by council that year.
At a public input session Tuesday evening, fishers from across the city applauded the project, saying it would add a much-needed legal public space in Norfolk for the activity.
However, several homeowners near the bridge living along Willow Grove Court criticized the project, saying more fishers would park along their narrow street and leave more trash along their properties. Currently, they said fishers park on their street and fish under the bridge itself.
“If you don’t do any of this, what’s the alternative?” he said. “This just stays the status quo, and I don’t think anyone wants that either.”
Other attendees, such as local row teams, approved of the project, saying it would make it less likely for people fishing to hit them with hooks as they passed under the bridge.
Still, others suggested relocating the project to Lakewood Park or Lambert’s Point Public Open Space, part of the former golf course location now open to the public.
The presenters said there is no construction timeline yet, but said the design portion of the project should take about six months. A project tracker is available on the city website.
Trevor Metcalfe, 757-222-5345, [email protected]
