Welcome to the New Bern Gateway Renaissance Plan website. This is a new planning effort for Five Points and the surrounding residential neighborhoods that is focused on developing realistic and implementation-focused revitalization strategies for both the commercial and residential parts of the study area. The website will include all announcements, location of public and steering committee meetings, and materials developed during the planning effort.
This opportunity has been made possible by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), who selected New Bern as a Brownfields Area-Wide Planning Pilot Program recipient in 2011. The plan will identify best uses for brownfields based on community input, environmental data, and market analysis, and it will assess current infrastructure needs to support reuse. Development of the plan is expected to facilitate community involvement in brownfields assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment, connect brownfields reuse to new job opportunities, and increase transit opportunities for the community. By definition, a brownfield site is real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.
The City’s Department of Planning and Inspections, assisted by a consultant team led by Goody Clancy of Boston and a Steering Committee made up of citizens, will lead this important planning process to create a revitalization plan and implementation framework to make New Bern a model for 21st century city life.
Your participation in the planning process is essential to make sure that the revitalization plan reflects your hopes and ideas for New Bern’s future. We need to hear from you and your family, your friends and neighbors, and others who have a stake in the future of New Bern, such as business owners. Please explore this website, join in at public meetings, and let us know what you think!
Good Morning, I have been following New Bern’s progressing planning efforts since I had an opportunity to visit the community this past fall. The Brownfield Redevelopment plan/PDF presentation on the website is excellent and I hope to share it with our community leaders. New Bern’s planning and redevelopment issues and opportunities are very similar to what the City of Cambridge MD is attempting to address. Approximately 4 years ago, the City was faced with the issue of how to promote and ensure neighborhood compatibility when new construction (a 3- story modular box) was proposed and built in one of our older established neigborhoods. This particular neighborhood was known for its unique, colonial style-2 1/2 story single family homes, typically located on small lots, 30 ft. or less. These neighborhoods are outside the purview of the Historic Preservation District Commission but they nonetheless contribute to the community’s rich architectural heritage. (Cambridge’s historical growth was tied to the seafood industry which resulted in a large number of “factory housing” units being built). In order to address the problem of neighbor compatiblity, promote in-fill housing, and stream line the review process, we came up with a Neighborhood Compatibility Ordinance that may be of interest to New Bern. It consists of three parts, the ordinance, a description of architectural styles in the community and a worksheet that requires the developer/builder to survey neighbor conditions prior to receiving a building permit. In a sense, it is a variant of “form based zoning”. I have included a link to the City’s website, and three links to the documents as described. Good luck with the Brownfield Redevelopment Plan and feel free to email me back if you have any questions. The other planning tool I would encourage you to consider in your planning strategies is to address the destructive tendencies of parking standards that set absolute minimun parking space requirements, resulting in excessive paved areas.
http://www.choosecambridge.com/uploads/NCS/Compatibility%20Stds%20Section%20275%20Rev%208(11-04-10)(3).pdf
http://www.choosecambridge.com/uploads/images/Planning_Zoning/Architectural_Styles_Cambridge.pdf
http://www.choosecambridge.com/uploads/NCS/Neighborhood%20Campatibility%20Worksheet%20REVISION%203.pdf