Graham Emmett, GNP contributor
Rocky Mount sits along the Tar River like Greenville does, but it is taking a different approach to developing its waterfront.
Greenville wants to commercialize it.
Rocky Mount has no plans to do that.
“Our goal is to always preserve that natural beauty of our parks and the Tar River while giving the public opportunities to enjoy these areas,” said Joel Dunn, Rocky Mount’s parks and recreation director.
Dunn said that during his time as its director, the Rocky Mount parks and recreation department has not been approached by anyone with proposals to develop the city’s parkland or buy it for development.
“The Tar River actually serves as a connector for some of our largest parks,” he said, naming eight parks. “That is over 300 acres of parkland that is connected by our over seven miles of greenway trail system along the Tar River.”
Master plan down river
The Tar River flows from central North Carolina all the way to the Pamlico Sound. It flows through many cities, including Greenville.
In Greenville in June, the City Council rezoned 1.4 acres of its riverfront Town Common with commercialization in mind. More than 125 citizens emailed council members before vote, pleading to keep the 21-acre park green and commercial-free.
The council’s vote is consistent with a 2016 update to the city’s Town Common Master Plan. The update speaks of building an event center and restaurant at the park. And the city’s contract with a local firm asks for plans for a “restaurant/event space” of up to 12,000 square feet.
Don Octigan, the city’s recreation and parks director, said the City Council rezoned only a relatively small corner of the Town Common.
“Before we do anything final as far as a plan” for commercial development on the rezoned land, he said, “we will have several public input sessions. We are not at that point at this moment, but we are hoping to do so before we do any next steps, any permanent steps.”
Octigan said he couldn’t be happier with the progress made by his department overall on the city’s many parks. “So far, we have a lot of projects that we’re working on. We have a great team at the recreation and parks department and so far it is going well,” he said.
Beyond the Town Common, most of the land along the Tar River in Greenville is untouched. Developed areas near the river are often divided from it by a tree line, and any kind of development directly on the Tar River with no natural divide is few and far between.
Back in Rocky Mount, Dunn said public input on that city’s parks is overwhelmingly positive. He added that his department wants to stay considerate of the sensitive environmental factors of a river that flows into the Atlantic Ocean.
“We do that by making sure we are in compliance with all local, state, and national standards that deal with these areas,” Dunn said.
GNP contacted Tarboro, on the Tar River north of Greenville, to ask about riverfront development there. It did the same with Kinston, on the Neuse River south of Greenville. No official from either city responded.
Emmett produced this report for the Fall 2021 capstone course, In-depth News Reporting.
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