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New Plan to Put Green Back in Money Point
Money Point should soon live up to its name again. This 35-acre area at a bend in the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River in Chesapeake, Virginia once flourished with shipping terminals, factories and wood treatment plants. Legend has it that the locals dubbed it Money Point for all the jobs and wealth it created.
In recent years, however, laced with some of the highest concentrations of cancer-causing contaminants in the world, Money Point was thought to be a biological dead zone - a lost cause. But, this October, the Money Point Revitalization Task Force celebrated the completion of a 10-year plan to clean up and revitalize the area.
Waterfront at Money Point
Already, $6.5 million worth of work is underway. When completed, the project, under the auspices of the larger Elizabeth River Project, will be one of the largest environmental restoration projects in the Chesapeake Bay.
The plan has five 10-year goals, which run the gamut from prevention to cleanup to restoration. The task force, which met from January 2005 through August 2006, agreed up front that every interest group must play a role in moving the project forward and that consensus must be reached. This was no small feat, as there were nearly 100 participants representing the community, government, non-profit, industry and a local church.
The plan's goals are as follows:
- Clean up the river bottom at Money Point. This will involve cleaning up the sediments offshore from the former Eppinger and Russell facility, an EPA Superfund site and from a former wood treatment facility, Republic Creosoting.
- Prevent upland pollution from entering the river to improve and maintain water quality. This will prevention effort will involve improved stormwater controls and removal of onshore hotspots.
- Enhance community quality of life and promote the co-existence of industrial, community and ecological health.One of the elements of this goal will be the creation of a "Learning Barge" which will be designed by the University of Virginia School of Architecture.
- Establish environmental stewardship as the industrial ethic at Money Point, primarily through the River Stars program. The entire waterfront at Money Point is owned by industrial or commercial companies. Companies that become River Stars stewards voluntarily participate in pollution prevention and habitat enhancements.
- Restore and conserve wetlands, vegetated buffers, shellfish beds and urban forest, creating an integrated network of habitat for wildlife.
To learn more about the Money Point Revitalization Plan or the greater Elizabeth River Project,
visit www.elizabethriver.org.