Fort Monroe redevelopment

[vdogg]

Three plans for fort but no accord

The drawings got a little bit clearer, but the major questions surrounding the future of Fort Monroe remain.

Planners from Dover, Kohl & Partners returned to Hampton Monday night with more detailed designs for the future of Fort Monroe after the Army leaves in 2011.

[urbanlife]

it would be sweet if that little island turned into a little dense town. would be such an amazing area to live and work. Even better if some great modern architecture was designed there that had a conversation with the historical architecture.

It could become a little europe if it wanted to, guess we will have to wait and see what the developers decide to do.....shame this world is controlled by what the developers see fit rather than the architects that design everything (or at least should design everything).

[vdogg]

Reaction mixed among officials/residents

Hampton residents, officials and planners have known of Fort Monroe

[tombarnes]

I think there is reason for hope with this proposal. Turning the area into a park would not preserve anything but the structures themselves. The historic structures can be retained and given new life as a dense neighborhood. Care must be taken to ensure that this does not become another dull enclave of high-priced housing- God forbid that we should have another gated community on our hands. Why build another hotel when the Chamberlin could well be re-tooled into a more modern hotel with fewer, larger rooms? Don't misunderstand me. I am grateful that it is not being considered for the wrecker's ball, but I would still like to see it retain its public identity as a hotel. If it were to become a retirement center, the grand lobby and other splendid public amenities would be less accessible, if at all.

[urbanlife]

I agree it should be turned into a hotel. I think the actual fort should be a museum and set aside for future museum ideas. I think the western side of the island should be preserved and turned into housing, since much of it already is housing. The northeastern part where the landing strip is and crappy little bunker housing is should be torn down and turned into a mixed use urban community. Something that seems to blend old and new architecture together, like the things that are being built in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Copenhagen. That would just be an amazing area if that were to happen.

Unfortunately I don't have that much faith in American developers to have the fore sight for something that good.

[vdogg]

Fort Monroe prime for reinvestment

[vdogg]

Save Fort Monroe

The sense of the past, of many pasts, is palpable at Fort Monroe. Gazing out at the deep channel, you see what Captain John Smith saw four centuries ago at the dawn of English settlement in America, when he decided that Old Point Comfort was

[vdogg]

Authority hears residents ideas for Fort Monroe

[zeppelin14]

This thread should be resurrected.......

Here is some new news on Ft. Monroe:

http://hamptonroads.com.nyud.net/node/605526

Fort Monroe gets push as a national park

This historic Army post may have won over a most important ally on Wednesday: Cabinet member Ken Salazar, secretary of the interior. Salazar toured the 570-acre base in Hampton before meeting with about 150 citizens, almost all of whom indicated strong support for making Fort Monroe a national park after the Army departs in September.

As head of the federal agency that oversees the National Park Service, and as President Barack Obama's point man on preserving and protecting the nation's heritage and natural resources, Salazar could be pivotal in making that happen.

He was clearly impressed with what he saw inside and outside the moated stone fort at the heart of the property.

"This is an incredible place," he told the audience gathered at Bay Breeze Community Center on the fort's easternmost beach.

Later, at a meeting with The Virginian-Pilot editorial board, Salazar said Fort Monroe could become a great example of an urban national park, and it is clearly in line with Obama's great outdoors initiative.

He also commented on the fort's pivotal role in emancipation, beginning with Union Army Gen. Benjamin Butler's decision to allow three escaped slaves sanctuary during the opening days of the Civil War in 1861.

That decision sparked an exodus as thousands of slaves flocked to what became known as Freedom's Fortress.

Although his initial decision was tactical - Butler needed the men's labor and wanted to deny it to Confederate forces - he quickly decided to allow women, children and elderly slaves to claim the fort's protection, too.

Historians say the mass migration, and the practical issue of what to do with a flood of humanity in Hampton, helped spur President Abraham Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.

Salazar called Fort Monroe "the crucible" where Lincoln's legacy was born.

"I don't know that I've been to another place that has the history Fort Monroe has," he said..

But creating a national park is usually a slow process, Salazar said, often requiring a decade or more to win the approval of Congress and complete the needed studies.

Legislation making part or all of Fort Monroe a national park has been proposed and has bipartisan support locally, in Richmond and among members of Virginia's congressional delegation.

But with just 2-1/2 months remaining until the Army turns the property over to the state - in compliance with the 2005 Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission's recommendation - a quicker option has become a priority: getting the president to declare the fort a national monument using powers granted to him by the Antiquities Act.

Salazar indicated that Obama is considering that option. He told the audience that the president asked him to visit the base, and said Obama is familiar with its unique role in history.

He also said it's important for local communities and regional officials to broadly support the creation of a park through the Antiquities Act.

On Wednesday, the mayor of Hampton, two U.S. representatives, state officials and staff members representing both Virginia's senators spoke in support of using the act to create a national park.

So did the crowd.

At the end of the public meeting, Salazar asked everyone in attendance to vote for one of three scenarios: no national park, a national park designated by the president, and a national park created by Congress.

There were no votes for the first scenario; the second option won in a landslide.

Jon Jarvis, the director of the National Park Service and a career employee, told the audience he doesn't recall any potential park unit having this level of bipartisan support.

Democrats and Republicans might be feuding over the budget in Washington, but U.S. Reps. Bobby Scott, D-Newport News, and Scott Rigell, R-Virginia Beach, made it clear they're united on this issue.

Multiple speakers noted that Fort Monroe has an especially strong link to slavery because the first enslaved Africans brought to the New World arrived on the island that became the fort.

Rigell said some parts of the nation's history fall painfully short of the ideals set out in the Declaration of Independence, but they cannot be ignored: "This story needs to be told. It needs to be told right here."

Also, both of Virginia's U.S. senators introduced a bill Wednesday that would make Fort Monroe a national park.

One tidbit from the morning's tour seemed to stick with Salazar: the Algernourne oak, a stately live oak on the perimeter of the parade ground inside the moat.

According to historian John Quarstein, one of Salazar's tour guides, the tree dates to 1569.

It witnessed Native Americans hunting nearby, the arrival of English colonists and African slaves, Butler's decision, and the Civil War, Quarstein noted.

Salazar mentioned the oak during the public meeting, saying it has seen the entire history and evolution of our country.

What happened around that tree over more than 400 years cannot be forgotten, he said, and he borrowed a phrase from the Preamble to the Constitution:

"The preservation and the telling of that story is part of making a more perfect union."

[jeffconn]

And it's official. President Obama signed a proclamation today making Fort Monroe the newest National Park.

http://hamptonroads.com/2011/11/obama-designates-fort-monroe-national-monument

[jeffconn]

Proof positive that some commenters on pilotonline.com are insane: One of the commenters called the National Park a federal land grab, even though Fort Monroe has been federal property for 200 years!

[jeffconn]

For those of you that think the national government can't do anything fast, the National Park Service has already created the OFFICIAL website for Fort Monroe National Monument. http://www.nps.gov/fomr/index.htm

[jeffconn]

Latest update from the Daily Press (with videos and a slide show): 

http://www.dailypress.com/news/hampton/dp-nws-hampton-fort-monroe-5-year-20160915-story.html

The National Monument is finally getting together. Apparently, the NPS didn't have any land in its possession until September 2015!  And some good news is the state has donated land (hopefully all of the southern beach) to the Monument that will connect the fort/parade ground area and the north beach, so Fort Monroe National Monument will be one cohesive totally-connected piece of land.