Community comes together for cleanup at River’s Edge in Kalamazoo
"Close to everything, far from ordinary," is the way the City of Kalamazoo sees the River's Edge project. River's Edge is bordered by Paterson Street, Riverview Avenue, East Michigan Avenue and Walbridge Street. The area encompassing 24 acres, is divided into 16 parcels that vary in size from a 10th of an acre to nearly 7.5 acres. Its development could go in a number of different directions depending upon what the market dictates.It is envisioned to be the hub of a number trailways that link business to the outdoors and capitalize on the natural asset of the river. The Kalamazoo River, now partially obscured by overgrown trees and bushes, will emerge from hiding soon, opening up a whole new part of town for the bikers, walkers, shoppers to enjoy.A number of groups will get to work in May to clean up the site and provide better access to the river. Sunshine Rotary, the Northside Business Association and the Adventure Club are among those who will be part of the cleanup. Within the next six weeks plans also should be finalized for improved traffic flow and appearance of the intersection of Gull Road and Harrison Street. Tthe public will be asked for input on the proposed intersection changes.The city of Kalamazoo began to work on a riverfront redevelopment in 1999. As brownfield redevelopment projects such as the MacKenzies Bakery, 527 Harrison, have succeeded, funding for the riverfront development has increased.The city was able to obtain a $2.8-million Clean Michigan Initiative Waterfront Redevelopment Grant in 2000. It allowed the city to get busy buying property, demolishing buildings and doing other clean-up work necessary to make the land attractive to buyers. In addition, River's Edge has attracted $20 million in public and private money, and the city has invested $7 million in matching funds. Some of the dollars have gone to adding infrastructure like the Jack Coombs Trailway there.The next project to go into the neighborhood will be the 6,000-square-foot People's Food Co-op at 507 Harrison Street. Co-op general manager Chris Dilley has told members one of the positive aspects of the site the co-op is moving to is that it is along the Kalamazoo River Valley Trail, connecting Kal-Haven and Parchment and Battle Creek and Portage. "We are excited about this connection and look forward to helping to better connect this area of downtown to the core" of the city, he says.In recent years, the area has attracted the Smartshop Metal Arts Center, One Way Products, a manufacter of industrial process and cleaning chemicals and West Tech Design Inc., a design and engineering firm.Writer: Kathy Jennings Source: Martha Aills, special projects coordinator, City of Kalamazoo Community Planning and Development division
