Development: Waterfront partnership aims to redesign entire visiting area for popular phenomenon and to brand site like Magnetic Hill
KÂTÈ LEBLANC/TELEGRAPH-JOURNAL
The owners of the Reversing Falls restaurant, right, and the Jet Boat ride, not shown, have been looking forward to development in the area.
John Mazerolle
Telegraph-Journal
Appeared on page C1
SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Waterfront Development Partnership wants to reverse the law of diminishing returns at Reversing Falls.
"It's one of the most popular tourist destinations, but over the years it's been looking a little bit tired," general manager Ross Jefferson said Monday.
The partnership plans to redesign the entire Reversing Falls visiting area, as well as Fallsview Park on the eastern side of the river. Jefferson and President Bill MacMackin say the development will send Harbour Passage westward, allow for private investment, increase access for boaters, make the science of the phenomenon clearer, and allow the site to be branded as an attraction like Magnetic Hill in Moncton.
"It's not high on people's lists for promotion, including [for] the province," Jefferson said. "It's time for a renewal in that area."
A request for proposals will go out in January, asking for a grand vision for the area, as well as a brand to be built on. The partnership will then work with the concept designs, primary stakeholders and the public to come up with smaller, manageable projects that can be completed on the way toward the master plan. It's essentially the same process that led to the creation of Harbour Passage.
MacMackin said he hopes the first actual work to begin in 2009 at the latest, and he holds out hope it could begin as early as next year.
The partnership - the city and provincial governments, the port authority, the board of trade, Enterprise Saint John, Uptown Saint John, and the Saint John Development Corporation - recently held a planning session that reviewed 30 possible projects listed in the Saint John
