Whiteville City Council on Tuesday will vote on a contract to take the next steps toward a million-dollar project to turn a former shopping center into a “stormwater park.”
While all the structures on the former Lewis Smith Shopping Center in downtown Whiteville have been razed, acres of paving and concrete still remain. The city received $628,786 in grant funding from the N.C. Land and Water Fund in February, with a match of $20,000. The total cost for the project is $1.045 million.
The next step is to begin removal of impermeable surfaces and return the land to grass and dirt. The park area would then be redeveloped as a public space. Tentative plans call for an amphitheater, splash pad and other amenities. The park’s name has not been determined.
The area is just over six acres in size, most of which is covered in pavement and concrete.
Parts of the Smith property were built on wetlands that were filled starting in the 1930s, reducing the amount of water that could be absorbed by the ground prior to running off into Soules Swamp and White Marsh. As much as four feet of stormwater flooded the area between Commerce and Franklin streets during hurricanes Matthew and Florence. Those floods filled the stores and offices in the 1960s shopping center, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages. The building was eventually condemned by the city, then saw even more damage after a suspicious fire in 2021
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A major part of the project is a constructed wetland feature that will contain up to 1.5 “acre feet” of stormwater. An acre-foot is the equivalent of 326,000 gallons of water, or a football field of water one foot deep.
The grant contract requires that construction begin by February 2024, or the funding be returned.
The stormwater park project is part of ongoing effort to improve drainage through Whiteville, but especially in the downtown area.
