The Lewis Creek Watershed Advisory Committee works to protect Lewis Creek and keep it clean, while also engaging residents in its conservation.
Appointed by Staunton City Council, the committee regularly sponsors tests of the water and tracks E coli levels.
“Our whole town is sitting on, it’s almost the same size or footprint as the watershed itself,” said committee chair Fred Blanton, who has served for five years. “It’s almost like a perfect match.”
Water in Lewis Creek originates from natural springs in Staunton, which also produce Gum Spring at Gypsy Hill Park.
“The Wharf is important because it’s the confluence of two of the largest of these tributaries [Lewis Creek and Gum Spring],” Blanton said. “And it all happens under the Wharf.”
One hundred years ago, a parking lot was not above the tunnels at the Wharf.
Staunton could never have anticipated the two floods in August 2020 causing so much damage to downtown, especially that both would impact the Wharf. According to Blanton, Staunton has experienced approximately 20 floods like the ones in 2020 in the last 100 years.
However, the committee was already aware that the tunnels under the Wharf were in need of repair, the question was when. The problem is two-fold: the weight of the 2020 floods on the Wharf Lot and more water in recent years traveling through the tunnels under the Wharf.
When Blanton met JMU Professor of Architecture Traci Wile, who lives on Middlebrook Avenue near the Wharf, they agreed to have some of her students create new designs for the Wharf with flood mitigation in mind as class projects.
“I think they’re inspiring,” Blanton said of the four designs by groups of students. “What they do is give you an idea of what could be.”
On Friday afternoon, the four groups of students shared their designs and were available for questions and comments at the Staunton Innovation Hub.
“They’ve done such an incredible job of capturing the exact measurements of the space,” Blanton said.
The Wharf Lot has been based on parking cars and vehicle traffic. The future of the Wharf, however, provides an opportunity for a different perspective, one which accommodates the possibility of flooding.
“And, I think, the businesses are going to flourish,” Blanton said. “People are going to want to come down here and sit and enjoy and they’re going to want to drink and eat.”
The future of the Wharf will likely involve very little parking, perhaps just for handicapped. Blanton said the two parking garages nearby will provide parking on New and Johnson streets.
Randolph Bertin has a background in engineering and serves on the committee.
“Engineers are usually problem solvers,” Bertin said. Engineers understand water flow and are familiar with the necessary vocabulary and understanding for architecture.
He said he thinks the student designs are great ideas to think about for the space and to address flooding. They provide imaginative responses to a real-world problem. What will be most important to the city is the cost of a new design for the Wharf.
“First and foremost, what we need to do is any solution in this area needs to address flooding in a way that you make substantial gain,” Bertin said.
The Wharf contains a buried culvert system with limited capacity.
“So, when the tunnels fill up, they’re full and the water has to find some other way. It’s got to come above ground. No matter what, the water is going somewhere,” Bertin said.
The Staunton Farmers Market has a “huge presence” on Saturday mornings from April to October when it sets up on one side of the Wharf Lot. Bertin said any design must accommodate the market.
A community conversation will provide the city with answers to what residents want of a new design for the Wharf.
As a class project, Wile said the question was what alternate use could the space have as a source of flood mitigation, and her 2025 students were even more ambitious with design ideas than last year’s students.
Living on Middlebrook Avenue since 2022, Wile said she monitors the city’s flood sensors during big storms.
“This is infrastructure and we can’t not have infrastructure,” she said of the Wharf. All four student designs contain some version of an amphitheater, an area that, when necessary, could hold flood water and prevent water from entering downtown businesses.
Wile, who holds a master’s in architecture and works with works in community engagement practices. Her JMU students could have an impact on the future of the Wharf with their design ideas.
One of the student groups included juniors Anabelle Harrison, Breanna Coleman, Joseph Hill and Shaun Davis.
“We came up with our initial concept a month and a half ago,” Harrison said.
Their design includes repurposing materials from what will be the former Augusta County Courthouse across from the Wharf, and flood benches at the Wharf. The 30-foot amphitheater in their design would contain plants that could survive flooding.
“I feel like we clicked so quickly,” Davis said of the group’s plan details.
They considered what was realistically possible and what the site needed.
“What makes sense to put where,” Hill said.
The four students will keep up with what the city decides to do with the Wharf Lot.
“We look forward to whatever this project can be,” Davis, who is planning for a career in construction management, said.
The project impacted all four students when it comes to a career after college. Hill will pursue landscape architecture. Coleman, who is from Harrisonburg, will pursue interior architecture and design.
The design of the Wharf Lot encouraged Harrison to change course and definitely pursue architecture.
“I’m more drawn to what we’ve been doing in the past semester,” she said.
Related stories:
Staunton to limit traffic around the Wharf for safety reasons
Staunton: City responds to infrastructure concerns with new entrance to Wharf Lot
Staunton: Tunnel work begins city-wide flood mitigation efforts
Staunton: Unknown cost of Wharf Lot tunnel improvements requires city tax increase
JMU students’ architectural design eases flood mitigation concerns at Wharf Lot
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Rebecca Barnabi
