Wetlands to replace tobacco barn in River Arts District

The site of a red warehouse where farmers brought tobacco to market for many years will become a constructed wetland as part of a $50 million city infrastructure project in the River Arts District.

The city is acquiring Planters Tobacco Warehouse at the corner of Riverside Drive and Craven Street, and it will use that land to build one of two wetlands.

The second wetland will sit on the opposite side of the Craven Street bridge.

"They will manage the stormwater quality portion of their project, and they’re designed to be more artistic and more aesthetic than I think most people think of when they think of your characteristic wetland," said Nancy Watford, stormwater plan reviewer for the city. “They’re fairly heavily planted with showy plants with some aesthetic, some sort of natural characteristic that makes some of them more unique.”

The wetlands will include purple-flowering pickerel weed, red maples and butterfly habitats, but they serve a function far greater than aesthetics. The constructed wetlands catch run off from city streets and filter it before it returns to the French Broad River.

“It is a water quality feature," Watford said. "We try and make the water stay in the wetland as long as possible so it gets its maximum amount of treatment.”

During floods, the wetlands will catch silt and reduce the impact on the city's stormwater system, Watford said.

The wetlands will measure just under 1 acre, Watford said. The wetland planned for the Planters Tobacco Warehouse property will encompass about half the 1.69-acre site, she said.

The second wetland is comparable in size, although it's shaped differently, she explained.

Although constructed wetlands are man-made, they don't stand out from their natural surroundings. Carrier Park already has constructed wetlands near the pavilion.

The River Arts District wetlands will include stone walls to break up the grade of the property, Watford said.

Construction of the wetlands will begin in 2017, Watford said.

The areas are part of the RADTIP project, which includes improvements to Riverside Drive and other River Arts District streets, bike lanes, sidewalks, public art and other projects. It's slated for completion by 2020.

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