Fort Monroe Authority director outlines landscape action plan, funding and design competition

Scott Martin, executive director of the Fort Monroe Authority, told the Hampton City Council the authority will begin a landscape action plan and pursue physical and programmatic improvements to the Fort Monroe site as part of a new phase of stewardship.

Martin said Fort Monroe, a National Historic Landmark managed jointly by the Commonwealth of Virginia and the U.S. National Park Service, hosts roughly a half million visitors annually and has about 600 residents, with roughly 99% of residential units leased. He said private residential development projects underway include the Echelon project, which he said would add roughly 150 new residents, and that the Commonwealth has allocated about $50 million for infrastructure work to repair water and sewer lines.

Why it matters: Fort Monroe is a high-profile public historic and ecological site in Hampton. Martin described the coming landscape plan as an opportunity to balance historic preservation, ecological resilience and public…