Richmond City Council got an overall look Tuesday at the city's proposed plans for riverfront development, but most seemed concerned about the costs and whether the city should be in the boat business at all.

Council members requested the special work session so they would have an idea about the overall plan for the river before they started getting pieces of the project in the form of ordinances. Council members have already received one paper related to the river that they delayed taking action on.

City officials outlined four main goals for riverfront development based on their skills, the city's desires and what they heard from residents during the downtown master plan meetings. The goals are:

w enhancing public access along the river, to the river and from the river;

w creating a unique destination, adjacent to a world class development;

w providing citizens a unique recreational venue currently unavailable to them; and

w generating new revenues and new jobs with economic development.

Parts of that process include realigning parts of Route 5 for better access and truck traffic, buying the Lehigh Cement property to create a public park there and building a marina.

"This is a great presentation," councilwoman Kathy Graziano (4th) said, "but nowhere is there a mention of money."

Chief Administrative Officer Sheila Hill-Christian said they do have a rough estimate of costs, but stressed that the figures were very rough given how different pieces of the plan could change, fluctuating the numbers.

According to the city's estimates, the cost for the riverfront plans, which include acquiring and cleaning up property, some road realignment and building a new marina and commercial, right now would cost nearly $20 million.

"It's really premature to give these numbers serious concern. We're not ready for an in-depth conversation," Hill-Christian said.

Council president Bill Pantele (2nd) said members were just trying to get a grasp on the matter, and was surprised given that the mayor's budget is due in two weeks and the Lehigh paper was already before council for action.

Councilwoman Ellen Robertson (6th) said she was concerned that the sole reason the city wanted to declare the Lehigh Cement property a public necessity to buy it (even if Lehigh is a willing seller) was just to create a public park along the river.

One of the other big issues that drew the most questions from council members was the marina option. City officials had suggested four options for the marina from having the city own it and run it, resulting in little revenue, to letting a private company own it and run it, which would likely result in more revenue.

Both Pantele and councilman Bruce Tyler (1st) questioned why the option wasn't presented to sell the land to a private developer like Rocketts Landing, letting them pay to build it and then tax them.

"It's an important scenario," Pantele said. "There's a lot of ways to do this without asking the taxpayers."

According to the presentation, council will get the first related paper, which asks members to declare the acquisition of the Lehigh property a public necessity, in March. Related papers will follow throughout the year.

"I understand what you have is a work in progress," Pantele told Hill-Christian and other city employees.

"But I'm hearing a lot of desire (from council) to see costs estimates. I think the folks want to see the market analysis study on the marina and the economic development. We want to move urgently, but we also want to make the best deal for our citizens."