Summer on the Downtown Riverfront

It's mid-July. Already? We hope you’re out enjoying the sunny weather—and we don’t want to keep you inside a moment longer than necessary. Here’s a short progress report from your riverfront project team:

Hello Neighbor! On June 29, we held a meeting to update neighbors on the proposed zoning and code changes for the EWEB Riverfront site. Invitations were mailed to the 665 residents and property owners within 500 feet of the EWEB property, as required by the City to make sure neighbors are aware of potential land use changes. Thank you to all who joined us for this presentation and thoughtful discussion.

Almost There. We have nearly completed final drafts of the new Specific Area Plan and Special Area Zone for the Downtown Riverfront. The purpose of these documents is to codify the approved vision in the EWEB Riverfront Master Plan that you helped us to develop. We expect the land use applications to be complete in August, and for City Council to then initiate this process in Fall 2011. Following initiation, the project will follow the prescribed Type V process outlined in this document. We are looking ahead to an adopted ordinance in early 2012 and will keep you updated on the hearing schedule with Planning Commission and City Council. 



How do we translate a community vision into reality?

A few weeks ago, the project team presented this Overview of the Land Use Phase to a group of project stakeholders at the EWEB Headquarters. This presentation summarizes the basic structure of our land use code, and the origins of the EWEB Riverfront Project from a land use perspective. It also touches brielfly on how we propose to translate the master plan's vision into standards for the redevelopment of the downtown riverfront, as well as the timeline for this phase of work. Thank you to all those who joined us, and for your continued interest in this work.

Making It Real: Land Use and the EWEB Riverfront Master Plan

Work toward the redevelopment of Eugene's Downtown Riverfront continues! This week, the project team will present a work plan and project update to EWEB's Board of Commissioners, outlining the proposed process to complete the land use phase. A draft of the proposed schedule is available here: EWEB Riverfront Land Use Phase Schedule.

Want to know more? Please take a look at this list of Frequently Asked Questions--and if what you're wondering about isn't covered here, feel free to contact us at eweb@rowellbrokaw.com. Thank you for continuing to track this important community planning project.

Next Steps for Eugene's Downtown Riverfront

Between June 2009 and June 2010, more than 1,000 community members participated in the development of the EWEB Riverfront Master Plan. In June, the master plan received both consensus approval from the Community Advisory Team and the EWEB Board of Commissioners. Thank you to all those who gave their time and energy to this very public design process!

To browse key concepts from the master plan, click here: Open House Posters

To review the full approved master plan, click here. (Please be patient: this compressed PDF is still 40MB and may take a few minutes to download.)

The next stage of work involves completing the land use actions that will codify the master plan's vision. In November 2011, EWEB hired the team of Cameron McCarthy and Rowell Brokaw Architects to complete the land use consulting phase. Cameron McCarthy will lead the land use applications process, with Rowell Brokaw Architects continuing to provide design direction as well as public outreach with Cogito. The team expects to complete the land use phase in 2011-2012. Questions? Please email us at eweb@rowellbrokaw.com.

EWEB Board Unanimously Approves Master Plan

Following more than a year of public input and design development, the EWEB Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the Riverfront Master Plan at a meeting on Tuesday, June 1. Since May 2009, the design team led by Rowell Brokaw Architects has worked with the public and a nine-member Community Advisory Team to develop a plan that captures the community’s vision for the downtown riverfront. More than 1,000 people participated in this effort to plan a new future for the 27-acre site, and the resulting design establishes a unique place where people can experience an active, thriving, downtown neighborhood and a beautiful stretch of the Willamette at the same time.

Much of the riverfront property will be vacant when EWEB moves its operations to the Roosevelt Operations Center in November 2010, which makes the completion of this plan timely. The master plan creates 8 acres of new public open space along the riverfront, improves public access, requires sustainable design strategies, allows for the adaptive reuse of existing structures, and proposes numerous ways to teach about our river, our history and our city. With the Community Advisory Team’s counsel, a series of design guidelines and an ecological assessment were both completed to before finalizing the pedestrian-oriented plan. Thank you to all the members of the community who have participated in this effort! A final PDF of the master plan document will be available by June 15. A draft of the document is now available (but please excuse any typos).