EUGENE’S NEW RIVERFRONT PARK

Emily Proudfoot City of Eugene

After decades of visioning the reconnection of Eugene’s Downtown to the Willamette River, the city is now two years into construction of a new Downtown Riverfront Park complete with streets and utilities to serve a new riverfront neighborhood. For over 100 years the approximately 20-acre site was home to the Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB) that has since moved operations. In 2018 the site was purchased by the city’s Downtown Riverfront Urban Renewal Agency. The purchase included most of EWEB’s property and the now shuttered, but historic, Steam Plant that served downtown Eugene for decades. Since May of 2020, signifi cant work has been completed toward the realization of the community’s long held dream for the City to meet the River and the River to meet the City.

Master Plan In 2008 EWEB, knowing that it would move their operations to West Eugene in 2010, hired Rowell Brokaw Architects and a team of sub-consultants to lead a master planning process to determine the future of the Riverfront site. In partnership with the City of Eugene, the EWEB Riverfront Master Plan was completed in 2010 after extensive outreach and work with the community to build a vision of connecting Eugene’s Downtown to the Willamette River.

This vision was fundamentally urban in character, including a series of open spaces and a riverfront park that embodied the overarching concept of the city meeting the river, and the river meeting the city. Green streets, riparian conservation, overlooks as extensions of streets, and view corridors between the Willamette River and Downtown provided the backdrop within which a new, high density, mixed-use neighborhood would emerge. With the approval of the Master Plan by both the EWEB Board and the Eugene City Council in 2010, the concepts within the master

Riverfront Park Rendering Credit: Emily Proudfoot, City of Eugene

plan were subsequently written into land use code assuring that the vision had legal standing through the implementation of the project.

The Downtown Riverfront Park project was assured a future via a Memorandum of Understanding between the City and EWEB. This agreement stated that EWEB would transfer the future park property to the City for one dollar with the commitment of the City to allocate $3 million in construction dollars.

Park Design With the anticipation of the World Track and Field Championships arriving in Eugene in 2021, the City issued a Request for Qualifi cations in 2017 for landscape architectural services to design the new Downtown Riverfront Park. In early 2018, Walker Macy of Portland, Oregon was awarded the project and work began immediately to re -engage the public to assure that the vision for the park still resonated within the community.

At the same time, working with a master developer, the City updated the design of the Downtown Redevelopment site to include a new one -acre urban plaza. The plaza design was subsequently incorporated into the design for the Downtown Riverfront Park, and then budgeted as a phase two project

Thousands of community members weighed in through 2018 helping to refi ne the design concepts of the Downtown Riverfront Park into a public space still urban in character but balanced by riverbank and habitat enhancements. Broad river views, new bicycle and pedestrian paths, seating and overlooks highlight the park design. Integrated interpretive art pieces will in turn help tell river-focused stories about the ecology, industry and community past and present, creating a park experience that’s truly all about Eugene and the Willamette River. campus property all the way north to the Peter DeFazio Bridge, the design maintains the view corridors and expansive river views originally envisioned. The Ruth Bascom Bicycle Path splits into two lanes within the Riverfront Park to accommodate pedestrians in one lane, and bicycles, skates, or scooters in the other. A third narrower path splits off and winds along the top of the riverbank for a more contemplative walk and river viewing experience. The existing EWEB Plaza will remain largely the same with some simple lighting and furniture updates and at the north end of the project a new ramp and stair will provide greatly improved access to the Peter DeFazio Bridge.

Overlooks The river overlook at 5th Avenue will be the most notable and visible from the corner of 5th and High Street near the 5th Street Market. The overlook will be marked by a striking pavilion made from 56 highly polished steel ribbons hung from a 20’ high steel structure. The shape of the ribbons refl ect the riverbed topography immediately below the overlook and will refl ect people, activities, the river, and anything else happening below them. The piece is intended be an iconic marker and will create space for additional art performance, displays, and even movie showings.

Looking upriver, a boardwalk and deck will shape the second river overlook at the base of the existing electrical tower. A third overlook just north of the Steam Plant will provide additional views up and down river.

Storytelling Three themes of river stories will be told within the Downtown Riverfront Park through integrated art pieces located throughout the site. At the South Overlook, visitors will fi nd an interpretive piece for the steam plant (Industry). The smaller winding riverbank path will host interpretive pieces about the Willamette River (Ecology. While at the north end of the park, a multi-level drinking fountain will interpret the story of the Acrossthe -Bridge Community, home to many Black families in Eugene until the early 1950s (Culture). The Across-the -Bridge history is the most notable of these stories as the City worked closely with many members of the local African American community to talk about Eugene’s racist past and their vision of a more inclusive future. The Across the Bridge community, located across the Willamette River in an area that is now Alton Baker Park and Coburg road, was home to most of Eugene’s early Black families because they were not allowed to live within the City limits. When the Ferry Street Bridge was constructed in 1950 to expand the city limits of Eugene northward, the Across-the -Bridge community was razed, and Black families were forcibly dispersed to other areas outside of town including far West Eugene. The drinking fountain art piece will tell this diffi cult story with a view across the river and relay the message of an inclusive, more unifi ed community now and into the future.

All of the art pieces will be made of cast bronze and crafted in Eugene at Reinmuth Bronze Foundry.

Timeline In order to be complete and open by 2021, the three -acre Riverfront Park had to be constructed over several construction seasons. Early work, completed during the summer and fall of 2019, included mass grading, signifi cant utility relocation work, removal of non-native invasive plants, and the planting of over 24,000 native plants along the Riverbank. This was important preparatory work for the park development phase which began in May of 2020. Construction will continue through the winter and the project is expected to open in June of 2021.

The adjacent one -acre Park Plaza to the west of the Riverfront Park is scheduled for additional design work and construction under a second phase. This work should be completed after the opening of the Park and in conjunction with building development in the new neighborhood. Construction of the urban plaza is now anticipated for calendar year 2023 along with additional outdoor venues to the south, adjacent to the Steam Plant.

Riverfront Park Rendering Credit: Emily Proudfoot, City of Eugene Emily Proudfoot is a Park Planner and Landscape Architect for the City of Eugene.