EWEB Riverfront Master Plan
In early 2009, Rowell Brokaw Architects was selected by EWEB and a nine-member Community Advisory Team to lead the master planning and public involvement process for Eugene’s 27-acre downtown riverfront. The completed master plan models sustainable, mixed-use redevelopment in a variety of ways: it creates 8 acres of new riverfront open space, requires LEED certification for all new construction, adds meaningful residential capacity at the city center, improves public access and the Riverbank Trail System, and proposes numerous ways to teach about our river, our history and our city. With the Community Advisory Team’s counsel, a series of form-based design guidelines and an ecological assessment were both completed to before finalizing the master plan. During the 12-month design process, more than 1,000 community members participated in the plan’s development. In June 2010, the EWEB Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the master plan after receiving consensus approval from the Community Advisory Team.
In November 2010, EWEB hired the team of Cameron McCarthy (CMGS Landscape Architects & Planners) and Rowell Brokaw Architects to complete the land-use phase and codify the master plan’s vision. Cameron McCarthy will lead the applications process, with Rowell Brokaw continuing to provide design direction as well as public outreach with Cogito in 2011.
This master plan represents the final step in a decades-long planning process to renew the connection between downtown Eugene and the Willamette River. We will continue to post project updates and materials to this website during the land-use phase. Questions? Please email us at eweb@rowellbrokaw.com.
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About this Website (from June 2010)
This website is a community resource maintained pro bono by Rowell Brokaw Architects. We hope the community will use this resource to track, review, offer feedback, and review the work completed on the EWEB master plan. (During the master planning process, this website was also used to collect RSVPs for the large public events that were held to gather public input.) You can find background materials, design proposals, presentations, and public event summaries under Project Documents. To review CAT meeting minutes or EWEB project materials generated prior to June 2009, please visit www.eweb.org/riverfront.
About the EWEB Riverfront Master Plan (from June 2009)
The Eugene Water & Electric Board is creating a new master plan for its 27-acre riverfront property and plans to sell a large portion of the site after the Roosevelt Operations Center is completed in 2010. Rowell Brokaw Architects, based in downtown Eugene, is leading the master planning process.
The goal of this master planning process is to create a vibrant, active, multi-use “people place” along Eugene’s downtown riverfront. The master plan will develop the connection between downtown and the Willamette River, be sensitive to the environment, use sustainable design strategies, and propose ways to teach about our river, our history and our city.
To assist in the development of the master plan, EWEB’s Board and the Eugene City Council created a Community Advisory Team (CAT) composed of nine community members who bring different professional backgrounds and expertise to the project. The project will hold a series of four community events to gather public opinion to support the design process beginning this fall, beginning on September 30.
Rowell Brokaw Architects and the Community Advisory Team are available to speak at your organization's meetings and you may see us with displays around town. Please stop and talk with us! The design team will be working closely with the CAT and community to develop this vital downtown riverfront plan.
Minutes from the Community Advisory Team meetings and presentations to the CAT given prior to June 2009 are available on the EWEB website: http://www.eweb.org/riverfront.