Ordinance No. 20513 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Downtown Riverfront Specific Area Plan 2. PLANNING PROCESS A. MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING In 2007, to prepare for the relocation of EWEB's operations to the Roosevelt Operations Center in West Eugene, EWEB and the City of Eugene signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that outlined a master planning and public involvement process that would be completed for the EWEB site before any vacated portion of the yard could be sold or used for a non - utility use. B. COMMUNITY ADVISORY TEAM (CAT) The Eugene City Council and EWEB Board of Commissioners jointly appointed a Community Advisory Team (CAT) to guide the master planning process in 2008. This nine - member team included Dave Hauser, Thomas Hoyt, Desiree Moore, J. Dean Pape, Gary Wildish, Mark Johnson, Pat Johnston, Mary Unruh, and Anita van Asperdt. Together, the CAT brought a diversity of community interests, professional backgrounds, and areas of expertise to the project. The Community Advisory Team held its first meeting in July 2008. Its first order of business was to establish operational ground rules and a decision - making process. The team agreed to a consensus model of decision - making, and established a back -up decision - making process in the event of an impasse. CAT meetings were listed in weekly public meeting notices and open to the public. Public comment periods were included at the beginning of each meeting to enable the participation of interested members of the community. In fall 2008, the CAT began the development of an RFP /RFQ process to solicit architectural teams to serve as consultants to the project. The RFP /RFQ was released at the end of October 2008 and Rowell Brokaw Architects was selected as the design consultant by consensus in January 2009. The project's integrated design team included locally and internationally recognized expertise in landscape architecture, sustainable design, urban design, river restoration, participatory design processes, economic development, ecology, transportation, and riverfront design. C. PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT The master planning process for the Downtown Riverfront required an authentic and extensive public involvement plan to guide the development of a community- supported vision. This required a high - quality process, responsive design team, and the deep integration of public input with the project's design and decision - making. The public involvement process was conducted according to the Core Values of the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2), and was approved by the Community Advisory Team by consensus at the outset of the project. This approved Public Engagement Plan established that the process would be: • Meaningful: Input will be timely and have the opportunity to affect outcomes • Accountable: People will have the opportunity to know how their input was used • Inclusive: Reach for input beyond those who regularly attend downtown meetings • Transparent: Decisions are public and materials are available on the website • Realistic: Educated about the project constraints, objectives, and parameters • Outcome - oriented: Purpose of public process is to achieve an adopted plan For this highly visible planning effort, a variety of public involvement strategies were used: • Community Advisory Team — public biweekly work sessions • Extensive Interviews with local experts and advocates • Issue - Specific Focus Groups about transportation, site ecology, sustainable urbanism, arts, history & culture • AIA /Community Design Charrette • Four Large Public Events • Speaking Engagements at Civic Groups • Outreach with Visual Displays at Community Events • Site Tours • Outreach to Accessibility, Communities of Color, Youth • Project Website (www.eugeneriverfront.com) • Media coverage (newspapers, newsletters, television, radio) 8 0 Rowell Brokaw Architects