Riverfront Development Phase II & III Planning Group

10/18/2017  |  BY rfw

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The Fort Wayne Board of Park Commissioners has named the members of the Riverfront Development Phase II & III Planning Group:

Al Moll, Fort Wayne Parks & Recreation Executive Director/Co-Chair

Mark Becker, Deputy Director Riverfront Development/Co-Chair

Steve McDaniel, Fort Wayne Parks & Recreation Deputy Director Park Maintenance

Alec Johnson, Fort Wayne Parks & Recreation Landscape Architect

Chris Cloud, Allen County Board of Commissioners Executive Assistant

Greg Leatherman, Community Development Division Director

Anne Marie Smrchek, City Utilities Program Manager

Paul Spoelhof, Community Development Senior Planner

Nancy Townsend, Redevelopment Director

John Urbahns, Greater Fort Wayne, Inc., Executive Vice President of Economic Development

Patrick Zaharoko, City of Fort Wayne, Assistant City Engineer

The group has been tasked to develop a scope of work for the next two phases and prepare the Request for Proposals for design, engineering, market analysis and land use.

All work to date, and future development, is grounded in the guiding principles of the Riverfront Fort Wayne Conceptual Plan completed by SWA Group in 2015, which include:

• Promote and support a variety of activities and uses that encourage people to live, invest, socialize and recreate on and along the rivers.
• Provide, protect and improve public access along and to the rivers.
• Create a regional destination that is transformational for the City of Fort Wayne.

The entire Riverfront Fort Wayne Conceptual Plan and the complete list of guiding principles are located at www.riverfrontfw.org.

While Phase II and Phase III will have a public component, continuing the public access on both sides of the St. Marys, the larger focus will be on encouraging private development adjacent to the river. This will necessitate expanding the development group to include stakeholders and economic development entities positioned to help drive the private development.

The goal is to begin issuing RFP’s for infrastructure engineering during the first quarter of 2018, with subsequent RFP’s for design, market analysis, and land use upon completion of the infrastructure plan.

As always, at the forefront of our minds during this important endeavor is the Riverfront Vision –

“To realize the value of reconnecting back to our rivers and riverfront areas as an economic and placemaking asset to the downtown, the community and the region.”

Park Foundation Pavilion Construction

Foundation work on the Park Foundation Pavilion (formerly referred to as the Compass Pavilion) will begin the week of October 23.