Photo Credit: Guy Michaelsen
When the city of Spokane, Wash., initiated plans to renovate its treasured Riverfront Park, the outcry from government, commercial, and public stakeholders reached a fever pitch. With the project almost finished amid resoundingly positive feedback, the city’s Riverfront Park Redevelopment Program Manager, Berry Ellison, describes it as a prime example of effective stakeholder collaboration.
“There was no shortage of interested parties,” says Ellison, PLA, ASLA. “Each group had different priorities, and within those priorities were different levels of commitment. With the importance of this park to people’s lives, it came as no surprise there would be such intense passion. We needed to harness the passion into positive solutions and compromise.”
This tract of land and water has a rich history dating to the 1800s when pioneers settled here. Fueled by the railroad industry, the city grew with rail yards occupying the site of Riverfront Park. In 1973, Spokane was selected to host the World’s Fair, which led to an intense cleansing and refurbishing of the park’s lands and waters.