File #: 18-085    Version: 1 Name: Resolution No. 18-04, Riverwalk Master Plan Adoption
Type: Report Status: Agenda Ready
File created: 1/30/2018 In control: City Commission
On agenda: 2/7/2018 Final action:
Title: Resolution No. 18-04, Willamette Falls Riverwalk Master Plan Adoption
Sponsors: Phil Lewis
Indexes: Goal 1: Implement Economic Development Strategy and Maintain an Environment for Success.
Attachments: 1. Staff Report, 2. Resolution No. 18-04, 3. Exhibit A - Riverwalk Master Plan, 4. Appendix A - Baseline Habitat Conditions Report, 5. Appendix B - Habitat Restoration Concept Design Report, 6. Appendix C - Hydraulic Model Development Characterization of Existing Conditions Report, 7. Appendix D - Geotechnical Drilling Report, 8. Appendix E - Cultural Landscape Report, 9. Appendix F - Interpretive Framework Plan, 10. Appendix G - Transportation Demand Management Plan, 11. Appendix H - Cost Estimate Report, 12. Public Comments Summary
Title
Resolution No. 18-04, Willamette Falls Riverwalk Master Plan Adoption

Body
RECOMMENDED ACTION (Motion):
Staff recommend City Commission adopt Resolution No. 18-04 for the Willamette Falls Riverwalk Master Plan.

BACKGROUND:
Willamette Falls is one of the nation’s most beautiful and historic natural wonders and is the second largest waterfall by volume in North America. It has long been an important cultural and gathering place for Native American Tribes. Industrial development, beginning in the 1830s, blocked the falls from access and greatly modified the riverbank with manmade industrial structures. With the closure of the Blue Heron Paper Company in February of 2011, the opportunity arose to bring public access to the east bank of Willamette Falls for the first time in over 150 years.

The Willamette Falls riverwalk site is located on the 22-acre former Blue Heron Mill property in downtown Oregon City via an easement that was donated to Metro by the private property owner. The main portion of the site is largely defined by heavy industrial use and is currently occupied by old paper mill structures and remnants of buildings from earlier industrial eras of wool and flour processing layered
upon each other and interwoven into a highly complex assembly.

After the Blue Heron mill closed in 2011 the four partner agencies - Oregon City, Clackamas County, Metro and the State of Oregon, came together as the Willamette Falls Legacy Project, to secure public access to the falls. In 2012, the Partners identified four core values in order to bring the Willamette Falls Legacy Project to life. The four values are Historic and Cultural Interpretation, Public Access, Healthy Habitat and Economic Redevelopment. The values have been used as a framework for all project decisions and will continue to guide future decisions as the project is implemented. In 2014, the Framework Master Plan was created to guide future development of the site.

From the winter of 2015 to prese...

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