ERP Steering Committee Identifies Key Principles of Design

As excitement builds and the Eagle River Project nears its first Public Input Gathering on February 23rd at the Brush Creek Pavilion, town staff, design team members, and steering committee volunteers have been hard at work gathering information and thinking about the project from all angles.

In January 2017, the 27 member Steering Committee gathered to orient themselves to the project they would spend the next six months shaping. Led by design team members Pedro Campos, Gary Brooks, and Jesse Gregg, the steering committee learned about the boundaries of the project, opportunities and constraints, and components of the project that were identified as “priorities” by the public during the River Corridor Plan process.

At the conclusion of the meeting, committee members were given a “homework assignment” to take the list of priorities and place them into three tiers by order of importance based on their stakeholder group interests. This feedback has been assembled and several guiding principles emerged. The following bullets represent key themes that were present in multiple stakeholder group assignments and will be the basis for discussion at the public meeting on Feb 23rd!

Guiding Principles for Eagle River and Chambers Parks Design
(in no particular order)

• Eagle River Park needs to focus on whitewater uses first and foremost, and not duplicate park amenities and programs that already exist in Eagle at other parks.

• Chambers Park is more appropriate for many of the park program uses contemplated and needs to be designed hand in hand with Eagle River Park.

• The Parks need to be programmed and designed for the primary user groups including local and destination river users, commercial river guides, and river based events.

• The new park(s) need to connect to downtown and help stimulate economic growth by creating a cohesive experience, and allow for a long- term ‘return on the investment’ tax payers are making.

• The new parks need to incorporate strong river ethics including education on river safety, environment, ecology, and history.

• The parks must be planned and designed consistent with long range plans including future connections and land uses and must not preclude future pedestrian and vehicular routes.

• Chambers Park boat ramp needs better staging, traffic circulation, parking and rely on Eagle River Park as support for parking and events.

• The design of the parks must incorporate native and drought tolerant landscaping, riparian vegetation, and a sustainable storm water management system.