Friends of the Falls are big supporters of long-range planning for Spokane and its river environment, including the current process to update Downtown’s own master plan. In fact, several FOF Board members and regular members took part in the November 29 workshop held to initiate the update.

So we were pleased to see around 100 folks in attendance that night, and to hear folks immediately note the importance of the Spokane River, the falls and the gorge in our downtown’s future - along with other key assets, of course. Among those listed on the “vision board” produced that night as “challenges":

• Improved care for urban forests
• Acting to taper the skyline to protect views
• Completing the Centennial Trail to the SFCC area
• Involving more Native Americans in the planning process
• Developing light rail for Spokane

One of our favorite components from this stage of the plan’s documentation is this quote from the existing “snapshot” write-up on the state of our community:

“Activate Spokane River and Riverfront Park:
The Spokane River and Riverfront Park are strategically located amenities that continue to be underutilized. The recommendations from the River Gorge Master Plan should be used to activate and better integrate these assets into the fabric of Downtown.”

If you missed it, or want to include additional comments for this stage of the work, the Downtown Partnership has decided to post and leave active three ways to register comments, all accessible at their website, linked here. Don’t worry about the submittal deadline listed as December 14 - contacts at the DSP assure us that comments will continue to be received well past that date, and incorporated into the plan.

The DSP site also includes a few downloadable documents from the meeting, including the slideshow presented that night, and the nice “vision board” put together by the consultant during the meeting itself. We’ve posted a copy of the latter for our archives - so check out the DSP link, as well as the vision board and snapshot documents below.

It’s a great start, but it’s just the first meeting in a long process to produce an updated plan, and eventually, more positive progress for Spokane. We encourage all FOF members, and those interested in the river’s future, to attend the full series of meetings.

DSP plan site (Weblink)
Downtown Vision Board (1.0 Mb, Acrobat® file)
Snapshot document (468 Kb, Acrobat® file)

(Editor’s note: as promised earlier this month, the following is a summary of Friends of the Falls’ efforts this past year. As you’ll see, it’s been a busy year, and one we’re proud to recount here for members and potential members alike. Thanks to our Chair, Barb Chamberlain, and to Executive Director Steve Faust for putting it together. A downloadable file of this year-end review is available as a link at the bottom of the article.)

In 2007, Friends of the Falls continued our work to transform the River Gorge into a vital, dynamic 400-acre public playground where all citizens of Spokane can enjoy a meaningful connection with this natural, free-flowing stretch of the Spokane River. To recap recent accomplishments:

• In 2007 the Great Spokane River Gorge Strategic Master Plan won the “Mayor’s Choice” award for excellence in urban design. The result of five years of work by the community, the plan identifies 15 key projects to further the restoration and enhancement of the river gorge, and establishes a clear strategy to implement these projects. Published in May 2005, after a year of public planning work, the Gorge plan has been endorsed by the City of Spokane, its Parks Department, the Spokane Tribe, and many other organizations, as well as over 1,500 of our citizens.

• This year, we began a process of formal engagement with the City of Spokane with the goal of fully integrating the Gorge plan into the City’s Comprehensive Plan. As part of that effort, we established a planning committee led by board member Travis Nichols to review the comp plan and see where gaps need to be filled. Adoption of the Gorge plan as part of the City’s comp plan is also a goal of our newly elected Mayor, Mary Verner, and the time seems right to move this effort forward in 2008.

• In 2007, we also actively engaged in the process to update the City’s Shoreline Master Plan. We took part in meetings of the Shorelines Policy Committee and submitted written comments on key planning issues.

• We are playing an active role in the update of the Downtown Plan through our executive director’s participation on the Downtown Plan Update Task Force.

• Since release of the Gorge plan, FOF has worked to implement a whitewater park as the first of its 15 priority projects, securing over $650,000 in grants and private contributions to construct the facility. The park will enhance recreational quality and water safety, and will be constructed with careful attention to the needs of fish and wildlife. In 2007 we completed fundraising for project design, permitting and construction.

• In 2006, we identified the opportunity and wrote a grant that awarded the City of Spokane $530,000 to construct another priority project from the plan – a visitor center at the entry to People’s Park that will provide amenities such as restrooms to reduce negative impacts to the environment. Over this past year, we worked closely with the Spokane Parks Department to shepherd this grant through a competitive evaluation process and get it funded. Best of all, the money we raised for the whitewater park provided the required 50% match for this grant to the City, bringing a total of over $1 million in state funding and private contributions to the river in 2006-2007.

• This summer we formed a partnership with the City to move the whitewater park and the visitor center forward. We are now engaged in design and permitting. Construction should begin next summer, but there is much left to do before this project becomes a reality, and Friends of the Falls must continue our efforts to keep it moving.

• In 2007, we formed a partnership with the Peaceful Valley Neighborhood to restore riparian habitat and build a walking trail along the south bank of the river – another priority project of the Gorge plan. Led by Matt Phillipi and his neighbors in Peaceful Valley, this project is in the early planning stage. Look for a design workshop in early 2008.

• We are supporting efforts in partnership with other groups to implement several other priority projects from the Gorge plan, including a tribal cultural center, a “Southern Gateway” business district along the Sunset Highway, and completion of the Fish Lake Trail.

• At this year’s Spokane River Clean-Up, 750 volunteers assembled in High Bridge Park and recovered six tons of trash along the banks of the river. This is our fifth year organizing the clean-up event, which invites citizens to connect with the river and gorge on a personal level and promotes a community ethic of stewardship for this resource.

• As we advocate for the Great Spokane River Gorge Master Plan, we also work with other community leaders to find a sustainable solution to fund operations and maintenance of the growing network of trails, green spaces, access points, and other amenities along the Spokane River.

Through these many efforts, we seek to fulfill a vision first articulated for Spokane by the Olmsted Brothers in 1908: a 400-acre “Gorge Park” framing one of the most unique and impressive landscapes found anywhere in the United States. Such a park would connect downtown’s Riverfront Park to scenic greenbelt areas downstream and ultimately to the 10,000 acre Riverside State Park, creating an 11-mile river corridor rich with opportunities to recreate and enjoy a natural amenity that is uniquely Spokane.

Imagine an 11-mile river corridor accessible to all people - in kayaks, canoes, rafts and inner-tubes; birdwatchers and disc golf enthusiasts; cyclists, mountain bikers, hikers, trail runners and walkers. Imagine the opportunities for school field trips where children learn about their local environment, history and culture; where unique natural amenities attract university students, knowledge workers and entrepreneurs, and where adjacent neighborhoods enjoy multiple connections to open spaces and fantastic views within a natural, protected, accessible and distinctive urban river corridor.

We believe the Gorge plan will change the self-image of the Spokane region. An active, stunning and accessible river corridor will fill people in Spokane with pride and will reinforce a sense of place, while increasing the health and enjoyment of future generations.

Our advocacy will continue in 2008. Check back for updates, and consider joining Friends of the Falls today to help us continue our efforts on behalf of the river.

Year in Review 2007 (285 Kb, Acrobat® file)

2008 marks the centennial of the Olmsted Brothers’ presentation of its parks plan to our city.

As the first in what’s likely to be a busy year commemorating the plan, the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture’s Historic Preservation Committee will host a “Discovering Olmsted Landscapes” lecture series on January 24, January 31, and February 7, 2008. Full-series registration costs $30 per person for MAC members, or $35 for non-members.

What’s on the agenda? Lots of Olmsted researchers and specialists, like Joan Hockaday, renowned John Charles Olmsted historian and author; local Olmsted researcher Sally Reynolds, landscape designer Kerstin Martell discussing proposed restoration of the Olmsted-designed grounds of the Bozarth Retreat Center, and - we like this one - FOF board members Rick Hastings and Mike Terrell, presenting on the Olmsted-inspired Strategic Master Plan for the Spokane River gorge, including more on the the proposed whitewater park.

Advance registration is recommended, and tickets for single lectures will be sold as space permits at the door. All lectures are scheduled from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. on the MAC campus in the Eric A. Johnston Memorial Auditorium, Cheney Cowles Center, 2316 W. First Ave., Spokane.

For more, check out the flyer, linked below, that we received from the MAC. Drop in for the whole series!

MAC Olmsted Flyer

In preparing our website’s brief on the December 11, 2007 open house for the City’s long-overdue update to its Shoreline Master Program, we pulled out our copy of the original, and were caught by the scope and vision expressed by the “Shoreline Design Plans” included in that document, dating back to 1976.

We know the City’s new version of the shoreline master program won’t include this type of visioning - much of that thought occurred in the wake of Expo ‘74 and simply found its place in the SMP, itself a new creature mandated by the State’s Shoreline Management Act. Besides, the Gorge Master Plan accomplishes that type of work, at least between the Lower Falls and the Hangman Creek confluence.

But like many documents from that area, the 1976 plan reminds us of the energy, optimism and foresight that drove the community in those days; a community that after decades of neglect and decay, seemed to have finally recognized the fact that the river’s health and its own health were one and the same. For instance, page 18 of the plan, which presents concepts for the Central Falls area, states:

“Every community has a heart. It may be a central business district, a civic center, a square, or even a building. The location and character of the heart is paramount as an expression of the character of the whole city. Spokane began on the river near Spokane Falls and Havermale Island. the heart of the City is still there, but cluttered and obscured. By removing this debris, the way is cleared for re-establishing the area in the public mind as the city’s heart. The heart becomes a focus of high aesthetic, social, and cultural significance rather than just some street intersection which is basic to the plan concept of welding together the City, its people, and its river heritage.”

It’s been more than 30 years since those words were adopted, and many would say, shelved. But we’ll set that aside in favor of new optimism - about the development of the new shoreline master program, about the Gorge plan, about new energies in the community and within City Hall, and more.

Quotes like the one above remind us that many in Spokane, many years ago, understood the importance of our river. That so much remains to be done remind us that words are never enough.

Check out our page-merged, 24"-wide version of the map appearing on pages 16 through 18 of the old shoreline master program, from where the quote above is taken, at the link below. A copy of the full document is also linked below.

1976 SMP, pages 16-18 (290 Kb, Acrobat® file)
1976 SMP document (3.5 Mb, Acrobat® file)