The message sent out to Board members Monday night, September 24th simply read: YAY!
The notice concerned a big win for the Gorge plan and for the community’s efforts to promote the river as a civic centerpiece - specifically, it was notice that the 2004 plan had received the City’s highest honor for urban design, a 2007 “Mayor’s Choice” category Urban Design Award.
Accepting the award from the Mayor before TV cameras and a full City Council, Dr. John Moyer thanked Mayor Hession, spotlighted recent progress on the proposed whitewater park and on the north shore, and pledged the group’s efforts to continue to bring progress to the City.
It was the inagural run for the awards, conceived as a way to recognize and promote positive urban design in the City, or as the certificate stated: “outstanding design that is consistent with the City’s Comprehensive Plan and contributes to the City of Spokane’s Quality of Life.” Winners were selected from 17 entries by a committee of members of Spokane’s Design Review Committee with input from the Mayor. Other winners included the Native Project’s new facilities, the Moore-Turner Gardens restoration project, and downtown arts and housing pioneer Jim Kolva.
The program is expected to occur every other year.
The Gorge plan, initially inspired by the Olmsted Brothers’ 1908 report to Spokane’s first parks board, envisions a number of priority projects between the Lower Falls and the Hangman Creek confluence, ranging from informal trails, to habitat restoration, to a naturalistic whitewater park for boaters just downstream of the recently-completed Sandifur Memorial pedestrian bridge. It was prepared by Moore, Iacofano Goltsman, Inc. (MIG) of Berkely, California with input from hundreds of citizen volunteers, groups and organizations. The plan references a similarly expansive public process that developed a conceptual plan in 2002.
The nomination was prepared by Friends of the Falls and credits MIG, Michael Terrell, ASLA, Jones and Jones Ltd., Economic Research Associates, Thomas Dean and Hoskins, Mayor James E. West, the Spokane Parks Board, Sen. Lisa Brown and Fmr. Sen. Brad Benson, Rep. Timm Ormsby, Rep. Hans Dunshee, the Spokane Tribe of Indians, the Peaceful Valley, Browne’s Addition, West Central and West Hills Neighborhood Councils, the Downtown Spokane Partnership, Avista Utilities, the City of Spokane, and “numerous other stakeholder groups and hudreds of citizen participants.”
An image of the certificate is linked in the site gallery, and linked below. Information about the project and about the award will be posted on the City of Spokane website by October 1.
Award Certificate (Gallery image)
