Professional Practice
Downtown Parks and Bay Connectivity Project
Date: 1/10/2020 - 2/18/2020
Description: In 2017, the Redwood City Council established a goal to create a network of great open spaces throughout the City by connecting downtown, parks, open spaces, creeks, schools, and other points of interest such as Courthouse Square. The following year the Parks Department prepared the Downtown Parks Site Assessment and Feasibility Study (Study) for the selection of city-owned sites to transform for the purpose of open space in the downtown. Consequently, Council directed staff to proceed with a phased approach, creating a vision plan for three downtown parks that feed a green linear park that resonates with the existing open space and further connects downtown to Redwood Creek and the waterfront. The Request for Qualifications for Downtown Parks and Bay Connectivity Project (Project) is the subsequent step towards this goal.
The Project shall build on the Study and produce plans and designs that utilize its base maps and data, and reflect its findings and recommendations. The Project includes the design of three sites for future downtown parks, a connectivity plan for accessing those parks and the bay, completed environmental review, and a recommended approach for phasing their implementation. With the purpose of recreation, socialization, and community health, the Project requires high familiarity with urban planning and development, and public construction processes as well as technical expertise in the many areas including public engagement strategies and analysis, park and trail planning and design, bike and pedestrian network planning and signage, environmental review, bid-ready construction documentation and cost estimating.
The Project will continue community outreach and analysis initiated by the Study, coordination with concurrent projects and their outreach teams, and will begin to engage with cross-jurisdictional agencies. The opportunity to create a green linear park has the potential to address many social and environmental issues. In addition to responding to the goals for open space for people in the downtown, the Project can contribute to broader goals and objectives such as the quality and function of the City’s watershed, the implementation of innovative green infrastructure and urban forestry, and the augmentation of habitats for wildlife that ultimately contribute to the overall quality of life.
For more background go to
https://www.redwoodcity.org/departments/parks-recreation-and-community-services/downtown-parks-assessment