City prepares to expand Riverwalk

Extending the Riverwalk to the east has been a goal for some time, and on Wednesday city officials agreed to spend $175,000 on the first phase of planning that will rely heavily on public input.

Kimley Horn and Associates, which designed the existing Riverwalk, was awarded the contract.

The firm will begin planning public meetings as the next step.

“The whole idea is to carry this into public input so it reflects what people want to see,” said Economic Development Director Carl Callahan. “It’s to get something on paper to say that we have a goal. There is no intention to do a master plan that sits on a shelf. It’s a road map to direct us to what we want to do and then start allocating funds to do that. We want to show we are ready to get going on this.”

With the city estimated to receive over $4 million a year from the half-cent sales tax approved by voters in the 2016 election, Callahan said the city could allocate millions per year to begin a funding source for the extension, but that was simply one option.

Realize Bradenton was involved in the initial Riverwalk project, which opened in 2012, and will be very involved once again during the public input process. Executive Director Johnette Isham said even more so today than then, Realize Bradenton’s efforts to attract and retain millennials gives a certain advantage of looking at the Riverwalk of tomorrow.

“When Kimley Horn was hired, they took community engagement serious, and that led to a very successful project,” Isham said. “So Kimley Horn came to us to say how can we replicate that. Since Riverwalk opened and the Knight Foundation awarding us grants for our Pop Ups events, we have created a core of 500 millennials we work with.”

Isham said the process of planning the extension would incorporate creative new ideas but respect the rich history of the area, as well as the residents who live near there. The Florida Department of Health also is interested in participating in the design process to encourage fitness activities along the waterfront.

“I feel confident in the proposal outline to take what we learned in the first Riverwalk and apply it to a very unique neighborhood setting,” Isham said.

In April, the city spent $700,000 to acquire 1.5 acres just north of the historic Mineral Springs Park, which will be the terminus of the expanded Riverwalk. The 220 feet of waterfront along First Avenue East includes a house that will be torn down Sept. 5 to make room for an eventual park at 12th Street East.

Vice Mayor Patrick Roff said the city is essentially acquiring an intact forest. Callahan said officials will see about $3 million in the upcoming Bradenton Community Redevelopment Agency budget to begin work to expand Mineral Springs, as well as setting a potential budget to pay for an upcoming downtown streetscaping project.

Planning and design work continues on the streetscaping project, which does not yet have an estimated cost for construction.

This story was originally published August 30, 2017 at 2:00 PM with the headline "City prepares to expand Riverwalk."