Courthouse District Draft Concept Plan

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Key Next Steps 7. Millrace Study and Design Significant additional study is required for any. Millrace design to address the design principles listed above.The new Millrace design will need to be conducted by a team consisting of a water quality expert, hydrologist, landscape architect, and urban designer. This team will need to provide a long term and short term plan for the entire watershed of the Millrace fold and newt addressing the basic design principles above. In addition, careful coordination will be necessary with the environmental regulatory agencies, such as the Army Corps of Engineers and the National Marine Fisheries Service. 2. Planting Scheme for 8t'' Avenue An appropriate planting scheme for 8"' Avenue needs to be developed and coordinated through appropriate city agencies. Landscape Guidelines for 8"' Avenue will also need to be integrated with a Great Streets zoning overlay, anticipated as part of the work for the Downtown Plan Update. 3. Riverfront Landscape Design A planning and design team needs to be assembled to focus on landscape issues as part of an overall land use concept for the riverfront. See also discussion of riverfront under Chapter 2, Land Use.- , 4. Identify Revenue Sources Appropriate sources have not been identified. Cost estimates are extremely high; actual amounts will depend on phasing and design. In pursuit of funding the City should consider extending the Urban Renewal District due to expire in 2005) in order to generate tax increment to fund some of the improvements envisioned in this Concept Plan. The City should also investigate the possibility to leverage Federal funds for the Millrace. A Brief History of the Millrace continued from pabe 20' The Decline 1949: To accommodate `highway expansion in the Ferry Street Bridge area, the lower millrace is confined to a 30-inch pipe buried six £eet bet~i~een Broadway and the Eugene tiVater Ta Electric Board complex on the:river. The Anchorage closes down. 1950: '• UO demolishes the Anchorage and builds a new physical pla~,t on the north bank of the Millrace. City's population is 35,879. 1952: Millrace is described as "a half-filled muddy slough, clogged with debris." The 30-inch pipe at its end limits flow to 25 cubic feet per minute, a fraction of its estimated 350 cubic feet per second capacity half a century earlier. A portion of the flow is diverted back to the river through an outlet at the end of the UO's duck pond on Franklin Boulevard, helping water quality on the upper half of the Millrace. 1955: Pumps proposed to increase flow in IbSillrace. UO's Canoe Fete comes back to the Millrace. 1957: Pumps installed. First proposal made to connect lower Millrace to Amazon Slough to increase water flow, a proposal that would resurface periodically for 40 years. 1962: A volunteer group of Eugene architects draws up a plan to remove the lower l~lillrace from its 30-inch pipe, recreate the channel, install native landscape and walking paths. The Millrace is described as "stagnant and smelly" because of limited flow through The piped lower section. 1965: Cost of proposal to reconstruct the Millrace as a pedestrian walkway from downtown to UO is estimated at $359,000. City Council balks at the expense. Little has been done to the sluggish channel for 20 years despite nearly continuous interest among citizen and student groups. Lack of water flow and lack of money to take action are perennial problems. 1967: City Council approves tying Millrace to the city storm sewer system. continued on page 24 A Brief History of the .Millrace continued from page 23 ~_ Page 23