Following signs of change in RiverEdge park

Nearly two years have passed since designers put their finishing touches on Aurora's proposed multimillion-dollar RiverEdge Park along the Fox River in downtown Aurora.

At least 10 more years will pass before residents and visitors see the total culmination of those designs.

But even today they can take a self-guided walking tour along the Fox River's eastern bank, from New York Street north to Illinois Avenue, to learn about the planned improvements that will begin taking shape next spring.

"RiverEdge Park is part of an integrated plan to revitalize downtown Aurora, expand our tax base and create new jobs and opportunities, while at the same time preserving open space along our riverfront," Mayor Tom Weisner said.

The vision

The vision for the 30-acre park includes an expanded Wilder Park on the west bank, a pedestrian bridge linking the east and west banks, a new garden market and event space, a 6,000-seat outdoor performance venue and an environmental education center overlooking the Indian Creek Wetland.

Lead designer Michael Stirk of Christopher Burke Engineering LTD, said he and his team, The Park Collaborative, used Chicago's Millennium Park as a model for the park Aurora intends to turn into a regional draw.

"Everyone understands this is a park that we need to make useful on a full-time basis, through all four seasons," Stirk said during a recent meeting with city planners. "Obviously (the park will be) right on the river, so that's a critical element. It's a great location. Aurora is so lucky to have this as one of it's greatest assets."

Stirk said the park will be treated "as if it has different rooms, different programmable functions within it."

Design elements

The first phase of the RiverEdge Park project will focus on an outdoor music venue to house the city's annual concert series, Downtown Alive, beginning next year before major road construction displaces the event from its current spot along Downer Place.

Touring the future park site Monday morning, city Planning Director Stephane Phifer referred to the venue as The Egg based on its oval shape.

Currently, 6-foot-tall, white stakes stand west of Broadway Avenue, across from the post office, to mark the venue's perimeter.

The "egg" is expected to be decked out with a "top of the line surround-sound system" and provide for 2,000 people in covered seats and another 4,000 on the lawn.

"It doesn't seem that big standing here, but the stakes help put it in perspective that the area is larger than a football field," Phifer said. "And it will be here, just feet from the river."

Just north of the entertainment venue is the historic Indian Creek where Chief Waubonsie was known to set up his summer camps and hunt. City officials maintain the creek's water is clean enough to drink.

Turning the wetland into a natural habitat with winding trails and bridges and interpretive signs, Phifer said, will help people get closer to nature without leaving downtown.

Veterans Island, currently accessible from Illinois Avenue, also would be linked by a pedestrian bridge to the wetland trails.

"We hear all the time that so many people never even come this far north (on the existing Fox River Trail)," Phifer said. "So it'll be great when we get to open their eyes to what's really here."

Moving back south of the concert venue, Phifer identified the Garden Market area of the park where all the public pathways will converge in one gathering spot.

The area is designed to showcase botanic displays with raised planters and built-in tent supports. This, Phifer said, will allow vendors to rent the tent space from the city instead of lugging their own to festivals and arts and crafts shows.

The planters also are designed with electric outlets to eliminate the need for hundreds of extension cords.

"We want people to gather there so it has to be an enjoyable, stress-fee atmosphere -- and it will be," she said.

The Garden Market also is designed with two Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design buildings. The visitors center and community center will serve as a ticketed gateway into the performance venue to the north.

On the west side, across the river from the Garden Market, sits Wilder Park. Within a few years, the park is scheduled to expand west to Lake Street with the demolition of the police station.

"When the new police department gets occupied, the deed from the 1950s says it (the old station) has to be torn down for open space," Chief of Staff Bill Wiet said. "We have a perfect opportunity when they move into the new station, so we're going to take advantage of that."

Feature presentation

Connecting the newly expanded Wilder Park to the eastern park sites will be a intricately designed pedestrian bridge that will serve as both a vantage point for walkers and sightseers as well as a direct link for residents on the west to public transportation hubs on the east.

"One of the key elements of the approach is to bring different neighborhoods across the river and to the river, thus bringing them together in one spot," Stirk said. "This bridge is our marquee element, sort of a signature architectural feature."

Wiet said the bridge, in addition to being a piece of art, also will serve the city well.

"With the housing prices in the Lake Street and Wilder Park neighborhoods and a direct connection to a transportation center, we really believe this could be substantial for the city," he said.

Who's going to pay?

Aldermen already have approved a $15 million bond issue to cover the combined costs of designing the park, land acquisition and environmental remediation. How those funds will be divided is expected to be determined in coming weeks.

Many of the costs related to the park will be reimbursable through the east river tax increment financing districts.

The city also is intent on making the project's funding a donor opportunity for those interested in purchasing naming rights to certain elements, including the bridge.

"To build this park has been a public and private cooperation and we want to continue that through the construction," Phifer said. "And to build this world-class park, you really do need the buy-in of the residents business community and the city."

City and park officials will attend a private groundbreaking ceremony Friday afternoon. Actual construction of the first elements will begin in early next spring.