Riverfront Park extension linked to convention-center plans draws council scrutiny

City staff and committee members described a planned Riverfront Park extension and pedestrian bridge that consultants and the capital-improvement program link to a future hotel and convention-center site, and some council members said the park extension should not proceed via bond funding unless the convention-center project is confirmed. What was described: Staff said the Riverfront Park extension is a CIP-listed project that would connect Riverfront Park to the proposed hotel and convention-center parcel at the former 555 Main site. The CIP description presented to the council listed features such as an interactive splash pad, family play spaces, decorative lighting, restroom facilities, multi-vendor kiosks and a modern amphitheater with an approximate 1,500-person audience in renderings that staff and the committee used for planning purposes. Why it matters: Council members expressed concern about funding a park extension tied to a private hotel and convention-center project that has not been fully funded or guaranteed. One council member explicitly proposed removing the Riverfront Park extension from the parks proposition until the convention-center/hotel project's funding is more certain. Funding context and committee process: Gap Strategies and staff noted that the Riverfront Park extension had been included in the city's CIP for the preceding two years and that engineering/design work (PBK and a private developer, Stonehenge Holdings, were referenced) informed cost estimates. Staff emphasized that many plans shown were renderings and that the final project would require additional study and alignment with any convention-center development timeline. What council directed: Council members asked staff to consider the contingency that if the convention-center/hotel does not proceed, the city might delay Riverfront Park extension funding and to include that contingency in the refined bond-package cost scenarios for the next meeting. No formal decision or removal of the item from any proposition occurred at the workshop. Ending: Council members and staff agreed to treat the Riverfront Park extension as a CIP project that requires alignment with the convention-center/hotel timeline and asked staff to provide options and cost scenarios showing the effect of delaying the park extension if the hotel/convention center is not funded.