Parks chief says new riverfront spaces drawing visitors as city readies Phase 2
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Summary
Parks Department director Daryl Joseph updated the special committee on downtown Feb. 9, saying new riverfront parks and playgrounds are heavily used, that Metro Park construction will start later this year with a 2027 completion target, and that private contributions and stipulations will fund ongoing maintenance.
Daryl Joseph, director of the Parks Department, told the Special Committee on the Future Downtown on Feb. 9 that recent riverfront park openings have attracted substantial public use and that the department is tracking costs and scheduling as work continues.
Joseph said Phase 1 of Riverfront Plaza is open and the playground there saw heavy holiday use, with "over 1,500 families" using the playground during one holiday week. The park team ran a seasonal ice rink at the skate-park site that drew "over 30,000 visitors" in its holiday run, he said. Joseph described the skate park as a flexible venue that hosts monthly movie nights and other community events.
He outlined upcoming and staged work across several sites: Riverfront Music Plaza (behind the performing arts center) is slated to open in March; Riverfront Plaza Phase 2 will include a beer garden and an elevated walkway connecting to Main Street; and a small cafe tucked below the playground is being bid with the aim of having a tenant in place by summer or fall.
On larger park projects, Joseph said Metro Park will preserve as many trees as possible after an extensive community feedback process and that construction will start later this year with an expected finish by 2027. At Shipyards West, he described coordination with nearby museums and an exhibition building that can be rented for events. River's Edge Park is mostly complete, with a pavilion/restroom building still under work, he added.
Joseph said Friendship Fountain continues to be a major draw. "We were at about 600,000 visitors to the park. That number has increased to over 750,000 visitors," he said, and a restroom building there is scheduled to open next month.
Committee members pressed Joseph on budget and staffing. In response to a question about whether projects remain on budget, Joseph said the parks team "stood before the finance committee" and that the projects are "on budget" and being closely managed. On staffing, Joseph said the department has hired part-time employees to cover event-related overtime and will continue to seek additional staff for weekend programming.
The committee praised the parks' initial openings and asked staff to continue refining signage, maintenance plans and vendor programming as Phase 2 work proceeds. Joseph closed the presentation by showing a short video of the parks in use and inviting further questions from the committee.
