During the meeting, residents learned about the progress being made to design Riverfront Fort Wayne beyond Promenade Park. The next steps include creation of a comprehensive riverfront neighborhood master plan, analysis and recommendations for infrastructure to serve new private development and manage the floodway, and schematic designs and construction documents for further public improvements along the rivers’ edge.

Residents visited several interactive stations and offered ideas for what they’d like to see in the still-evolving riverfront district. Residents offered ideas about ways to connect residential neighborhoods to commercial areas, provided insight about elements they think need to be improved upon in the riverfront area, and also provided feedback on draft guiding principles for the current work.

“These next steps are all about creating a vibrant district that is unique to Fort Wayne,” Mayor Tom Henry said in a statement. “We want to create the right mix of commercial, retail, housing and public space that will be welcoming to all residents and will be a point of destination for our region.”

Representatives of DAVID RUBIN Land Collective, the landscape architecture and urban design firm contracted to lead Phases II and III of Riverfront Fort Wayne, led the public input meeting and will use the input to ensure they design a riverfront experience that reflects the vision of local residents. The landscape architecture and urban design firm has worked in cities across the world and has completed, or is working on, designs for waterfront districts in Wilmington, DE; Allentown, PA; Bala Cynwyd, PA; Westfield, IN; Columbus, IN; Muncie, IN; Indianapolis; and the Cayman Islands.

In addition to DAVID RUBIN Land Collective, other members of the implementation team include: Agency Landscape + Planning, Beyer Blinder Belle, HR & A, Bruce Mau Design, One Lucky Guitar, Christopher B. Burke Engineering (CBBEL), DLZ, CE Solutions, MSKTD & Associates, Wilson Consulting, and Dharam Consulting.