Railroad Park

The Railroad Reservation Park (or Railroad Park) is a proposed downtown park to be located on the 14 acres between 14th and 18th Streets and between 1st Avenue South and Morris Avenue, along a four-block stretch of Birmingham's Railroad Reservation known as "Burlington North".

The 4-block Railroad Reservation Park is seen as a key segment in a linear urban greenway which could someday parallel the Railroad Reservation's entire length though downtown, alongside Sloss Furnaces, and extend outward to connect with other greenways through the entire region.

Within that system, the Railroad Reservation Park would become a more heavily-utilized urban node with active uses and programs as well as providing pedestrian links across the divide between the Financial Center on the north and UAB and Southside to the south.

History

The idea of creating a park centered on the Railroad Reservation has been discussed since the 1970s.

Friends of the Railroad District

The Friends of the Railroad District (FoRRd) was formed in October 2001 to bring together community leaders for the purpose of promoting the revitalization along the railroad corridor and to raise funds for the eventual development of a linear park.

During discussions with FoRRd, city leaders expressed their own visions for a new downtown park and showed enthusiasm for the efforts of the group. Mayor Bernard Kincaid had already presented the idea to a group of mayors, planners and design experts at the Mayor's Institute for City Design. In December 2001 the concept for the park was presented by FoRRd to the Urban Land Institute, which was advising the city on its strategy for a City Center Master Plan. The park and system of greenways were counted as one of five "focal points of prime importance to Birmingham's urban core" in ULI's May 2002 report.

During the summer of 2002, FoRRd presented their concept of a linear park to numerous business, civic and neighborhood groups. Research firm Marketry donated its services to conduct focus groups to target specific stakeholder groups and generate consensus on desires, needs and concerns regarding a downtown park. The group commissioned photographer Matthew Collier to document the downtown railroad district for archival and promotional purposes. Early plans to stage a design competition for the park were set aside to concentrate on developing a vision in tandem with the ongoing City Center Master Plan process.

Master Plan

On March 11, 2004, Urban Design Associates, the Pittsburgh firm hired two months earlier to create the City Center Master Plan, presented its preliminary ideas in a "town hall meeting" at the Carver Theater. The redevelopment of the Railroad Reservation as a "seam" rather than a barrier between the downtown theater and business districts and the university and residential development on Southside.

In UDA's final plan, the Railroad Reservation Park was highlighted as a centerpiece of a planned "Open Space Framework" for the City Center, catalyzing aesthetic, economic and community progress in the downtown area.

In January 2005 the Birmingham City Council approved an arrangement for the Mayor's office to cooperate with FoRRd to move forward with master planning and feasibility studies. The Council provided $120,000, an amount to be matched by FoRRd, to commission that work. The city, represented by Capital Projects Liaison Renee Kemp-Rotan, contracted with Tom Leader Studio, a Berkely, California landscape design firm, to generate conceptual plans for the park site. At the same time, ConsultEcon, a Boston research firm, was hired to perform market studies and economic projections. Both firms sent representatives to Birmingham for public meetings in April 2005.

According to Perkins, the outcome of those plans would provide the specifics that would give donors the confidence to commit funds for the proposed park. Kemp-Rotan mirrored that statement, saying "Now, by the end of these studies, this will not be pie in the sky. Once these plans are done, we will know exactly how much this will cost and what everyone can expect to see."

Conflict

While these studies were pursued a conflict between FoRRd and the city emerged over which group would manage the fund-raising and implementation of the plans. Kemp-Rotan had alluded to her understanding of FoRRd's role immediately following the agreement to split design costs: ""The agreement we have entered into allows the Friends of the Railroad District to assist the city in this project, [...] The most important thing to remember is that this will be done on city-owned land."

Meanwhile, the Friends of the Railroad District drew up their own proposal for the city's consideration.

In December 2005 the newly-elected City Council discussed Mayor Kincaid's proposal of a $2.5 million commitment from the city to the proposed park. The mayor's proposal differed significantly from a proposal submitted to the city by the Friends of the Railroad District -- primarily on the question of whether FoRRd or the City of Birmingham would be responsible for the design, financing, construction and operation of the park. Giles Perkins represented FoRRd at the meeting, which became heated with Kincaid's absolute refusal to place public property under private jurisdiction. Councilor William Bell argued that only by giving FoRRd "a free hand to raise funds", would the necessary private investment materialize. Ultimately it was Bell who made the motion to approve the funding on the condition that Kincaid and FoRRd could work out an agreement before January 15.

Bell's appraisal regarding fund-raising was echoed by Perkins On January 17, 2006 Kincaid announced that the obstacle to an agreement had been reached, as FoRRd had withdrawn their proposal to manage construction and fund-raising themselves.

On February 28, the City Council approved an additional $5 million from a future bond issue for development of the park along with an $11 million incentive package for the Wal-Mart anchored Eastwood Village development. At the meeting, Kincaid promised a March groundbreaking.

Conceptual design

Their work was presented to the city on March 28, 2006 at a public presentation on the 16th floor of Two North Twentieth, overlooking the park's site.

According to the Mayor's office, the date marked the transition from "the community-engagement and feasibility study phase" to the "implementation phase" of the project.

Features of Leader's conceptual design, largely drawn up by associate Akiko Ono, include a pavilion with interpretive exhibits on Birmingham's railroad history, a 2.5 acre recreational lake, a performance amphitheater, a jogging trail with elevated observation decks, restaurants and other attractions.

References

• Urban Land Institute (May 5-10, 2002) Downtown Birmingham, Alabama: A Master-Planning Process for Downtown. (PDF)
• Jordan, Phillip (February 24, 2005) "Bursting at the Seam: Full steam ahead for the Railroad Reservation Park?" Birmingham Weekly.
• Jordan, Phillip (December 8, 2005) "Who's Driving the Train?: Battle for control stifles progress on Railroad Reservation Park." Birmingham Weekly.
• Jordan, Phillip (December 15, 2005) "Railroad Reservations: Why FoRRd is slowing down the trains." Birmingham Weekly.
• Bryant, Joseph D. (January 18, 2006) "Railroad park backers assure mayor." Birmingham News.
• Bryant, Joseph D. (February 29, 2006) "Birmingham OKs Eastwood Wal-Mart, Railroad Park." Birmingham News.
• Bryant, Joseph D. (March 29, 2006) "Birmingham's railroad park plans presented to Kincaid." Birmingham News.
• Bryant, Joseph D. (October 6, 2006) "City, county leaders break ground for Railroad Reservation Park." Birmingham News.

External links

• Friends of the Railroad District website