Salem’s Proposed Waterfront Urban Renewal Districts Misses the River

A proposed new urban renewal area in Salem fails to integrate the Willamette River despite 6,000 feet of riverfront property.

The City of Salem is proposing a new 421-acre urban renewal district. Oddly, the North Waterfront Urban Renewal District Plan has very little to say about the Willamette River or Willamette Greenway, despite the proposed district’s 6,000 feet of riverfront property.

The urban renewal area (URA) is scheduled to run for 33 years and will capture $199 million of tax revenue, which officials will spend on capital improvements within the district.

The plan identifies six goals broken into three categories: economic development, livability and development, and administration. None of the goals address the riverfront or greenway. The livability and development category may be the most obvious place to find a riverfront goal but the goals in this category are (1) increasing housing supply, (2) upgrading infrastructure, and (3) improving multimodal transportation. Potentially, riverfront goals might be appropriate in the economic development goal. I have to imagine that 6,000 feet of riverfront has a lot of opportunity for ecologically sensitive recreation, tourism, hospitality, and education. But there is no mention of the riverfront in the economic development goals either.

It’s no surprise that without an explicit riverfront goal, the plan includes only two projects that engage the river. The first is: “Support Parks Master Plan project of a shared use path along riverbank (project CT33 – Riverfront Path).” I looked at the City’s parks master plan. CT33-Riverfront Path exists only as one of many entries in a table of recommended park improvement (p. 78). 

The second riverfront project reads: “Improvements to the riverbank as it relates to riverfront development as outlined and approved by the Core of Engineers.” I am not aware of any plan for Salem’s riverfront developed by the Army Corps of Engineers. (The Corps does have regulatory authority over cut and fill activities to the river’s banks.) I’ve asked the City for clarification.

The redevelopment plan is required to align with the City's comprehensive plan. The authors of the North Waterfront URA plan are aware of that fact. In the accompanying report, they cite 11 overarching goals and a total of 31 specific goals from the Comprehensive plan to support the creation of the urban renewal district. Yet none of those goals are related to the river or Willamette Greenway.

The city’s comprehensive plan devotes Chapter 13 to the Willamette Greenway. It has two overarching goals. The second is the more relevant of the two. It reads “Promote and enhance the recreational and scenic qualities of the Willamette River and adjacent lands and increase access to these areas.” It lists five sub-goals. They are:

1.    Scenic easements: Scenic easements shall be used, where practical, to preserve and enhance the character of the river within the Greenway Boundary.

2.    Visual access: Visual access and a sense of openness should be provided by maximizing the open space between buildings and the river

3.    Public access: Development and redevelopment within the Greenway Boundary should include provisions f or public access to and along the river.

4.    Public impacts: Where private property is adjacent to public use areas, measures shall be taken to minimize disturbance to the private property.

5.    Existing parks within the Greenway Boundary shall be preserved and maintained. Additional sites for recreation and scenic views and access to the Willamette River should be acquired.

In addition to the Willamette Greenway chapter of the comprehensive plan, the City has a complete Greenway Plan. The plan’s purpose is to protect the area’s natural resources while providing residents with more access to the river and greater opportunities for recreation. The plan specifically calls for the conservation of riparian areas and wildlife habitat, the acquisition of more public land on the river, and the careful siting of buildings to ensure their compatibility with the landscape.

The North Waterfront Urban Renewal Area holds a lot of promise to reinvent Salem’s relationship with its greatest natural asset, the Willamette River, but the current plan fails to meet the moment.