Steven Wilson

The riverfront would become "a place that brings people together," said Steve Wilson, urban designer for Watertown, Conn.-based Sasaki & Associates Inc.
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Steven J. Wilson, a senior associate at Sasaki Associates Inc., presents a plan to develop a portion of the banks of the Kansas River on Monday at the Topeka Performing Arts Center.

FLOW OF INFORMATION

The Topeka and Shawnee County Riverfront Authority will meet to discuss the riverfront development plan formed by Sasaki & Associates Inc. from 10 a.m. to noon today at the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks Office, 1020 S. Kansas Ave.

More than 70 people watched as Wilson and Lynn Carlton, a project manager for Sasaki, unveiled details of the master plan for riverfront development to the Topeka and Shawnee County Riverfront Authority in the auditorium at the Topeka Performing Arts Center.
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The river's south side would become "basically an extension of Downtown Topeka," Wilson said.That side would feature a park, apartments, town homes, shops, restaurants and office buildings, which could be as tall as eight or 10 stories.A boardwalk would be built atop the levee on the south side.

Wilson said the northern riverfront would offer "more of a natural experience that would celebrate the water in a more passive way."
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Carlton and Wilson gave no estimate of the cost of riverfront development here.

Steve Wilson says a master plan unveiled today would make the Kansas riverfront near Downtown Topeka "a place that brings people together."
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Wilson, an urban designer for Watertown, Conn.-based Sasaki & Associates Inc., helped this afternoon to present the plan to transform the riverfront into an attraction featuring shops, offices, town homes, trails, a park and a stadium.

More than 70 people watched as Wilson and Lynn Carlton, a project manager for Sasaki, unveiled details of the master plan for riverfront development to the Topeka and Shawnee County Riverfront Authority in the auditorium at the Topeka Performing Arts Center.
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The riverfront's south side would become "basically an extension of Downtown Topeka," Wilson said.That side would feature a park, apartments, town homes, shops, restaurants and office buildings, which could be as tall as eight or 10 stories.A boardwalk would be built atop the levee on the south side.

Wilson said the northern riverfront would offer "more of a natural experience that would celebrate the water in a more passive way."
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Wilson said it takes at least 20 years to develop a city's riverfront.

Carlton and Wilson gave no estimate of the cost of riverfront development here.

Connecting existing parks and trails such as those on Neversink Mountain to recreation areas on both sides of the river would help establish a sense of unity that is missing among the communities, said Steven Wilson, of Sasaki Associates of Watertown, Mass., which is leading the four-consultant project team.

"The river really is a regional connector," Wilson said."The idea is to create new connections with pedestrian trails."

Unity between Reading and West Reading, for example, is hindered by a large expanse of land containing the cloverleaf exchange of the West Shore Bypass at Penn Street, he noted.
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Historically, development along the river has been mainly transportation and industrial uses because the land lies in a flood plane, Wilson said.He said improved flood control on the Tulpehocken Creek makes other kinds of development an option.

But it's also a common thread, and with the right vision can act as an economic and cultural magnet benefiting the western and eastern sides equally, said Steven J. Wilson, an urban designer for Sasaki Associates of Watertown, Mass.

The beginnings of that vision were unveiled Wednesday in Lauer's Park Elementary School.

"You need to celebrate the best of the old and combine and mix it with the new," said Steven Wilson, Sasaki representative.

To reassure the Planning Commission, Steven Wilson of the Boston design firm Sasaki Associates Inc. demonstrated that one section of city regulations would allow home construction over 97 acres but Riverside plans to build homes on only 84 acres.
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Wilson said that the end of Quarterpath Road which connects to Route 199 in front of Kingsmill on the James will be the front door to the Riverside development.

Steven Wilson