Page 132 - Clackamas County Watertourism Strategic Plan. Final.v3

STRATEGIC PLAN FOR WATER-BASED TOURISM IN CLACKAMAS COUNTY, OREGON THE OPPORTUNITIES
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Community Involvement Recommendations Community
Involvement

“…an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." Winston S. Churchill

Recommendation 42: Promote the Urban-River Interface
The Urban-River Interface is a concept designed to connect a municipality’s downtown with its river. The relationship between commercial centers
and their rivers throughout America have evolved from a means of transport, to a source of food, to a producer of power, to dumping grounds for
waste, and most recently, over the last 40 years as a community asset for recreation, business, industry, tourism and leisure.
Today’s rivers and waterfronts are a combination of all these purposes (except for receiving raw waste) and communities are
learning to incorporate rivers into their long-term development plans. From the industrial revolution in the late 1800s to urban
renewal of the 1970s, communities built physical barriers between downtown and the river’s edge in the form of factory buildings,
highways, riprap, channelization, shipping piers, and bridge overpasses. Promoting the urban-river interface reverses these
blockades and attempts to make physical connections between downtown and the river. These physical connections will be
different in each municipality. How the connections manifest themselves will depend on many factors including land ownership,
distance, topography, public and private financing, development policies, politics, market conditions, and environmental
limitations.

The Urban-River Interface is slowly emerging throughout Clackamas County. Some connections are strong, others are in the
opportunity stage, but wherever people can walk from downtown to a place where they can put their toes in the water, an Urban-
River Interface is being made. Examples include: Milwaukie’s pedestrian-friendly connections across McLoughlin Boulevard;
Oregon City’s riverside walk to Jon Storm Park; West Linn’s eight, tree-lined, residential blocks between Willamette Park and
Willamette Falls Drive; and Estacada City’s proximity to Estacada Lake. Opportunities also exist in Canby, Sandy, and the Villages.
Promoting the Urban-River Interface is implemented through many avenues including infrastructure, policy, programs, and events.
This report’s recommendations seek to improve the Urban-River Interface in all these areas. It is mentioned here, in Community
Involvement group, because they are best created and implemented by the community. A series of community-level water tourism
workshops should be initiated to identify the best opportunities to reconnect downtowns with their greatest natural resource.
Recommendation 43: Community-level water tourism workshops
The greatest opportunities for increasing water-based tourism throughout the county is at the municipal level. Municipalities throughout the county hold the key to success.
Even though municipalities usually have the least amount of resources, compared to higher levels of government, they have the greatest amount to gain, have the biggest