Flowing Forward: Lessons from the Eagle River

River surfers enjoy twilight at Eagle River Park. The park was dreamed up during a river master planning process led by Community Builders.

When local leaders from the Town of Eagle attended Community Builders’ Leadership Training in 2015, they were searching for ways to improve downtown connectivity and revitalize the community’s post-recession economy.

Though the Town was actively pursuing plans for a big-box commercial center to spur economic growth, not everyone was convinced it was the right fit for Eagle. As the team worked through the training, which was fittingly focused on place-based economic development, one local asset kept rising to the surface – the Eagle River.

The river, the team realized, was the community’s most important and most overlooked resource.

Energized and united around a shared vision, the team returned home determined to shift Eagle’s economic strategy from an attraction-based model characterized by the big–box center to a place-based model focused on a healthy, accessible river connecting locals and visitors to the heart of downtown.

Most good projects start with a road trip. Town staff and elected officials hit the road to Buena Vista, Salida, and Golden to see river-focused placemaking in action, learning firsthand what worked well for the nearby communities.

Eagle then enlisted Community Builders to help bring the refreshed economic vision to the wider community. Our staff convened a local steering committee, designed and implemented community engagement, and worked with locals at various design workshops to create a visually compelling site plan.

Town of Eagle residents roll up their sleeves to map out the future of the Eagle River.

“Community Builders paired passion for placemaking with facilitation skills and planning skills,” said Jon Stavney, former Eagle Town Manager, who now serves as Executive Director of Northwest Colorado Council of Governments. “It was really the trifecta we needed to make the project tick.”

Throughout the community engagement process, two visions unfolded for the Eagle River’s role in economic development. One vision focused on protection and conservation of the waterway, the other emphasized recreation and development.

“The community engagement process Community Builders helped the Town deliver was critical in finding common ground between the different objectives folks had,” noted Matt Farrar, Principal of Western Slope Consulting, who also worked for the Town of Eagle during the project. “The final plan tried to balance areas where it was important to have activity along the river and areas to be protected in their natural state.”

The creation of a shared community vision laid the foundation for the creation of the Eagle River Corridor Plan – a launching pad for the Eagle River Park.

Community members provide input on the Eagle River Corridor Plan at a design charrette.

A plan turns into action

In 2016, local voters passed a 20-year, half-percent sales tax increase set to generate more than $12 million to fund development of infrastructure associated with the river plan. This funding stream made construction of the Eagle River Park possible, transforming a truck stop into a community park with whitewater features, trails, beachfront, and conserved riparian areas.

A rendering of the Eagle River Park illustrates the community’s vision for the site. The park was completed in 2018.

Today, the Eagle River Park sits at the heart of community life, serving as a recreational and social hub for residents, a destination for visitors, and one piece of the Town’s place-based approach to economic development.

“All in all, this was a classic Community Builders project,” Stavney said. “The Town had all the pieces we needed here, we just needed a skillset to help weave things together and get us from an idea to a reality.”

Project partners had also envisioned Eagle River Park as a catalyst for mixed use private development on the south side of the river, the side connecting the river to downtown. Unfortunately, this part of the vision is yet to materialize.

Looking back, looking forward

“Beyond the Eagle River Park, I think the river plan’s vision not being completed is due in part to lack of a champion,” Farrar reflected. “Looking back on the engagement process, there should have been more focus on developing local champions. I think about that a lot now in my current work.”

Stavney agreed, noting how challenging it can be for rural and mountain communities to carry projects forward through staff turnover and election cycles. Though Eagle has seen new private development since the park’s construction, most of it has taken shape on the Town’s edges, and the river and downtown remain disconnected.

Such lessons learned continue to shape our work at Community Builders. These days, our project team often asks ourselves and our partners:

• How can a plan remain a living document?
• How can we foster community champions who will carry the work forward?
• How can we build collaborative leadership structures that outlast individuals?
• How can the spirit of a project live on?

The Eagle River project brought some big wins, and some goals yet to be realized. Many of our projects – complex, dynamic, and transformative – do. And that’s okay.

From plans to systems to structures, a decade of successes and learnings is helping us refine how we build sustainability into every level of our Technical Assistance framework. Because what matters most to Community Builders is that when a project ends, the community is equipped with the vision and tools to carry on.