© 2024 St. Louis Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Park Service preferred plan for Arch grounds may preclude major new attraction, some fear

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: October 22, 2008 - The National Park Service has selected its preferred plan to improve the grounds of the Gateway Arch -- but there are still questions.

After months of back and forth with the public about ways to improve the Gateway Arch grounds, the National Park Service has selected its preferred plan. It includes, among other things, a design competition to generate even more ideas.

The preferred plan also calls for an elevated deck, bridge or "lid" over Memorial Drive to connect the Arch grounds with the rest of downtown, a featured favored by Mayor Francis Slay and the Danforth Foundation.

Yet already there's concern that the park service's preferred option might not include a major new attraction, such as a cultural museum -- something that the Danforth Foundation considers essential and even has offered to help build. Slay also supports that idea.

Late Tuesday, former Sen. John Danforth said in a statement that the park service's preferred plan, posted on its website earlier Tuesday, "raises questions as to whether such an attraction is possible." 

In his statement, Danforth cited a phrase in the preferred plan: "To the greatest extent possible, NPS (National Park Service) will preserve the essential character-defining features of the National Historic Landmark designed landscape and structures."

"This language," Danforth said, "appears to create possibly insurmountable barriers to creating the world-class destination attraction we recommend."

But Sandra Washington, chief for planning and compliance at the park service's midwest regional office in Omaha, said that's not so.

"There is a possibility for a cultural museum in the preferred plan as part of the design competition," she said.

Besides the preferred plan, the park service lists three other plans to be discussed further, including one that would simply leave things as they are. (The "do nothing" option is alternative no. 1.) These other plans call for "educational/cultural facilities" on the Arch grounds or expanding the museum beneath the Arch, which Washington said could mean "a bigger museum, or another museum."

"I think,"' she said, "that there is a possibility for a cultural museum in all three plans."

The preferred plan, which Washington stresses is not final, is the result of a planning process that got under way earlier this year. After starting with five possible plans, and sifting through comments, letters and e-mails from 700 organizations and individuals, the park service incorporated the public's response into four plans and selected one as its preferred option. Now, the park service is again seeking public comments.

The design competition in the preferred plan would be similar to the one in 1947 that selected Eero Saarinen and his team's Gateway Arch. This time around, the park service says, the competition would be held "to generate ideas to revitalize the (Jefferson Expansion) Memorial grounds, expand interpretation, education opportunities and visitor amenities."

The other elements of the preferred plan, or alternative no. 3,  include:

* Improving connections between the Arch grounds and Laclede's Landing, Chouteau's Landing and other nearby areas.

* Working with local governments to unify streetscapes and make the area more pedestrian-friendly.

* Expanding parking on the Arch grounds, including space for RVs.

In some respects, the preferred plan and the two others proposing improvements are similar. All three call for:

* More activities and special events for the public on the Arch grounds, and more amenities for visitors.

* Renovation of exhibits at the Museum of Westward Expansion beneath the Arch and at the Old Courthouse.

* Extending the Memorial's boundaries to include about 50 acres in East St. Louis, with an effort to "encourage compatible riverfront improvements" on both sides of the river.

But the two other plans also incorporate some changes that would be more radical than the preferred plan. The Preliminary Alternative 5 plan, for example, calls for:

* Closing and rerouting a stretch of Memorial Drive, and remaking the space into a series of "gathering plazas" to connect the Arch grounds, the Old Courthouse and Luther Ely Smith Square.

* Building an educational and research facility on the Arch grounds with programs and activities for students, and a larger, more accessible archives storage and research area. (The archives are now stored at the Old Courthouse in a small, limited research area.)

* Rezoning parts of the Arch grounds for new visitor amenities and "educational/cultural facilities."

* Eliminating all parking on the Arch grounds, and renovating the existing garage for visitor orientation and a transit center that would provide transportation service.

The Preliminary Alternative 4 plan includes:

* Expansion of the existing museum beneath the Arch with an entrance on Memorial. It would include space for the archives.

* A three-block-long lid over Memorial and new entrances on all sides of the Arch grounds, some with elevated pedestrian bridges.

* Water taxi service across the river.

* A visitors center with restrooms and underground parking in Luther Ely Smith Square.

* Renovation of the parking lot adjacent to the Old Cathedral with underground parking, landscaping, and areas for bus and shuttle stops.

Washington said this week that an end to this long process is in sight.

Early next year, the park service will release cost estimates and environmental impact statements for each plan. In the meantime, Washington encourages everyone to check out the plans on the website, discuss them and send along comments. Also early next year, the park service will schedule more public meetings. "We do want to hear from folks," she said.

Washington said the park service's target date for a final plan is early May. After that, she said, change could get under way "as money becomes available."

Charlene Prost, a freelance writer in St. Louis, has long written about urban development and redevelopment.