Above the Falls Master Plan Update

The applicable small area plan for the UHT site is the Above the Falls Master Plan Update. This plan contains a large amount of background information and extensively outlines the vision for the UHT site and surrounding area. Interested parties are strongly encouraged to review the plan.

Parcels 2 – 5

Parcel 2 -- 5 are guided for riverfront parkland and “business park” development in the approved plan. This could include the following types of high value and/or job intensive uses that would complement and benefit from the planned riverfront amenities:

• Office; R and D; commercial (e.g., retail and services, bar/restaurant, taproom); hospitality (e.g., event center, hotel); civic/nonprofit and educational uses; and high-value and job-intensive light industrial. Heavy industry, outdoor storage, distribution centers and truck-intensive uses are not considered compatible.

Parcels 1, 6 & 7

Parcels 6 and 7 and a portion of Parcel 1 are guided in the plan for “mixed use.” (Parcel 1 also is guided for riverfront parkland.) Appropriate uses that could be mixed (either within a building or a mixture on Parcels 6 and 7) could include:

• Retail, office, residential, civic/nonprofit/educational or other compatible uses. Depending on context, light industrial also may be appropriate, if the type and design are compatible with other uses in the area.

During the integrated redevelopment planning process, the City also is willing to consider land uses that do not correspond to the categories outlined above, if:

• Those uses meet the over-arching goals outlined in this RFQ and the land use principles on p. 72 of the Above the Falls Master Plan Update, and
• The development team can provide adequate evidence of a market for any such use(s) that is not dependent upon: i) changes to the site’s context (e.g., additional land acquisition and redevelopment of surrounding uses) for which there is no workable implementation plan, or ii) financial subsidies for which there is no identified realistic source.

It should be noted, however, that if a concept were advanced that includes land uses that do not comply with the approved Above the Falls Master Plan Update, it would be necessary for the City to undertake a process to consider a revision to that small area plan. At minimum, this would require several months to complete, and the City cannot guarantee that the outcome would be a small area plan that would support a different set of land uses.