Decision-making factors of planning and developing public access to an urban waterfront

Typescript (photocopy).The purpose of the study was to determine the decision-makers and the decision-making process in the planning and development of an urban waterfront that is highly visible and accessible to the public. A case study was developed addressing the issue of public access to the Merrimack River in Newburyport, Massachusetts. The study traces ten years of negotiation and litigation between a citizens group and the Newburyport Redevelopment Authority (NRA). The NRA, although interested in providing public access to the waterfront, did not want to break up the waterfront parcel with accessways for fear of discouraging potential developers. The citizens group, although concerned with redevelopment of the waterfront, feared that new development could obstruct public access, possibly forever. After years of trying to persuade the NRA to consider retaining all, or some, of the ancient right-of-ways to the waterfront, without success, the citizens group took legal action against the NRA. Lengthy litigation determined that two of the ways were in a public trust and must remain public accessways forever. Out-of-court negotiations between the parties determined that three of the remaining accessways would also be put in a trust with the same stipulations. Although it took ten years and a great deal of money and effort to solve the controversy over the ways issue, much was gained. The study was developed as an example of what has been done to gain quality public access to an urban waterfront and the process of how it was achieved. Planners, developers, public officials and citizens who are anticipating the redevelopment of an urban waterfront can draw from this example that which is useful to their individual situations. It was written to show that quality public access can be achieved; not that the method used in the case study was the way to achieve it. Among other lessons, the study discusses the need for early participation of the public sector and the early planning for public access in urban waterfront development