PLANNING ADVISORY COMMISSION May 31, 1961. PROGRESS REPORT NO. 1 re THE CIVIC CENTER STUDY At the Council meeting of January 3, 1961, a study of the Civic Center was authorized, under the direction of G4
C.
Hamilton, a member of the
Planning Advisory Commission. Since that time; considerable study and investigation has been given to the project. Interviews have been held with civic department heads and with many business and goVernment offiCials; who might be interested in or affected by the development; a comprehensive list of possible inclusions has been prepared, and an evaluation undertaken of the relative importance of each to the commercial, cultural and recreational life of the city. Many of the elements proposed for the Civic Center depend on the presence, and perhaps the location, of other proposed inclusions. Within the basic framework already established -- the existing street system, the railways, the City hall and other large buildings -an attempt has been made to determine the most important, realistic components and place them in good functional relationship with each other. One or two important assumptions have been made, one of which is that the surface of the area between 99 and 100 Streets south of the City Hall, almost to 101A Avenue, should become the most ornamental park in the city. For many years this has been an often-expressed community aspiration. Council members might be interested to know that in 1913 a plan was prepared showing a City Hall located in a beautifully ornate park. This concept is still valid. The careful relationship between building and open space has always been a most important architectural consideration. A park or square in the Civic Center has a symbolic quality, quite apart from the visual pleasure it provides. The town square is traditional in western culture. It will be convenient to refer to this park as Civic Park. The purpose of this report is to describe some of the more important elements tentatively included in the Center, justify their inclusion where necessary, and examine their relationships with other